Method of producing and depositing a metal film

The field of the invention is surface deposition of transition metals. Methods and apparatus are provided in which a metal precursor is formed in a process that includes the following steps: depositing a metal precursor on a substrate; adding an energy to reduce the metal precursor and to precipitate metal on the substrate as a continuous metal layer; and selecting the metal precursor and the energy such that the purity of the continuous metal layer is greater than 85%, and/or the deposited layer has an electrical conductivity substantially that of a pure metal. Methods and apparatus are also provided in which a metal is deposited onto a substrate by a process which includes the following steps: depositing the metal precursor onto the substrate in a desired pattern; and applying sufficient energy to decompose the precursor to precipitate metal in a continuous metal layer in the desired pattern.