Microcontact printing of catalytic nanoparticles for selective electroless deposition of metals on nonplanar polymeric substrates

Metal patterns on polymeric substrates have been produced by microcontact printing of catalytic particles and subsequent electroless plating. These patterns include lines as narrow as 1 μm. The printing process consists of coating the surface of a stamp with polymer-stabilized catalytic nanoparticles, molding a polymer substrate against the stamp, cooling or curing the polymer, and separating the stamp from the polymer. During separation, the nanoparticles are selectively transferred to the polymer, seeding the polymer surface for selective electroless plating. Since the process does not require the substrate surface to be chemically modified prior to stamping, the polymer can be molded to the shape of the stamp, thereby allowing the formation of conformal or buried circuitry using this technique.