Process for manufacturing a printed wiring board

A method for fabricating a printed wiring board, comprising the steps of:

• a) adhering an electroless plated copper commoning layer to a surface roughened dielectric substrate without using an organic adhesion promoting layer and curing step or an organic solvent;
• b) photolithographically personalizing said commoning layer by covering said commoning layer with a resist then uncovering predetermined areas on said commoning layer;
• c) electroplating copper onto said uncovered areas of said commoning layer for the purpose of generating copper features and circuitry;
• and
• d) stripping remaining photolithographic materials and etching the remaining unpiated copper commoning layer to form isolated copper features and circuitry wherein said copper features are essentially free of tailing or electrical shorts between adjacent features without use of a solvent or substrate surface treatment etching agent wherein said solvent or surface treating etchant agents are selected from the group consisting of hydrazine, ethylenediamine, dioxane, alcohol, and aqueous alkali hydroxide solution.