ABSTRACT
F irst, d istinction shou ld be m ade betw een th e m ethods com m only used to m etallize p lastics. One of th ese involves m etal a tom deposition (e.g. via therm al evaporation or spu tte ring process) on the su rfaces of polym ers u n d e r high or m edium vacuum . Different m eta ls su ch a s Al, Mg, Ti, Cr, Cu, Ni, Ag, Au ... have been so deposited on various polym er su b s tra te s (poly(ethylene) (PE), poly(propylene) (PP), poly(styrene) (PS), po lyethy lene tereph thalate) (PET),
polyimide (PI) w hen no t specified or Kapton® w hen specified, poly(ether imide) (Ultem®), poly(ether e th e r ketone) (PEEK), polyfethylene oxide) (PEO), poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc), poly(methyl m ethacrylate) (PMMA) ...), an d m uch detailed chem ical inform ation (particularly in the case of m etal films deposited in u ltrahigh vacuum ) ab o u t initial growth m echan ism s, in terfacial reactions an d influence of su b s tra te p re trea tm en ts h a s been obtained using, am ong o thers, ins itu x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). In addition to the u se of th e conventional physical vapor deposition (PVD) techn iques m entioned above, m etallization of polym er su b s tra te s can also be carried o u t by electro less deposition. This wet ph ase process involves m ainly Ni o r Cu deposits on catalytically active surfaces. A crucial aspec t of th is technology is not the m ethod of m etallization itself, b u t the way in w hich the su rfaces of polym er m ateria ls can be rendered catalytically active via su itab le surface p re trea tm en ts. Obviously, the problem of adhesion betw een the electrolessly deposited m etal and the polym er surface is also strongly dependen t on the type of polym er involved a s well a s on the n a tu re of th e process w hich is u sed to render the polym er surface catalytically active for the electro less p lating (see section "State-of-the-Art"). In th is context, characteriza tion by XPS of the electrolessly deposited m eta l/po lym er in terfaces and , therefore, u n d e rs tan d in g of adhesion m echan ism s ap p ear m uch m ore com plicated th a n in the case of evaporated or spu tte red m eta l/po lym er in terface given th a t a wet deposition process is no t com patible with d irect (i.e. insitu) UHV investigations.
