A solvent containing an organic or inorganic metal compound containing a metal catalyst that serves as a plating seed is applied to a plastic substrate and dried, thereby forming a metal compound film, and then, the metal compound film is irradiated with an energy beam, such as an electron beam, to precipitate the metal catalyst. By irradiating a local area of the metal compound film with the energy beam, the chemical reaction of metal catalyst precipitation can be caused locally in the irradiated area, and thus, a patterned metal catalyst film can be formed. Once the substrate is irradiated with the energy beam, the surface may be molten to trap the metal catalyst to an extremely shallow depth, so that the bonding between the substrate and the metal catalyst is enhanced. Thus, the metal catalyst film becomes harder to peel off the substrate.