A mono-layer of nano-sized metal particles was prepared on the surface of a polyimide film by simply depositing a thin film of Ni80Fe20 on top of the polyamic acid that was spin coated onto a Si wafer. During thermal imidization of the polyamic acid film, Fe was selectively etched by reacting with the carbonyl group of the polyamic acid to leave behind uniformly distributed Ni-rich metallic particles. The average diameter of the particles was 4 nm and the particles were confined into a single layer on top of the polymer film. Moreover, it was also shown that the morphology of the nanoparticles can be substantially altered by curing the precursor film in a hydrogen atmosphere, without significantly damaging the polymer film. Thus produced nanoparticles lay exposed on top of the electrically insulating and chemically stable polymer film so that it is possible that the nanoparticles can be directly used for fabricating a nonvolatile flash memory device or as a template for building functional nano-structures. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.