A composite film includes: a base film layer; a first metal thin film layer on a first surface of the base film layer; and a second metal thin film layer on a second surface of the base film layer, opposite to the first surface, wherein the first metal thin film layer and the second metal thin film layer include a soft etching-treated area and at least one oxide surface-treated area, and wherein the soft etching-treated area has a surface roughness that is different from a surface roughness of the at least one oxide surface-treated area.

A method of making a security mesh comprises forming on a conductive substrate an alumina film having through-holes in which metal, e.g., copper, through-wires are formed. First surface wires are formed on one surface of the alumina film and second surface wires are formed on the second, opposite surface of the alumina film in order to connect selected through-wires into a continuous undulating electrical circuit embedded within the alumina film. The security mesh product comprises an alumina film having a continuous undulating electrical circuit comprising copper or other conductive metal extending therethrough. A stacked security mesh comprises two or more of the mesh products being stacked one above the other.

An etching method includes a step of etching a cobalt film formed on a surface of a target object by supplying an etching gas containing -diketone and an oxidizing gas for oxidizing the cobalt film to the target object. The supply of the etching gas and the oxidizing gas is carried out such that a flow rate ratio of the oxidizing gas to the etching gas is ranging from 0.5% to 50% while heating the target object to a temperature lower than or equal to 250 C.

An insulated metal substrate (IMS) for supporting a device comprises a metallic substrate having a ceramic coating formed at least in part by oxidation of a portion of the surface of the metallic substrate. The ceramic coating has a dielectric strength of greater than 50 KV mm.sup.1 and a thermal conductivity of greater than 5 Wm.sup.1K.sup.1.

A printing form precursor comprises a printing surface which comprises an inorganic metal compound, the printing surface being hydrophobic and capable of being made hydrophilic by energy but capable of becoming hydrophobic again, for reuse, if desired. An associated method of printing includes steps of subjecting the printing surface imagewise to energy so as to locally increase its hydrophilicity sufficient to make the surface differentiated in its acceptance of an oleophilic a printing ink; applying the ink to the printing surface and printing from the printing surface; causing or allowing the printing surface to undergo a reduction in hydrophilicity sufficient again to make the printing surface uniform in its acceptance of a printing ink; and, if wished, repeating these steps on multiple occasions. Thus the invention achieves the goal of providing a printing form precursor which does not need a chemical developer, and which can be used multiple times, to print different images.

The present invention is directed to provide novel composite copper components. For example, provided is a composite copper component including a copper oxide-containing layer formed on at least a portion of the surface of a copper component, in which when the surface of the composite copper component is bonded to a resin substrate by thermocompression, and the copper component is peeled off from the resin substrate after the thermocompression bonding, metal contained in the copper oxide-containing layer is transferred to the resin substrate.

The present invention concerns a process for treating a tin or tin alloy layer onto metal surfaces, preferred copper surfaces, comprising the steps of (i) Providing a metal surface, preferred a copper surface, (ii) Contacting the metal surface, preferred the copper surface, with a tin or tin alloy plating bath; and (iii) Oxidizing the tin or tin alloy layer obtained by step (ii).

A printed wiring board includes an insulating layer, a conductor layer formed on the insulating layer, an adhesive layer formed on the conductor layer, and a resin insulating layer formed on the insulating layer such that the resin insulating layer is covering the conductor layer. The conductor layer includes a main component including copper such that the conductor layer includes a copper oxide film forming a surface thereof.