Macdermid, Incorporated

Other

John J Grunwald

Bryan Whitmore

Harold Leever

Shulamit Hirsh

Igal Klein

Chava Gal

Gary B Larson

A process is described for the direct production of an imaged pattern of resist on a substrate surface (such as a pattern of etch-resistant organic resin material on the surface of a copper-clad dielectric in connection with a printed circuit board (PCB) fabrication process or in the process of producing printed plates), which process utilizes thermo-resists rather than photoresists, i.e., compositions which undergo thermally-induced, rather than photo-induced, chemical transformations. A film of thermo-resist composition applied to the substrate surface is scanned by a focused heat source (e.g., a thermal laser emitting in the IR region) in a predetermined pattern, without a phototool, to bring about localized thermally-induced chemical transformations of the composition which either directly produce the resist pattern or produce in the film a developable latent image of the pattern.

Direct imaging process for forming resist pattern on a surface and use thereof in fabricating printing plates

Direct imaging process for forming resist pattern on a surface and use

A patterned mask is provided on a surface by formulating a liquid, 100% solids-type thermally curable mask composition, applying the composition as a film to the surface, selectively thermally exposing the film in the desired mask pattern using a focused beam of heat energy without use of an interposed patterned mask, and then developing away the film areas not thermally exposed so as to produce a patterned mask. The invention enables the elimination of potentially troublesome volatile solvent carriers or diluents from the composition, while at the same time still enabling production of finely-defined patterns without having to bring a patterned mask (cf. phototool) into contact with the composition. Similarly, the expense involved with use of dry film photo-sensitive masks is avoided.

Method for forming a patterned mask

In a mechanical plating process, oxidation-prone metals, such as aluminum, titanium, magnesium, and mixtures thereof, can be applied to metal substrates without the corrosion problems encountered in the prior art. To avoid such problems, the substrate is plated with the oxidation-prone metal and relatively minor amounts of an immersion metal and, optionally, a protective metal. The immersion metal which can be salts or oxides of metals selected from the group consisting of tin, copper, nickel, cadmium, zinc, lead, and mixtures thereof coats the oxidation-prone metal in forming a mechanical plating coating and prevents formation of an oxide layer on the oxidation-prone metal. The protective metal which may be selected from the group consisting of zinc, cadmium, and mixtures thereof prevents oxidation of the plated metal substrate when exposed to the environment. An etching agent is used either prior to and/or during mechanical plating.

Mechanical plating with oxidation-prone metals

Chipping, flaking, and cracking of mechanical galvanizing coatings applied on metal substrates is prevented by interposing between successive layers of plating metal, which are used in galvanizing the metal substrate, a layer of cushioning metal. Each interposed layer of cushioning metal imparts malleability to the coating such that chipping, cracking, and flaking is prevented or substantially reduced. The plating metal is preferably zinc, while the cushioning metal is preferably tin, lead, or mixtures thereof.

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Ramat Gan, Israel

John J Grunwald