Synchronized process for catalysis of electroless metal plating on plastic.

摘要

A method of forming at least one electrically conductive path in a thermoplastic substrate (26) having a melting point below 325 DEG C, by synchronously depositing on the substrate in the predetermined pattern of said conductive path from an atomized stream of a precursor (28) of a catalyst for the electroless deposition of conductive metals and locally heating the deposited precursor in the pattern corresponding to the conductive path, the catalyst precursor (28) having a decomposition temperature below the melting point of the thermoplastic and within the temperature range where the thermoplastic softens, heating the portion of the thermoplastic substrate corresponding to said conductive path to a temperature sufficient to decompose said catalyst precursor (28) to the catalyst (30) and soften the thermoplastic; said substrate, catalyst precursor and temperature being selected such that on heating to the temperature the precursor decomposes to the catalyst, the thermoplastic softens and at least partially melts without substantial decomposition to enable the catalyst (30) to penetrate the surface of the thermoplastic and become anchored thereto to provide nucleation sites for the subsequent electroless deposition of conductive metal (31) and depositing conductive metal by electroless deposition on the heated portion to form the conductive path.