Abstract: A non-conductive substrate is conditioned for subsequent selective deposition of a metal thereon by providing at least one of the major surfaces of the substrate in roughened form, contacting that surface(s) with a palladium/tin catalyst, activating the catalyst by employing an alkali hydroxide solution, laminating a photosensitive composition to the major surface(s), and exposing the photosensitive composition to actinic light in a predetermined pattern and then developing to provide the predetermined pattern.

Abstract: The effectiveness of a palladium-tin catalyst for subsequent plating thereon is determined by employing cyclic voltammetry.

Abstract: Method for electroless plating metals, such as copper, onto non-conductive substrate surfaces. The method comprises bringing the surfaces into contact with an aqueous composition containing H.sub.2 SO.sub.4 and a multifunctional cationic copolymer containing at least two available cationic moieties and then activating the surfaces by treating them with a colloidal solution containing palladium chloride, stannous chloride and HCl.The inventive method is particularly useful in processes for producing metal circuits on substrates of glass, thermoplastics and thermosetting resins, such as epoxy cards and boards. The method is also applied in reworking substrates having already undergone copper plating and having been rejected due to failures.

Abstract: Multistep process for electroless plating of copper onto a non-conductive surface including the steps of: (1) laminating a rough copper sheet onto the non-conductive surface; (2) etching away all the copper; (3) conditioning the surface with multifunctional positively charged molecules derived from copolymers of polyacrylamide and functionally active tetraalkylammonium compounds in an diluted inorganic acid; (4) activating the conditioned surface preferably with stannous/palladium chloride particles; (5) treating the activated surface with deionized water and diluted HCl; (6) applying a photoresist layer to the surface and selectively exposing and developing the photoresist to produce a mask corresponding to the negative of the desired circuit pattern; and (7) plating copper using successively two baths differing in their oxygen and CN.sup.- concentration, where the foregoing steps are interspersed with washing steps.