Deposition of metals as interlayers within organic polymeric films

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION For further comprehension of the invention and of the objects and advantages thereof, reference may be made to the following description, including the examples, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims in which the various novel features are more particularly set forth.
The invention resides in a process for metal interlayer deposition (MID); more specifically, a process by means of which a metal is deposited in its zero-valent state in a spatially-controlled manner within an organic polymeric film having first and second surfaces.
More particularly, the process comprises supplying ions of the metal to at least a part of the first surface and electrons to at least a part of the second surface, said metal ions being in a positive oxidation state and in a coordination state such that they are mobile within the polymeric film and are transported through it in the general direction towards the second surface, said polymer being capable of accepting electrons in a reversible manner at the second surface, said electrons being mobile within the polymeric film and being transported through it in the general direction towards the first surface.
By "reversible" is meant the capacity of the polymer to accept and donate electrons to another material or molecular entity at a finite rate without itself undergoing a change which limits this capacity.
Moreover, the electrons are characterized by an electrochemical potential fixed by the reduction potential of the polymer, which potential is, in turn, negative of the reduction potential of the metal ions.
The electrons can be provided: (a) by means of a cathode in an electrochemical circuit, the potential applied to the cathode being equal-to or negative-of the reduction potential of the polymer; or (b) by means of a reducing agent in solution, the oxidation potential of the reducing agent being negative with respect to the reduction potential of the polymer.
The metal ions can be provided in a solution.
Typical metals which can be deposited in accordance with this invention include Cu, Ag, Au, Cd, Hg, Cr, Co, Ni, Pd, Pt, Ga, In, Tl, Sn, Sb, Se and Te; preferably, the metal is Cu, Ag, Au or Hg