Process for producing an article with a coating of electrically conductive polymer

Abstract

A process for producing a coated article, which has (i) at least one electrically non-conductive base layer, (ii) at least one layer of copper and/or a copper alloy, and (iii) a layer which contains at least one electrically conductive polymer. The article is characterized in that the copper or copper alloy layer (ii) is positioned between the base layer (i) and the layer (iii) containing the conductive polymer.

1 . A process for the production of a coated article comprising: 
 (1) applying a layer of one of copper and a copper-containing alloy onto the surface of an electrically non-conductive base layer;    (2) structuring the layer produced in step (1); and    (3) applying a layer which contains at least one intrinsically conductive polymer onto the structured copper or copper alloy layer.    
     
     
         2 . The process according to  claim 1 , further comprising cleaning the copper or copper alloy layer following step (1).  
     
     
         3 . The process according to  claim 1 , further comprising subjecting the copper or copper alloy layer to an oxidative pretreatment after at least one of step (1) of  claim 1  or a cleaning of the copper or copper alloy layer following step (1).  
     
     
         4 . The process according to  claim 1 , wherein the layer applied in step (3) has a layer thickness of 10 nm to 1 μm.  
     
     
         5 . The process according to  claim 4 , wherein the layer applied in step (3) has a layer thickness of less than 500 nm.  
     
     
         6 . The process according to  claim 5 , wherein the layer applied in step (3) has a layer thickness of less than 200 nm.  
     
     
         7 . The process according to  claim 1 , wherein the layer applied in step (3) contains 5 wt. % to 98 wt. % of intrinsically conductive polymer, based on the mass of the layer applied in step (3).  
     
     
         8 . The process according to  claim 1 , wherein the layer applied in step (3) further comprises an electrically non-conductive polymer.  
     
     
         9 . The process according to  claim 8 , wherein the layer applied in step (3) contains at least one complexing agent capable of complexing copper in addition to the at least one electrically non-conductive polymer.  
     
     
         10 . The process according to  claim 9 , wherein the complexing agent is selected from the group consisting of benzimidazoles, imidazoles, benzotriazoles, thiourea, imidazole-2-thiones and mixtures thereof.  
     
     
         11 . The process according to  claim 1 , wherein the intrinsically conductive polymer is selected from the group consisting of polyaniline (PAni), polythiophene (PTh), polypyrrole (PPy), poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophenes) (PEDT), polythieno-thiophene (PTT), derivatives thereof and mixtures thereof.  
     
     
         12 . The process according to  claim 1 , wherein a polymer blend with a content of at least one intrinsically conductive polymer is used as the intrinsically conductive polymer.  
     
     
         13 . The process according to  claim 1 , wherein the base layer contains a material selected from the group consisting of epoxide, epoxide composite, Teflon, cyanate ester, ceramic, cellulose, cellulose composite, cardboard and polyimide.  
     
     
         14 . The process according to  claim 1 , wherein the base layer has a layer thickness of 0.1 to 3 mm.  
     
     
         15 . The process according to  claim 1 , wherein the base layer has a layer thickness of 5 to 210 μm.  
     
     
         16 . The process according to  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 (4) applying a metal or alloy layer, which is positioned between the layer applied in step (1) and the layer applied in step (3).    
     
     
         17 . The process according to  claim 16 , wherein the layer applied in step (4) contains a material selected from the group consisting of silver, tin, gold, palladium and platinum.  
     
     
         18 . The process according to  claim 16 , wherein the layer applied in step (4) has a layer thickness of 10 to 800 nm.  
     
     
         19 . A method of preparing a printed circuit board comprising using a dispersion which contains a dispersion medium which is liquid at room temperature and contains an electrically conductive polymer, to prevent one of the corrosion of the printed circuit board and loss of the solderability of the printed circuit board.  
     
     
         20 . The method according to  claim 19 , wherein the dispersion contains at least one further component, which is selected from a group consisting of electrically non-conductive components, complexing agents, viscosity modifiers, flow aids, drying aids, gloss improvers, and flatting agents.  
     
     
         21 . The method according to  claim 19 , wherein the dispersion medium contains at least one of water and an organic solvent miscible with water.