New approach of a laser-induced forward transfer for deposition of patterned thin metal films

An excimer laser-induced forward transfer technique has been used for selective prenucleation of arbitrary substrate materials with palladium. Palladium acetate films on a quartz substrate were irradiated through the support causing simultaneous decomposition of the palladium acetate and deposition of palladium on a substrate at a short distance to the palladium acetate film. The palladium layer, only a few nanometres thick, can act as catalyst for subsequent chemical deposition of metallic films, e.g., copper, nickel, gold etc., of micrometer thickness.