Abstract
Electroless gold plating in an alkaline bath containing potassium borohydride as the reducing agent has been found to produce tightly adherent plated films on 
, 
, 
, and 
. In this process, the substrate is activated in an acidified solution of palladium chloride prior to plating. The same process applied to Si or Ge produces poorly adherent films. A transmission electron microscope study of activated 
and Si surfaces revealed markedly different morphology and distribution of Pd grains on these two substrates. The adhesion of the subsequently plated electroless gold is discussed in terms of these observations and a model involving atomic interactions at interfaces.