Laser irradiation of organometallic palladium compounds with an argon ion laser at 351 nm is used to selectively deposit catalytic amounts of palladium on polyimide. Subsequent immersion of the irradiated samples in an electroless copper solution results in copper deposition. Since a few monolayers of palladium are sufficient to catalyze the electroless copper process, fast writing speeds of several centimeters per second are obtained.

The feasibility of high speed direct writing of high resolution structures using a laser beam was demonstrated. Tungsten was selectively deposited on silicon via surface reduction reaction of tungsten hexafluoride. Fine lines of micron dimension with smooth surface morphology were fabricated using an argon laser at a writing speed of several cm per second. Compositions and structures of the micron-size lines, characterized using various microprobe analysis techniques including scanning Auger microprobe, Raman microprobe, and Rutherford microion-beam spectroscopy, are discussed.

No abstract