Electroless deposition employing laser-patterned masking layer
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsHerbert S. Cole, Jr., Lionel M. Levinson, Yung S. Liu, Theresa A. Sitnik
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Abstract
A metal is electrolessly plated on a substrate which is first coated with at least one ablatively-removable layer that is selectively irradiated with laser radiation to obtain a pattern for the deposition of metal on the substrate. The electroless plating solution applied to the substrate after the irradiated substrate is coated with a catalyst also serves to remove the unirradiated portion of the ablatively-removable layer. The method is particularly suited for plating fine lines of metal, especially on non-planar surfaces.
Claims29
A method of electrolessly plating a metal on a substrate comprising:
- (a) coating the substrate with at least one layer of an ablatively-removable material to form a coated substrate;
- (b) irradiating at least a portion of the coated substrate with a sufficient amount of laser radiation to thereby ablatively remove the irradiated portion of the layer coated on the substrate;
- (c) terminating the step of irradiating at least a portion of the coated substrate;
- (d) coating the resulting irradiated substrate with a catalyst capable of instigating electroless deposition of the metal to be plated when contacted by an electroless plating solution;
- and
- (e) contacting the catalyst-coated substrate with an electroless plating solution to thereby plate the metal on the catalyst-coated irradiated portion of the substrate and simultaneously remove the unirradiated portion of the catalyst-coated layer.
A method of electrolessly plating copper on a substrate comprising:
- (a) coating the substrate with a layer consisting essentially of a water-soluble polymer;
- (b) irradiating at least a portion of the water-soluble polymer layer with a sufficient amount of laser radiation from an excimer laser to thereby ablatively remove said irradiated portions of the water-soluble polymer layer;
- (c) terminating the step of irradiating at least a portion of the water-soluble polymer layer;
- (d) coating with a palladium catalyst the surface of the substrate thus ablatively exposed;
- and
- (e) contacting the substrate and the water-soluble polymer layer thereon with an electroless copper solution to thereby plate copper on the catalyst-coated portion of the substrate and simultaneously remove the unirradiated portion of the palladium catalyst-coated water-soluble polymer layer.
A method of electrolessly plating a metal on a substrate, said substrate including thereon a dual layer comprising an organic soluble material and a water-soluble polymer layer, said method comprising:
- (a) irradiating at least a portion of the water-soluble polymer layer and a corresponding portion of the organic soluble layer in registry therewith, with a sufficient amount of laser radiation to thereby ablatively remove the irradiated portion of the water-soluble polymer layer and the corresponding portion of the organic soluble layer;
- (b) terminating the step of irradiating at least a portion of the water-soluble polymer layer and a corresponding portion of the organic soluble layer in registry therewith;
- (c) coating the surface of the substrate, thus ablatively exposed, with a catalyst capable of instigating electroless deposition of the metal to be plated when the ablatively-exposed substrate surface is contacted by an electroless plating solution;
- and
- (d) contacting the catalyst-coated substrate with an electroless plating solution to thereby plate the metal on the ablatively-exposed substrate surface and simultaneously remove the unirradiated catalyst-coated dual layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.