Formation of Pd catalyst by Nd:YAG laser irradiation for electroless copper deposition

In this study, we attempt to develop an improved approach for patterning a thin activator by decomposing palladium acetate/acetone layer on nonconductive PI substrates with the second harmonic Q-switched Nd:YAG laser, using acetone instead of toxic chloroform as solvent. In particular, we have established a simple method to identify the decomposition mechanism of palladium acetate.Our developed process can produce copper with high purity and low resistivity achieved by electroless copper deposition on this thin activator.