The present invention relates to additives which may be employed in electroless metal and metal alloy plating baths and a process for use of said plating baths. Such additives reduce the plating rate and increase the stability of electroless plating baths and therefore, such electroless plating baths are particularly suitable for the deposition of said metal or metal alloys into recessed structures such as trenches and vias in printed circuit boards, IC substrates and semiconductor substrates. The electroless plating baths are further useful for metallisation of display applications.

The present invention relates to additives which may be employed in electroless metal and metal alloy plating baths and a process for use of said plating baths. Such additives reduce the plating rate and increase the stability of electroless plating baths and therefore, such electroless plating baths are particularly suitable for the deposition of said metal or metal alloys into recessed structures such as trenches and vias in printed circuit boards, IC substrates and semiconductor substrates. The electroless plating baths are further useful for metallisation of display applications.

The present invention concerns a method for forming a metal layer for electromagnetic shielding and thermal management of active components, preferably by wet chemical metal plating, using an adhesion promotion layer on the layer of molding compound and forming at least one metal layer on the adhesion promotion layer or forming at least one metal layer on the adhesion promotion layer by wet chemical metal plating processes.

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 substrate liquid processing apparatus includes a substrate holder configured to hold a substrate; a processing liquid supply configured to supply a processing liquid to an upper surface of the substrate held by the substrate holder; a cover body configured to cover the upper surface of the substrate held by the substrate holder; and a gas supply configured to supply an inert gas to a space between the substrate held by the substrate holder and the cover body, the gas supply having a gas supply opening through which the inert gas is discharged. An opening direction of the gas supply opening is directed to a direction other than the upper surface of the substrate held by the substrate holder.

A plating apparatus can perform a plating process on an entire surface of a substrate uniformly. A plating apparatus 20 includes a substrate holding/rotating device 110 configured to hold and rotate a substrate 2; a discharging device 21 configured to discharge a plating liquid toward the substrate 2 held on the substrate holding/rotating device 110; and a controller 160 configured to control the substrate holding/rotating device 110 and the discharging device 21. Further, the discharging device 21 includes a first nozzle 40 having a multiple number of discharge openings 41 arranged in a radial direction of the substrate 2 or having a discharge opening 42 extended in the radial direction of the substrate 2; and a second nozzle 45 having a discharge opening 46 configured to be positioned closer to a central portion of the substrate 2 than the discharge opening of the first nozzle 40.

Provided is a semiconductor device, including: a front-back conduction-type semiconductor element; a front-side electrode formed on the front-back conduction-type semiconductor element; an electroless nickel-containing plating layer formed on the front-side electrode; and an electroless gold plating layer formed on the electroless nickel-containing plating layer, wherein the semiconductor device has a low-nickel concentration layer on a side of the electroless nickel-containing plating layer in contact with the electroless gold plating layer, and wherein the low-nickel concentration layer has a thickness smaller than that of the electroless gold plating layer.

Nanocomposite magnetic materials, methods of manufacturing nanocomposite magnetic materials, and magnetic devices and systems using these nanocomposite magnetic materials are described. A nanocomposite magnetic material can be formed using an electro-infiltration process where nanomaterials (synthesized with tailored size, shape, magnetic properties, and surface chemistries) are infiltrated by electroplated magnetic metals after consolidating the nanomaterials into porous microstructures on planar substrates. The nanomaterials may be considered the inclusion phase, and the magnetic metals may be considered the matrix phase of the multi-phase nanocomposite.

An article comprises a substrate, a coating disposed on a surface of the substrate. The coating comprises a carbon composite dispersed in one or more of the following: a polymer matrix; a metallic matrix; or a ceramic matrix. The carbon composite comprises carbon and a binder containing one or more of the following: SiO.sub.2; Si; B; B.sub.2O.sub.3; a filler metal; or an alloy of the filler metal.

A catalyst layer can be uniformly formed on an entire surface of a substrate and an entire inner surface of a recess. A catalyst layer forming method of forming the catalyst layer on the substrate includes a first supply processing of forming a substrate surface catalyst layer 22A by supplying a catalyst liquid on the entire surface of the substrate 2; and a second supply processing of forming a recess inner surface catalyst layer 22B by supplying the catalyst liquid to a central portion of the substrate 2 while rotating the substrate 2.