Laser-induced selective copper deposition on polyimide

Abstract
Laser irradiation of organometallic palladium compounds with an argon ion laser at 351 nm is used to selectively deposit catalytic amounts of palladium on polyimide. Subsequent immersion of the irradiated samples in an electroless copper solution results in copper deposition. Since a few monolayers of palladium are sufficient to catalyze the electroless copper process, fast writing speeds of several centimeters per second are obtained.