A process to coat submicron structures in paraffin resists, selectively with metals in a single vacuum cycle (all-dry process), is demonstrated. The process includes the evaporation of paraffin on to a support, the generating of crosslinked areas by irradiation with electrons, the developing of the structure by heating the resist film, and finally a selective coating with metal. The degree of crosslinking of the paraffin film has a remarkably influence on the nucleation density of the metal and allows us to control on a very fine scale the area on which the metal is deposited.