The Mechanisms of Catalytic Processes in Electroless Plating

SUMMARYAn attempt is made to describe some aspects of theory concerning the Pd Sn catalyst used for electroless plating of plastic. The work involved in actual development of a dry catalyst system is described and the application of the Fractional Factorial Method (FFM) for optimizing process parameters is detailed. An optimum set of process conditions is established for a test system. Further discussions focus on catalyst behaviour versus plastic substrate, etch process, neutralization and electroless nickel plating.