Electrolessly deposited films in microelectronics and ULSI

Our department started extensive investigation of electroless plating of metallic, dielectric and semiconducting materials with pure metals and alloys forty years ago in the former USSR. We widely introduced the developed technologies into aerospace engineering, microelectronics, radioelectronics, piezoengineering, computing engineering and instrument-making. The developed technologies of electroless metallization of various materials are widely used at the enterprises for mass production of quartz resonators and filters, monolithic piezoquartz filters, photomasks, piezoceramic devices for hydroacoustics and delay lines of color TV sets, ICs and semiconducting devices, ceramic microplates, precise microwire and film resistors, and other devices. As a result of application of these technologies, gold, silver and palladium have been adequately replaced by alloys of non-noble metals, the usage of toxic substances has been eliminated and the technology has been significantly simplified. A new competitive nanotechnology is presented and the mechanism of sensitization and activation is described in this paper