Patent ID: 7056748

Claim:
A method of depositing gold at one or more sites on a substrate, comprising: (a) providing nucleation centers at said one or more sites on the substrate, wherein said nucleation centers are each coupled to a first member of a recognition group, wherein said recognition group additionally comprises at least a second member capable of binding to the first member of the recognition group, wherein the second member of the recognition group includes or forms said one or more sites, and is bound to the first member of the recognition group, said nucleation centers being selected from the group consisting of a metal particle, a cluster containing metal atoms, a metal-containing complex and molecules containing metal atoms; (b) providing a treatment composition which comprises a soluble gold-providing agent and is kinetically stable so that gold is not deposited unless a nucleation center is present, and wherein said treatment composition comprises an aqueous solution and said gold-providing agent is Au 1 (SCN) 2 ; and (c) contacting said one or more sites with the treatment composition, whereby gold atoms are released from said gold-providing agent and deposited onto said nucleation center to form gold metal deposits at said one or more sites.