Mastertool MT8 is a new dry phototool for the production of printed circuit boards, which represents a completely new technology. MT8 is not sensitive to daylight, is free of silver and inherently environmentally safe as the material does not contain any toxic
ingradients, no processing chemicals are required and no waste arises. For imaging, the
non‐transparent thin bismuth layer of MT8, embedded between polymers, is agglomerated into
beads through IR laser radiation, making this area optically transparent. Light and electron microscopy as well as X‐ray diffractometry are used to characterise the
composition of the material and the details of the recording processes. Based on finite element
modelling, it was possible to interpret theoretically the experimentally determined dependence of the
sensitivity on the recording speed. Understanding these material properties enables plotter optimisation
for MT8.