A new MHC catalyst system — Nano-Silver

Surface activation is an essential step in metallization of dielectric surface, which works together with the following electrolytic plating to build electrical connections between different layers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) or to build decorative and functional finishing layers of plastic substrates. Palladium, either in its ionic form or metallic form, is a traditional catalyst for many chemical reactions, including electroless metal deposition. However, due to its high and volatile unit metal price, major efforts are being focused on increasing its catalytic efficiency or identifying substitutes with lower cost. In this paper, we introduce a new catalyst system for conventional electroless copper deposition process - Nano-Silver catalyst. We studied physical properties of such catalyst including size distribution with transmission electron microscopy, zeta-potential with zeta-potential analyzer, localized surfaced plasmon resonance with UV-Vis absorption spectrometer. We compared its catalytic performance on conventional electroless copper deposition with traditional palladium/tin catalyst in terms of through hole copper coverage on resin and glass, thermal and mechanical reliability in copper-copper interconnects area, and also the stabilities of catalyst working baths and concentrate.