Chemical Fluid Deposition: A Hybrid Technique for Low‐Temperature Metallization

Chemical fluid deposition (CFD) is a novel approach to metal deposition that involves the chemical reduction of organometallic compounds in supercritical carbon dioxide to yield high purity films at low temperature. Since supercritical CO2 can exhibit densities that approach those of a liquid solvent while retaining the transport properties of a gas, CFD is essentially a hybrid technique that uniquely blends the advantages of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and electroless plating. Here, we describe the deposition of high-purity films of Pt, Pd, Au, and Rh onto inorganic and polymer substrates by the reduction of appropriate precursors in CO2 at 60 °C.