Direct Ni Electroless Metallization of Poly(etherimide) without Using Palladium as a Catalyst

ELECTROLESS METALLIZATION of insulatingmaterials is currently used in industry since severaldecades.In its most common applications it consists ina redox reaction between Ni(+2)or Cu(+2)ions and astrong reducer(respectively hypophosphite,H2PO2,forNi(+2)and formaldehyde,HCHO,for Cu(+2))bothcontained in the same solution.The reaction initiationis generally catalyzed by palladium,then the redoxreaction goes on thanks to the remarkable property ofNi and Cu in their metallic state to …

Direct Ni Electroless Metallization of Poly(etherimide) without Using Palladium as a Catalyst

Nickel or copper electroless metallization of polymers needs the grafting of a catalyst (palladium in the Pd(0) oxidation state) on the substrate surface to be coated. Our previous works on this topic 1-5] have allowed to develop a simple, tin-free method to attach Pd(+2) species from a palladium chloride (PdCl2) solution on any insulating surface and subsequently to reduce them, in the wet way, into the Pd(0) oxidation state. This Pd(0) state of the catalyst allows an instantaneous initiation of the Ni or Cu deposit by immersion in a plating bath. As palladium is an expensive chemical, it appears interesting to replace it by Ni(0) or Cu(0) species which are catalysts of their own ion reduction. Concerning the direct Ni electroless plating, the polymer surface (PI) was made catalytic for the electroless process by deposition (spincoating or dipping) of an ultra-thin film of an organic nickel salt in an alcoholic solution. The chemical reduction of this salt, checked by XPS, was performed by chemical or photochemical ways and by plasma. Under these conditions, the initiation, by autocatalysis, of the Ni film deposition in an industrial plating bath was immediate i.e. without any initiation time. The film obtained was homogeneous, dense, bright, well-adhering up to thicknesses reaching 3 μm.