Patent ID: 7494926

Claim:
A method for forming a highly conductive metal pattern on a flexible plastic substrate, comprising the steps of: forming a latent pattern acting as a nucleus for crystal growth on a base substrate, and growing initial metal crystals on the latent pattern by plating to form a metal pattern; transferring the metal pattern to a first adhesive-treated flexible plastic substrate; wherein the step of forming a metal pattern includes the sub-steps of: coating a photocatalytic compound on the base substrate to form a photocatalytic film, wherein the photocatalytic compound is a Ti-containing organic compound forming a water-soluble polymer layer on the Ti-containing organic compound layer; selectively exposing the photocatalytic film to light to form a latent pattern acting as a nucleus for crystal growth; and growing metal crystals on the latent pattern by plating the latent pattern to form the metal pattern; and growing additional metal crystals on the latent pattern to form another metal pattern for transfer to a second adhesive-treated flexible plastic substrate.