Patent ID: 7803719

Claim:
A passivating coupling material for passivating a dielectric material and for facilitating metal deposition on such a passivated dielectric material, wherein the passivating coupling material comprises: a first organosilane having the general formula: in which: n 1 is an integer greater than or equal to 1, each Si is a silicon atom; X 1 is a functional group able to react with a surface hydroxyl site of the dielectric material, Y 1 is either: X 3 , which is a further functional group able to react with a surface hydroxyl site of the dielectric material, H, which is a hydrogen atom, or R 1 , which is an organic apolar group; Y 2 is either: X 4 , which is a further functional group able to react with a surface hydroxyl site of the dielectric material, H, which is a hydrogen atom, or R 2 , which is an organic apolar group, B 1 , the presence of which is optional, is a bridging group, Z 1 is either: R 3 , which is an organic apolar group, H, which is a hydrogen atom, or X 5 , which is a hydrolizable functional group, Z 2 is either: R 4 , which is an organic apolar group, H, which is a hydrogen atom, or X 6 , which is a hydrolizable functional group; and X 2 is a hydrolizable functional group; and a second organosilane having a functional group able to react with a hydrolyzed functional group of the first organosilane, and a ligand for providing a metal nucleation site, the second organosilane having the general formula: in which: n 2 is an integer equal to or greater than or equal to 0, each Si is a silicon atom; X 7 is a functional group able to react with a hydrolyzed functional group of the first organosilane molecule, Y 3 is either: X 8 , which is a further functional group able to react with a hydrolyzed functional group of the first organosilane molecule, H, which is a hydrogen atom, or R 5 , which is an organic apolar group; Y 4 is either: X 9 , which is a further functional group able to react with a hydrolyzed functional group of the first organosilane molecule, H, which is a hydrogen atom, or R 6 , which is an organic apolar group, B 2 , the presence of which is optional, is a bridging group, Z 3 is either: R 7 , which is an organic apolar group, H, which is a hydrogen atom, or L 1 , which is a ligand having an electron donor functionality and which is able to act as a metal nucleation site, Z 4 is either: R 8 , which is an organic apolar group, H, which is a hydrogen atom, or L 2 , which is a ligand having an electron donor functionality and which is able to act as a metal nucleation site, and L is a ligand having an electron donor functionality and is able to act as a metal nucleation site, wherein the first and second organosilanes together constitute a composition providing metal nucleation sites that promote electroless metal deposition.