A method of constructing conductive material in arbitrary three-dimensional (3D) geometries, such as 3D printing. The method may include selective application of an aerosol-based colloidal solution containing a catalytic palladium nanoparticle material onto a substrate and then immersion of the coated substrate into an electro-less plating bath for deposition of conductive copper material. The above steps may be repeated to create arbitrary 3D geometric constructs containing conductive metallic patterns.

The present invention provides for depositing a desired pattern (31) of magnetic material (30) on a non-magnetic substrate (20). Control of the deposition pattern (31) is achieved by use of a magnetised template (10) shaped to correspond to the desired deposition pattern. In use, the template (10) is placed behind the substrate (20). Subsequently, the front surface of the substrate (20) is exposed to a solution containing the magnetic material (30) to be deposited. The magnetic material (30) is attracted to the magnetised template (10) and consequently is deposited in a pattern (31) covering areas corresponding to the shape of the template (10).

The present invention provides a plating method capable of easily performing various decorative plating processes. The plating method includes a bulge forming process of forming a bulge on an object to be plated by ejecting ink drops of first UV-curable ink from an inkjet head such that the ejected ink drops land on the object, and a plating process of plating the object having the bulge formed thereon, after the bulge forming process. Also, in the bulge forming process, the bulge is formed such that a second surface of the bulge to be plated has surface roughness different from that of a first surface of the object to be plated.

A film formation method is provided with a catalyst film formation step for forming a catalyst film on the surface of a substrate by displacement reduction plating, an intermediate film formation step for forming a palladium plating film on the catalyst film, and a surface film formation step for forming a gold plating film on the palladium plating film.

The present invention provides: a surface-treated material that can simply and in a short time period form a surface treatment film having an adequate adhesiveness particularly on an electroconductive substrate which is mainly formed of a base metal having a large ionization tendency and is considered to resist having a sound plating film formed thereon; and a component produced by using the same.

A surface-treated material (10) of the present invention comprises an electroconductive substrate (1) and a surface treatment film (2) formed of at least one or more layers of metal layers (3 and 4) which are formed on the electroconductive substrate (1), and among the at least one or more layers of metal layers (3 and 4), a lowermost metal layer (3) which is directly formed on the electroconductive substrate (1) comprises a plurality of metal-buried portions (3a) that are scattered in the electroconductive substrate (1) and continuously extend from a surface of the electroconductive substrate (1) toward an inside thereof.

A method of manufacturing a package, comprising embedding the semiconductor chip with an encapsulant comprising a transition metal in a concentration in a range between 10 ppm and 10,000 ppm; selectively converting of a part of the transition metal, such that the electrical conductivity of the encapsulant increases; and plating the converted part of the encapsulant with an electrically conductive material.

A method of activating a metal structure on an intermediate semiconductor device structure toward metal plating. The method comprises providing an intermediate semiconductor device structure comprising at least one first metal structure and at least one second metal structure on a semiconductor substrate. The at least one first metal structure comprises at least one aluminum structure, at least one copper structure, or at least one structure comprising a mixture of aluminum and copper and the at least one second metal structure comprises at least one tungsten structure. One of the at least one first metal structure and the at least one second metal structure is activated toward metal plating without activating the other of the at least one first metal structure and the at least one second metal structure. An intermediate semiconductor device structure is also disclosed.

Electrically-conductive silver metal is provided in a pattern on a substrate having a first supporting side and a second opposing supporting side. One or both of the first supporting side and the second opposing supporting side has one or more electrically-conductive silver metal containing patterns containing the electrically-conductive silver metal; an -oxy carboxylate; a 5- or 6-membered N-heteroaromatic compound; and a polymer that is either (i) a hydroxy-containing cellulosic polymer or (ii) a non-cellulosic acrylic polymer having a halo- or hydroxy-containing side chain. Such articles can be used in various devices and electrodes.

A package which comprises a first encapsulant configured so that electrically conductive material is plateable thereon, and a second encapsulant configured so that electrically conductive material is not plateable thereon.

Electrically-conductive silver metal can be provided in a thin film or pattern on a substrate from a silver complex having reducing silver ions and represented by: ##STR00001##
wherein L represents an -oxy carboxylate; P represents a primary alkylamine compound; a is 1 or 2; b is 1 or 2; and c is 1, 2, 3, or 4, provided that when a is 1, b is 1, and when a is 2, b is 2. The silver complex is mixed in a hydroxy-free, nitrile-containing aprotic solvent with a polymer that is either (i) a hydroxy-containing cellulosic polymer or (ii) a non-cellulosic acrylic polymer having a halo- or hydroxy-containing side chain. The reducible silver ions in the a thermally sensitive thin film or pattern can be thermally converted to electrically-conductive metallic silver under suitable heating conditions to provide a product article that can be used in various devices.