Site-selective catalytic surface activation via aerosol nanoparticles for use in metal micropatterning

There is great interest in the fabrication of micro- and nanopatterned metallic structures on substrates for a wide range of electronic, photonic, and magnetic devices. One of the most widely used techniques is the electroless deposition (ELD) of metal, which requires the surface activation of the substrates with a metal catalyst. This paper introduces a method of catalytic surface activation by producing platinum aerosol nanoparticles via spark generation and then thermophoretically depositing the particles onto a flexible polyimide (PI) substrate through the pattern hole of a mask. After annealing, the catalytically activated substrate is placed into a solution for electroless silver deposition. The silver is then formed only on the activated regions of the substrate. Silver line patterns having a width of 18 μm and a height of 1 μm are created with the ability to be effectively reproduced. The average value of the resistivities is approximately 6.8μΩ·cm, which is almost comparable to the theoretical resistivity of bulk silver (1.6μΩ·cm). Other silver micropatterns containing square dot array, line, line array, Y-branched line, and tapered line using different pattern masks are also demonstrated.