NOVELTY - Forming a patterned thin film involves applying composition comprising photopatternable deposition inhibitor material having organosiloxane on a substrate; exposing to imaging actinic radiation to form pattern which is composed of material in second exposed state that is different from first as-coated state; patterning the material to provide selected areas not having the deposition material by processing the exposed deposition material; and depositing layer of functional material on substrate by vapor phase deposition process in selected areas of substrate not having inhibitor material.    USE - For forming a patterned thin film used in the preparation of electronic devices such as integrated circuit, active-matrix display, solar cell, active-matrix imager, sensor and rf price, identification and inventory label (claimed); and also in electronics such as radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, photovoltaic, optical and chemical sensors, and flat panel displays such as organic light emitting diode.    ADVANTAGE - The method is a low cost method for deposition that does not involve the expense associated with vacuum processing and subtractive patterning processes. The photopatternable deposition inhibitor material has an inhibition power of at least 500 Angstrom during use. The director inhibitor compound used in the method can work with a range of thin film materials, is easily patterned and is suited to highly accurate patterning in a simple way. The method allows selective deposition of metal oxides and other metals. The method is adaptable for deposition on a web or other moving substrate including deposition onto a large area substrate. The method allows operation under atmospheric pressure conditions; and can be employed in low temperature processes at atmospheric pressure which can be practiced in an unsealed environment open to ambient atmosphere. The organosiloxanes for use in selective area deposition (SAD), unlike other deposition inhibitor materials, provides near zero growth of the thin film on the inhibitor surface. This property greatly enhances the usefulness of deposition inhibitor material, since it enables a thin film to be selectively deposited that is of a much greater thickness than those previously capable of being deposited in SAD processes.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Forming a patterned thin film involves providing a substrate; applying a composition comprising a photopatternable deposition inhibitor material to the substrate, where the deposition inhibitor material comprises an organosiloxane; exposing the photopatternable deposition inhibitor material to imaging actinic radiation to form a pattern which is composed of deposition inhibitor material in a second exposed state that is different from an first as-coated state; patterning the deposition inhibitor material to provide selected areas effectively not having the deposition inhibitor material by processing the exposed photopatternable deposition inhibitor material; and depositing layer of functional material on the substrate by a vapor phase deposition process, where the functional material is deposited only in the selected areas of the substrate not having the deposition inhibitor material.