The present invention provides a precursor film for producing a conductive film, the precursor film including: a substrate; and a plated layer precursor layer disposed on the substrate, in which the plated layer precursor layer includes a polyfunctional monomer, a monofunctional monomer, and a polymer which has a functional group interacting with a plating catalyst or a precursor of the plating catalyst and has a polymerizable functional group.

A process comprising: (i) coating particles of silicon carbide, silicon nitride, boron carbide or boron nitride with a metal alloy or metal layer; (ii) agglomerating the particles of step (i); thermally spraying the agglomerated metal or metal alloy coated particles onto a substrate to provide a coating thereon.

A technique of improving an adhesion between a metal precipitated in a recess of a substrate and a surface partitioning the recess in an electroless plating processing in which a plated metal is deposited from the bottom of the recess is provided. A substrate liquid processing method includes preparing a substrate including a recess and a wiring exposed at a bottom of the recess; forming a self-assembled monolayer on a side wall of the recess; attaching an intermolecular binder, which is allowed to be bonded to both a metal and the self-assembled monolayer, to the self-assembled monolayer; and burying, by supplying an electroless plating solution to the recess in a state where the intermolecular binder is attached to the self-assembled monolayer to precipitate the metal in the recess, the metal in the recess while bringing the metal into close contact with the intermolecular binder.

A method of making a composite material includes disposing a carbon-based particulate material, such as graphene or carbon nanotubes, in an activation solution and activating surfaces of the carbon-based particulate material using the activation solution. Once the surfaces of the carbon-based particulate material have been activated, a metallic coating is applied to the activated surfaces to form a composite material. The composite material is then recovered as a particulate material formed having carbon-based particulate material with a metallic coating that is suitable for fusing together for forming electrical conductors, such as with an additive manufacturing technique.

An anisotropic conductive sheet has an insulation layer having a plurality of through-holes and a plurality of conductive layers each arranged on an inner wall surface of each of the plurality of through-holes. Each of the conductive layers has a base layer arranged on the inner wall surface of each of the through-holes and a metal plating layer arranged so as to contact with metal nanoparticles or a metal thin film in the base layer or the metal thin film. The base layer includes metal nanoparticles or a metal thin film and a binder, wherein at least a portion of the binder is arranged between the inner wall of each of the through-holes and the metal nanoparticles or the metal thin film. The binder is a sulfur-containing compound having a thiol group, a sulfide group or a disulfide group.

A method for forming a metal film includes forming an oxide layer on a to-be-treated surface of a to-be-treated object by bringing the to-be-treated surface into contact with a reaction solution containing fluorine and an oxide precursor, removing fluorine in the oxide layer, supporting a catalyst on the oxide layer by bringing the oxide layer into contact with a catalyst solution, and depositing a metal film on the oxide layer by bringing the oxide layer into contact with an electroless plating liquid.

A coating agent for forming an oxide film; a method for producing an oxide film; and a method for producing a metal-plated structure, where the stability of the coating agent can be enhanced, and an oxide film which can be plated and has high adhesion to a substrate can be easily formed. The coating agent for forming an oxide film is a liquid coating agent, essentially contains titanium atoms, and optionally contains silicon atoms and copper atoms, wherein the ratio of the sum of the titanium atoms and copper atoms to the silicon atoms is 1:0-3:2. The method for producing an oxide film includes applying the coating agent to a substrate and heating to form an oxide film. The method for producing a metal-plated structure includes: a metal-film-forming step for forming a metal film on the oxide film; and a baking step for baking the metal film.

A plating method can improve adhesivity with a substrate. The plating method of performing a plating process on the substrate includes forming a vacuum-deposited layer 2A on the substrate 2 by performing a vacuum deposition process on the substrate 2; forming an adhesion layer 21 and a catalyst adsorption layer 22 on the vacuum-deposited layer 2A of the substrate 2; and forming a plating layer stacked body 23 having a first plating layer 23a and a second plating layer 23b which function as a barrier film on the catalyst adsorption layer 22 of the substrate 2. By forming the vacuum-deposited layer 2A, a surface of the substrate 2 can be smoothened, so that the vacuum-deposited layer 2A serving as an underlying layer can improve the adhesivity.

Walls of through-holes and vias of substrates with dielectric material are electroless plated with copper using tin-free ionic silver catalysts. Conductive polymers are first formed on the substrates by treating the substrates with a permanganate solution containing complexing anions followed by applying monomers, oligomers or conductive polymers to the substrate to form a conductive polymer coating on the dielectric of the substrate as well as on the walls of through-holes and vias of the substrate. A tin-free ionic silver catalyst is then applied to the treated substrate. Optionally, the tin-free ionic silver catalyst can include a ligand agent to form a coordination entity with the silver ions of the tin-free catalyst. The silver ions of the tin-free catalyst are reduced by the conductive polymer and then an electroless metal copper bath is applied to the treated substrate to copper plate the dielectric and walls of the through-holes and vias of the substrate.

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.