Ed, you will find that Teflon/PTFE laminates do not process at all like FR-4 materials when it comes to desmear and electroless/metallization. As you have already seen, one response has mentioned Tetra-Etch and SHADOW. Tetra-Etch, a sodium napthalene material (same as mothballs) works quite well, but has a very limited shelf life and must be stored in a freezer. I have used a material called POLY-ETCH W from Matheson Gas Products @ 61 Grove Street, Gloucester, Mass. Sorry, I don't have the phone number, but the company headquarters is at 201/867-4100. This is also a napthalene solution; in all cases, the PTFE re-passivates very quickly so the panels must be "activated" with the napthalene and rinsed with either acetone or isopropyl alcohol and processed through electroless copper very quickly - within an hour or so. I have recently left Electrochemicals after 8 years in field service and can agree that SHADOW works pretty well on PTFE, but you can certainly use electroless copper. You simply need to make sure that your electroless initiates fairly slowly to improve hole wall adhesion. You can also process PTFE through plasma; it is important to finish with a helium burn rather than an oxygen burn to prevent re-oxidation/passivation of the PTFE. Regards, Fred Johnson >>> Ed Cosper <[log in to unmask]> 10/21/97 12:41pm >>> Does this material process the same as standard FR 4 with respect to desmear and electroless? All help is appreciated. Ed Cosper Graphic Electronics ############################################################## TechNet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c ############################################################## To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TECHNET <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TECHNET ############################################################## Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional information. For the technical support contact Dmitriy Sklyar at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.311 ############################################################## ############################################################## TechNet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c ############################################################## To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TECHNET <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TECHNET ############################################################## Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional information. For the technical support contact Dmitriy Sklyar at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.311 ##############################################################