The present invention provides a surface treatment technology that gives excellent surface functionality to surfaces of a variety of large-area substrate materials. According to the present invention, when precursor solution containing an organosilane and a metal alkoxide is coated on a substrate material to form a polymerization initiator layer by a sol-gel process, a polymerization initiator group-containing organosilane having a formula: XR.sup.1-(Ph).sub.k-(R.sup.2).sub.mSiR.sup.3.sub.nR.sup.4.sub.3-n (X stands for a halogen atom, R.sup.1 stands for an alkylene group having 1 to 3 carbon atoms, Ph stands for a phenylene group, R.sup.2 stands for a C1 to C10 alkylene group optionally via an oxygen atom, R.sup.3 stands for an alkoxy or chloro group having 1 to 3 carbon atoms, R.sup.4 stands for an alkyl group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, k is 0 or 1, m is 0 or 1, and n is 1, 2 or 3) is used as the organosilane.

Methods of patterning electroless metals on a substrate are presented. The substrate is covered by a blocking reagent. After formation of a catalyst blocking layer on the substrate, portions of the catalyst blocking layer are removed to form a circuit pattern. A catalyst is placed the surfaces of both the catalyst blocking layer and the exposed substrate. The catalyst blocking layer prevents or reduces catalytic activity of the catalyst. Electroless metal plating is performed to plate a metal at the active portions of the catalyst.

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.

According to the invention there is provided a method of producing a structure comprising the steps of: a) providing a substrate comprising one or more features that correspond to the shape of the structure to be produced, wherein the one or more features comprise a hydrophobic polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) surface; b) exposing at least a part of the hydrophobic PDMS surface to a plasma so that the part of the hydrophobic PDMS surface that is exposed to the plasma forms a hydrophilic PDMS surface; c) depositing a seed layer onto the hydrophilic PDMS surface by electroless deposition; d) depositing one or more metallic layers onto the seed layer by electrochemical deposition to form the structure; and e) removing the structure from the substrate.

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.

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.

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:
(Ag.sup.+).sub.a(L).sub.b(P).sub.c (I)
wherein L represents an -oxy carboxylate; P represents a 5- or 6-membered N-heteroaromatic 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.

Provided are a method for forming conductive pattern by direct radiation of an electromagnetic wave capable of forming fine conductive patterns on various kinds of polymer resin products or resin layers by a simplified process, and appropriately implementing the polymer resin products having white color or various colors, and the like, even without containing specific inorganic additives in the polymer resin itself, and a resin structure having the conductive pattern formed therefrom. The method for forming the conductive pattern by direct radiation of the electromagnetic wave includes: forming a first region having a predetermined surface roughness by selectively radiating the electromagnetic wave on a polymer resin substrate containing titanium dioxide (TiO.sub.2); forming a conductive seed on the polymer resin substrate; forming a metal layer by plating the polymer resin substrate having the conductive seed formed thereon; and removing the conductive seed and the metal layer from a second region of the polymer resin substrate, wherein the second region has surface roughness smaller than that of the first region.

A printed electrical device is formed using a flexographic printing system. A flexographic printing plate having a pattern of raised features includes an active region having a plurality of parallel traces separated by a trace spacing of between 5-40 microns that are used to form active micro-traces that provide an electrical function, and an inactive region adjacent to the active region having one or more protective features that are used to form electrically-inactive features. The protective features are separated from an outermost trace of the plurality of traces by a gap distance of between 60% and 250% of the trace spacing. The flexographic printing plate is used to transfer ink from an anilox roller to a substrate to provide a printed pattern corresponding to the pattern of raised features on the flexographic printing plate.

A non-aqueous silver precursor composition contains at least 1 weight % of one or more (a) polymers that are certain cellulosic polymers; (b) reducible silver ions; and (c) an organic solvent medium consisting of: (i) a hydroxylic organic solvent having an -hydrogen atom and a boiling point at atmospheric pressure of 100-500 C., and, optionally, (ii) a nitrile-containing aprotic solvent or a carbonate-containing aprotic solvent different from the (i) organic solvent, each having a boiling point at atmospheric pressure of 100-500 C. The (b) reducible silver ions are present in an amount of 0.1-400 weight %, based on the total weight of the one or more (a) polymers. This composition can be used to form silver nanoparticles under silver ion reducing conditions and then applied to various substrates to provide silver nanoparticle patterns.