A method of producing a lead-frame structure having two faces and exposing a treated silver surface on at least one of the two faces, the treated silver surface(s) serving the wire bonding, which yields a surface which, after applying resin to it, has excellent adhesion even under severe testing conditions, such as the IPC/JEDEC J-STD-20 MSL standard, and a method of producing a surface mount electronic device including a lead-frame or lead-frame entity and at least one semiconductor device mounted thereon, wherein the lead-frame or lead-frame entity exposes a treated silver surface on at least one of the two faces, wherein the treated silver surface(s) serve(s) the wire bonding, and wherein a resin is applied to the lead-frame or lead-frame entity, which method yields excellent adhesion of the surface of the lead-frame or lead-frame entity even under severe testing conditions.

A catalyst is imparted selectively to a plateable material portion 32 by performing a catalyst imparting processing on a substrate W having a non-plateable material portion 31 and the plateable material portion 32 formed on a surface thereof. Then, a hard mask layer 35 is formed selectively on the plateable material portion 32 by performing a plating processing on the substrate W. The non-plateable material portion 31 is made of SiO.sub.2 as a main component, and the plateable material portion 32 is made of a material including, as a main component, a material containing at least one of a OCH.sub.x group and a NH.sub.x group, a metal material containing Si as a main component, a material containing carbon as a main component or a catalyst metal material.

A process for treating a steel alloy component includes the steps of: providing a steel alloy component having a plurality of teeth with a root portion and a tip; and processing the steel alloy so that the root portion of the gear teeth are hardened without through hardening of the tips of the gear teeth.

A sheet material includes a resin layer containing a binder and polypyrrole particles, an electroless plating film provided on the side of one main surface of the resin layer and including first electroless plating films and a second electroless plating film, and a transparent base material provided on the side of the other main surface of the resin layer.

A method of manufacturing a plated component includes: a molding step of molding a substrate including a plurality of plateable portions, which are spaced apart from each other, and coupling portions, which couple the plateable portions to each other, the substrate being a nonconductive plastic molding; an electroless plating step of forming a conductive coating on the plateable portions; and an electrolytic plating step of conducting different electrolytic plating processes on the plateable portions on which different metallic coatings are to be formed.

Methods of metalizing vias are disclosed. A method of metalizing at least one via includes contacting a substrate with a sacrificial metal sheet. The substrate includes a first surface, a second surface, and the at least one via extending between the first surface and the second surface and the first surface or the second surface of the substrate contacts a surface of the sacrificial metal sheet. The method further includes applying a solution comprising metal ions to the substrate and the sacrificial metal sheet such that a Galvanic displacement reaction occurs between the sacrificial metal sheet and the metal ions in the solution until the metal ions form a metal coating on at least one surface of the at least one via.

A method for metalizing a polymer substrate and a polymer article prepared thereof. First, a polymer substrate having a base polymer and at least one metal compound dispersed in the base polymer is provided. Then, a surface of the polymer substrate is irradiated with an energy beam such that a water contact angle of the surface of the polymer substrate is at least 120. The surface of the polymer substrate is then subjected to chemical plating.

A method for metalizing a polymer substrate and a polymer article prepared by the method are provided. First, a polymer substrate having a base polymer and at least one metal compound dispersed in the base polymer is provided. Then, a surface of the polymer substrate is irradiated with an energy beam such that a water contact angle of the surface of the polymer substrate is at least 120. The surface of the polymer substrate is then subjected to chemical plating.

A method for metalizing a polymer substrate and a polymer article prepared thereof. First a polymer substrate having a base polymer and at least one metal compound dispersed in the base polymer is provided. A surface of the polymer substrate is then irradiated with an energy beam such that a water contact angle of the surface of the polymer substrate is at least 120. And then the surface of the polymer substrate is subjected to chemical plating.

A method comprises forming etching islands on a substrate and exposing the substrate with etching islands to a solution that reacts with the etching islands to form a filter passage of interconnected pores in the substrate. The filter passage has an inlet into the substrate and an outlet from the substrate.