Western Electric Company, Inc.

Kim L Morton

William M Beckenbaugh

Patricia J Goldman

A method of depositing a stress-free electroless copper deposit is disclosed. The method comprises contacting a catalyzed surface with a solution comprising a source of cupric ions; a reducing agent for the cupric ions; a complexing agent for the solution selected from (a) ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, (b) a salt of (a), (c) a modified ethylenediamine acetic acid, (d) a salt of (c), and (e) a mixture of at least two of the foregoing complexing agents; a stabilizer for the solution comprising a mercury compound; and an accelerator for the solution comprising a water-soluble compound containing a cyanide radical (CN.sup.-) complexed with a metal selected from Group VIII of the Periodic Table of the Elements.

Method of depositing a stress-free electroless copper deposit

A method of depositing a metal on a surface is disclosed. The method comprises coating the surface with a sensitizing solution comprising at least a reducible salt of a non-noble metal. The coated surface is selectively treated to reduce the metal salt to metallic nuclei to form a catalytic pattern thereon capable of directly catalyzing the deposition of a metal on the nuclei from an electroless metal deposition solution. The selectively treated surface is then exposed to a stripping solution comprising an organic acid selected from (a) a carboxylic acid having a structural formula of ##STR1## where R is a member selected from the hydrogen radical, H, and an alkyl group having 1 to 3 carbon atoms, (b) citric acid and (c) a mixture of any of the foregoing acids, to essentially remove portions of the coated surface which have not been selectively treated.

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Delaware, NJ, United States of America

Kim L Morton