A process for etching includes disposing an activating catalyst on a substrate; providing a vapor composition that includes an etchant oxidizer, an activatable etchant, or a combination thereof; contacting the activating catalyst with the etchant oxidizer; contacting the substrate with the activatable etchant; performing an oxidation-reduction reaction between the substrate, the activatable etchant, and the etchant oxidizer in a presence of the activating catalyst and the vapor composition; forming an etchant product that includes a plurality of atoms from the substrate; and removing the etchant product from the substrate to etch the substrate.

A process for depositing a metal includes disposing an activating catalyst on a substrate; contacting the activating catalyst with a metal cation from a vapor deposition composition; contacting the substrate with a reducing anion from the vapor deposition composition; performing an oxidation-reduction reaction between the metal cation and the reducing anion in a presence of the activating catalyst; and forming a metal from the metal cation to deposit the metal on the substrate. A system for depositing a metal includes an activating catalyst to deposit on a substrate; and a primary reagent to form: a metal cation to deposit on the substrate as a metal; and a reducing anion to provide electrons to the activating catalyst, the metal cation, the substrate, or a combination thereof, wherein the primary reagent forms the metal cation and the reducing anion in response to being subjected to a dissociating condition.

A method for manufacturing a current collector layer is provided. The method comprises: forking a release layer on a surface of a film; forming an adhesive layer on the release layer; forming a metal layer on the adhesive layer; and removing the film and the release layer.

Provided is a supporting unit. The supporting unit includes: a supporting plate including a substrate on a top surface thereof; and a heater having a predetermined pattern at a bottom surface of the supporting plate and heating the supporting plate, wherein the heater includes: a first metal plating layer applied on the bottom surface of the supporting plate along the predetermined pattern; an anti-oxidation layer of a conductive material applied on the first metal plating layer along the predetermined pattern; and a second metal plating layer of a conductive material applied on the anti-oxidation layer in a portion of the pattern.

Catalysts include nanoparticles of catalytic metal and starch as a stabilizer in molar ratios which enable stabilization of the catalyst during storage and during electroless metal plating. The catalysts are environmentally friendly and are tin free. The catalysts adhere well to dielectric materials of printed circuit boards including the walls of through-holes.

Catalysts include nanoparticles of catalytic metal and dextrin as a stabilizer in molar ratios which enable stabilization of the catalyst during storage and during electroless metal plating. The catalysts are environmentally friendly and are tin free. The catalysts adhere well to dielectric materials of printed circuit boards including the walls of through-holes.

A substrate processing apparatus can allow palladium atoms to be coupled to a surface of a substrate without performing a silane coupling processing with a silane coupling agent on the substrate. In a substrate processing apparatus 1, a plating unit 4 includes a catalyst solution supply unit 43a and a plating liquid supply unit 45. The catalyst solution supply unit 43a forms a catalyst layer 91 on a surface of a substrate W1 by supplying, onto the substrate W1, a catalyst solution L1 containing a complex of a palladium ion and a monocyclic 5- or 6-membered aromatic or aliphatic heterocyclic compound having one or two nitrogen atoms as a heteroatom. After the catalyst solution L1 is supplied, the plating liquid supply unit 45 forms an electroless plating layer 92 on the catalyst layer 91 formed on a substrate W2 by supplying a plating liquid M1 onto the substrate W2.

In a substrate processing apparatus 1, a plating unit 4 includes a catalyst solution supply unit 43a and a plating liquid supply unit 45. By supplying, from the catalyst solution supply unit 43a onto a substrate W1 having an impurity-doped polysilicon film 90 containing a high concentration of impurities on a surface thereof, an alkaline catalyst solution L1 containing a complex of a palladium ion and a monocyclic 5- or 6-membered aromatic or aliphatic heterocyclic compound having one or two nitrogen atoms as a heteroatom, a catalyst layer 91 is formed on a surface of the impurity-doped polysilicon film 90 of the substrate W1. After the catalyst solution L1 is supplied, an electroless plating layer 92 is formed on the catalyst layer 91 formed on a substrate W2 by supplying a plating liquid M1 from the plating liquid supply unit 45 onto the substrate W2.

A solution including a precious metal nanoparticle and a polymer polymerized from at least two monomers, (1) a monomer having two or more carboxyl groups or carboxyl acid salt groups and (2) a monomer which has electron-available features. The solution is useful for a catalyst of a process for electroless plating a metal on non-conductive surface.

There is provided a novel, environmentally friendly primer for use in the pretreatment steps in electroless plating, which can be easily used in fewer steps with a lower cost. A primer for forming a metallic plating film on a substrate by electroless plating, the primer including: a hyperbranched polymer having an ammonium group at a molecular terminal and a weight-average molecular weight of 500 to 5,000,000; and a metal fine particle.