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AssigneeMinnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
InventorsUmberto Di Blas, Franco Knirsch
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This invention involves an imaging process in which a light image is projected onto a photosensitive medium having a layer capable upon light exposure of directly generating nuclei of a metal more noble than silver, such as palladium, which metal is catalytic to the electroless deposition of a non-noble metal, and thereafter selectively providing non-noble free metal onto the noble metal nuclei by electroless deposition, thereby providing a visible print of the original light image. The photosensitive layer in such media may comprise a compound of a metal more noble than silver and a photosensitive composition which can generate upon light exposure a reducing agent for said noble metal. In another embodiment, the photosensitive layer may contain a photoreducible metal salt which, upon light exposure, generates nuclei of a metal more noble than silver.
An imaging process which comprises
An image record comprising a layer having light-exposed image areas containing light-generated nuclei of a metal more noble than silver, said nuclei selectively bearing a visible deposit of a non-noble metal.
An imaging process which comprises
An image record which includes a layer having light-generated palladium nuclei in light-imaged areas thereof, said nuclei selectively bearing a visible electroless deposit of nickel, cobalt or copper or a mixture thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.