Patent ID: 8721864

Claim:
A method of producing a metal covered polyimide composite, comprising the steps of: forming a tie-coat layer and a metal seed layer on a surface of a polyimide film by electroless plating or a drying method; after said forming step, feeding the polyimide film around a plating drum so as to submerge the polyimide film in an electroplating solution within an electroplating bath; during said feeding step, electroplating two or three electroplated layers of copper or copper alloy on the metal seed layer, during said electroplating step, the metal seed layer of the polyimide film functioning as a cathode and a plurality of anodes being arranged to face the plating drum within the electroplating bath and to define a plurality of electroplating zones in which current density is independently controllable; electrically connecting two adjacent electroplating zones within the electroplating bath; and adjusting a gap between the two adjacent electrically-connected electroplating zones such that the gap is equal to or less than half a distance between anodes of the two adjacent electrically-connected electroplating zones and the polyimide film on the plating drum.