Method for metallizing insulating substrates wherein the roughening and etching processes are controlled by means of gloss measurement

A method for metallizing insulating substrates by etching said insulating substrates with etching solutions at a concentration, at a temperature and for a time sufficient to achieve roughening and/or desmear of the surface of said substrates and metallizing said substrates, comprising the following steps:

• (A) determining optimized treatment parameters for a substrate according to steps (i) to (vi):
• (i) etching the substrates using varying etching parameters selected from etching temperature, etching time and etchant concentration,
• (ii) determining the gloss value of the surface of the etched substrates obtained in step (i) above by an optical gloss device,
• (iii) metallizing the etched substrates obtained in step (i) above,
• (iv) determining the peel strength of the metallized substrates obtained in (iii) above,
• (v) correlating the peel strength and the gloss value obtained in (ii) and (iv) above,
• (vi) using said correlation to determine the gloss value correlating with the maximum peel strength;
• and
• (B) controlling the etching parameters during treatment of the substrate using optimized treatment parameters from (A) above—such that any deviation of the actual gloss value from the gloss value obtained in step (vi) is minimized.