This paper proposes a method for electroless plating by combining supercritical fluid technology and electroless plating in a hybrid technique. The electroless plating reactions are carried out in an emulsion of supercritical carbon dioxide and an electroless plating solution with surfactant. The Ni-P film obtained by this proposed technique was a uniform and conformal film without the pinholes that form from the hydrogen bubbles produced by the electrolysis of water, and without the nodules that form from the nuclear growth on the electroless plating reaction. The dissolution of the hydrogen bubbles in the dense CO 2 particles of the emulsion prevented the pinholes from forming. The formation of nodules might have been prevented by the transport properties of the emulsion with the diffusive dense CO 2 and the suppression of the dissolved oxygen concentration when the oxygen dissolved in the dense CO 2 particles of the emulsion. The Ni-P film fabricated by our technique was smoother and more uniform than the substrate. The roughness of the plated film was constant during film growth, whereas the surface of the film fabricated by conventional electroless plating tended to roughen as the reaction time increased.
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