The Application of a Polypyrrole Precoat for the Metallization of Printed Circuit Boards

Abstract

We describe a printed circuit board metallization process starting with the formation of a precoat of polypyrrole (PPY) on the board, followed by the direct electrodeposition of copper onto the polypyrrole‐coated substrate. The polypyrrole film is applied to the insulating substrate by a single chemical polymerization step from an aqueous solution. The sheet resistance of the polypyrrole precoat is typically of the order of a few hundred Ω/□ which is a sufficiently low resistance to enable direct metal electrodeposition onto the PPY‐coated substrate.