John,

The key to your question about circuitry  on clear plastic is the required
adhesion.  There is a whole industry  dedicated to plating on plastics, and many
standards and guidelines.  I  have inserted below information on this
business.  The book is available  from the National Association of Metal Finishers
and I found at least one used  book site that had it, too.

Lexan is one plastic molded  into connectors, and these are frequently plated
for EMI shielding.  That  requires temperature cycling and good adhesion.
Liquid Crystal Polymer is  also a polycarbonate, so the cycle to chemically etch
Lexan for good  bonding would be similar, and LCP is now sometimes used in
flex circuitry.

Keeping one side clear to view through  may be more of a problem - that will
have to be masked in the chemical etch to  acheive adhesion.  Is your
application "see through" or "know light is  coming through"?.  If you can see through
plastic, by nature, it will be  quite smooth - hence probably poor adhesion
from most processes - sputtering,  electroless, conductive paste, etc.
Selective chemical etching where  you want circuitry - possible, but you will
probably need a couple of masking  steps in sequence.

Contact me off line if you want our  proprietary cycle for Lexan.  Sheet
thickness - no problem.  Length  and width of part?  This industry is used to
plating automobile grilles and  hubcaps. Gold finish - a matter of building up
copper thickness, and then  finishing with nickel and gold.

Denny Fritz
MacDermid, Inc.
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on the plating on  plastics process.


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