Process for depositing a metal or metal alloy on a surface of a substrate including its activation

1. A process for depositing a metal or metal alloy on at least one surface of a substrate comprising the steps of

(a) providing a substrate;

(b) treating the surface of said substrate with an activation solution comprising at least one source of metal ions selected from the group consisting of sources of palladium ions, sources of osmium ions, sources of iridium ions, sources of platinum ions, sources of copper ions, sources of gold ions and mixtures thereof such that at least one portion of said metal ions is being adsorbed on the surface of said substrate, wherein the temperature of the activation solution in the treating step (b) is in the range from 20° C. to 60° C.;

(c) treating the surface of said substrate obtained from step (b) with a treatment solution comprising

i) at least one additive independently selected from the group consisting of thiols, thioethers, disulphides and sulphur containing heterocycles, and

ii) at least one reducing agent suitable to reduce the metal ions adsorbed on the surface of said substrate selected from the group consisting of boron based reducing agents, sources of hypophosphite ions, hydrazine and hydrazine derivatives, ascorbic acid, iso-ascorbic acid, sources of formaldehyde, glyoxylic acid, sources of glyoxylic acid, glycolic acid, formic acid, sugars, and salts of aforementioned acids; and wherein the concentration of the at least one reducing agent ranges from 0.1 to 500 mmol/L

(d) treating the surface obtained from step (c) of said substrate with a metallizing solution comprising a solvent and at least one source of metal ions to be deposited such that a metal or metal alloy is deposited thereon; wherein:

when the at least one additive independently selected from the group consisting of thiols, thioethers, disulphides and sulphur containing heterocycles comprises a thiol, the concentration of the thiol is in the range from 1 μg/L to 300 μg/L;

when the at least one additive independently selected from the group consisting of thiols, thioethers, disulphides and sulphur containing heterocycles comprises a thioether, the concentration of the thioether is in the range from 0.05 mg/L to 20 mg/L;

when the at least one additive independently selected from the group consisting of thiols, thioethers, disulphides and sulphur containing heterocycles comprises a disulphide, the concentration of the disulphide is in the range from 0.1 μg/L to 100 μg/L;

when the at least one additive independently selected from the group consisting of thiols, thioethers, disulphides and sulphur containing heterocycles comprises a sulphur-containing heterocycle, the concentration of the sulphur-containing heterocycle is in the range from 0.1 μg/L to 20 mg/L;

when the at least one additive independently selected from the group consisting of thiols, thioethers, disulphides and sulphur containing heterocycles comprises a sulphur-containing heterocycle comprising at least one thiol group, the concentration of the sulphur-containing heterocycle comprising at least one thiol group is in the range from 0.1 μg/L to 100 μg/L.

2. The process according to claim 1 characterised in that the at least one reducing agent is a boron based reducing agent selected from the group consisting of amino boranes, ammonia borane, borohydrides, borane and homologues thereof.

3. The process according to claim 1 characterised in that the metallizing solution is an electroless metallizing solution comprising said at least one source of metal ions, at least one complexing agents and at least one reducing agent.

4. The process according to claim 3 characterised in that the at least one source of metal ions in the metallizing solution is selected from the group consisting of sources of copper ions, of sources of nickel ions, of sources of cobalt ions and mixtures thereof.

5. The process according to claim 1 characterised in that the at least one surface of the substrate is selected from the group consisting of metallic surfaces, non-metallic surfaces and combinations thereof.

6. The process according to claim 1 characterised in that the substrate is selected from the group consisting of printed circuit boards, printed circuit foils, interposers, chip carriers, IC substrates, semiconductor wafers, circuit carriers, interconnect devices and precursors for any of the aforementioned.

7. The process according to claim 1 characterised in that the thiols are represented by the following formula (I)

R1—SH   (I)

wherein R1 is independently selected from the group consisting of substituted and unsubstituted aliphatic groups, substituted and unsubstituted aryl groups and substituted and unsubstituted heteroaryl groups.

8. The process according to claim 7 characterised in that the thiols are selected from the group consisting of ethylthiol, 1-propylthiol, 2-propylthiol, 1-butylthiol, 2-butylthiol, 2-methylpropane-1-thiol, ethane-1,2-dithiol, propane-1,2-dithiol, propane-1,3-dithiol, butane-1,2-dithiol, butane-1,3-dithiol, butane-1,4-dithiol, butane-2,3-dithiol, 2-methylpropane-1,2-dithiol, 1H-benzo[d]imidazole-2-thiol, 1-methyl-1H-benzimidazole-2-thiol, 2-mercaptophenol, 4-mercaptophenol, thiosalicylic acid and 6-mercaptopyridine-3-carboxylic acid and the respective hydroxy and/or amino and/or carboxyl derivatives of the aforementioned.

9. The process according to claim 1 characterised in that the thioethers are represented by the following formula (II)

R2—S—R3   (II)

wherein R2 and R3 are independently from each other selected from the group consisting of substituted and unsubstituted aliphatic groups, substituted and unsubstituted aryl groups and substituted and unsubstituted heteroaryl groups.

10. The process according to claim 9 characterised in that the thioethers are selected from the group consisting of diethylsulphane, dipropylsulphane, dibutylsulphane, ethylproylsulphane, ethylbutylsulphane, propylbutylsulphane, 2 (methylthio)benzoic acid, 4,4′-thiodiphenol, and the respective the respective hydroxy and/or amino and/or carboxyl derivatives of the aforementioned.

11. The process according to claim 1 characterised in that the disulphides are represented by the following formula (III)

R4—S—S—R5   (III)

wherein R4 and R5 are independently from each other selected from the group consisting of substituted and unsubstituted aliphatic groups, substituted and unsubstituted aryl groups and, substituted and unsubstituted heteroaryl groups.

12. The process according to claim 11 characterised in that the disulphides are selected from the group consisting of cystamine, 2-hydroxyethyl disulphide, 3-hydroxypropyldisulphide, 4-hydroxybutyldisulphide, dithiodiglycolic acid, 3,3′-dithiodipropionic acid, 4,4′-dithiodibutyric acid, bis(2-am inophenyl) disulphide, bis(4-aminophenyl) disulphide, 2,2′-dithiodibenzoic acid, difurfuryl disulphide, D -penicillamine disulphide, 3,3′-dihydroxydiphenyl disulphide, methyl furfuryl disulphide, 1,2-bis(2,2-diethoxyethyl)disulphide, 2,2′-dithiodipyridine and 6,6′-dithiodinicotinic acid.

13. The process according to claim 1 characterised in that the sulphur containing heterocycles comprise

at least one ring-system which comprises carbon atoms, at least one sulphur atom and optionally at least one nitrogen atom,

wherein the total amount of said carbon, sulphur and nitrogen atoms in the at least one ring-system ranges from 3 to 13 atoms, preferably from 4 to 12, more preferably from 5 to 9; and wherein

the sulphur containing heterocycles are substituted or unsubstituted; and

the sulphur containing heterocycles are saturated or unsaturated, preferably aromatic.

14. The process according to claim 13 characterised in that the sulphur containing heterocycles are selected from the group consisting of unsubstituted and substituted thiophene, unsubstituted and substituted thiazole, unsubstituted and substituted thiopyran, unsubstituted and substituted benzothiazole, unsubstituted and substituted thiabendazole, unsubstituted and substituted benzothiazole, unsubstituted and substituted thiazole, unsubstituted and substituted thiophene, unsubstituted and substituted tetrahydrothiophene, unsubstituted and substituted thiazolidine, unsubstituted and substituted 1,3-Dithiolane, unsubstituted and substituted 1,4-dithiane, unsubstituted and substituted 1,3-dithiane, unsubstituted and substituted thiomorpholine, unsubstituted and substituted tetrahydrothiopyran.

15. The process according to claim 1 characterised in that the treatment solution is free of intentionally added reducible metal ions.

16. The process according to claim 1 characterised in that the at least one additive is a thioether.

17. The process according to claim 1 wherein said activation solution comprising at least one source of metals is selected from the group consisting of sources of palladium ions, sources of platinum ions, and sources of copper ions.

18. The process according to claim 1 wherein total concentration of the metal ions in the activation solution ranges from 1 to 500 mg/kg.

19. The process according to claim 1 wherein said activation solution has a neutral to alkaline pH.

20. The process according to claim 1 characterised in that the concentration of the at least one reducing agent ranges from 0.1 to 100 mmol/L.