Monsanto Company

Michael T O'Connor, Jr

Albert W Morgan

James P Brozek

James D Capistran

Flexible printed circuits comprising cobalt circuitry electrolessly deposited on an activated ink coating prepared by heating a wet ink comprising a polymer, e.g. a vinyl polymer such as polyvinyl chloride or polyvinyl alcohol or an unsaturated polymer such as polybutadiene, and a Group 1B or 8 compound, e.g. palladium dichloride, which is adapted to drying at room temperature to a catalytically inert ink. Selective areas of the ink activated by application of heat or light are catalytic to electroless deposition of cobalt.

Flexible printed circuits

Flexible printed circuits comprising copper circuitry electrolessly deposited on an activated ink coating prepared by heating a wet ink comprising a polymer, e.g. polyvinyl chloride or a butadiene polymer, and a Group 1B or 8 compound, e.g. palladium dichloride, which is adapted to drying at room temperature to a catalytically inert ink. Selective areas of the ink activated by application of heat or light, e.g. a laser, are catalytic to electroless deposition of copper.

Catalytically inert films comprising complexes of polymer with a compound of a Group 1B or Group 8 metal at unusually low proportions of metal can be selectively activated, e.g. to provide a catalytic surface. Such films can be advantageously activatable to electroless deposition, e.g. of oxidation resistant layers of copper.

Selective catalytic activation of polymeric films

Oxidation-resistant, electrolessly deposited metal coatings, e.g. of copper, can be provided on a variety of substrates such as fibers and films. Precursor substrates have nascent or actual clusters of catalytic metal with dimensions less than 100 nanometers, e.g. about 10 nanometers. Disclosed methods can produce electrically conductive, copper-coated PET or acrylic multifilament with a resistance of less than 20 ohms/meter.

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Springfield, MA, United States of America

Michael T O'Connor, Jr