William blum coined the term electroless for this auto. The electroless copper process is a series of steps required to accomplish electroless copper deposition, each step is critical to the overall process. Electroless plating is an autocatalytic process more useful than electroplating for the. The electroless copper deposition process developed in this study may open up a new route of plating on plastics pop for printed circuit boards, electromagnetic interference shielding, and many. The purpose of this chapter is not to detail the fabrication. Chapter electroless copper in printed wiring board fabrication. Vertical electroless copper metallization macdermid. I am new to copper plating and am looking to plate some metallized plastics in my laboratory. Developments in electroless copper processes to improve. Written by leading experts in the field electroless copper and nickelphosphorus plating. Electroless copper has been the manufacturing standard for over 30 years, and we have been there since the beginning.
Im having difficulty locating specific information. We do not process jewelry, personal handguns, hardware or provide. The first step in the plating process is the chemical deposition of a very thin layer of copper on the hole walls. Processing, characterisation and modelling is an invaluable guide for researchers studying electroless deposits or. Sharretts plating only provides metal finishing services to the industrial and commercial marketplace. The reducing agent was formaldehyde and the substrate was. Electroless plating, on the other hand, utilizes a simpler process. The purpose of this chapter is not to detail the fabrication of printed wiring boards, but rather to detail the important aspects of electroless copper. Copper plating process control by sem article pdf available in advanced materials and processes 1602. Electroless nickel, alloy, composite and nano coatings a. Electro nickel plating also known as nickel electrodeposition, is becoming an increasingly popular process for a variety of different manufacturing applications. Electroless nickel plating an overview electroless nickel plating is offered by advanced plating technologies in both type iv medium phosphorous 69% p and type v high phosphorous 1014%.
Components electroless nickel en plating is undoubtedly the most important catalytic plating process in use today. A high reliability, stressfree copper deposit for fpc. Electroless copper plating baths include alternative reducing agents to the conventional reducing agents currently used in the electroless plating industry. Studies of electroless copper plating on poplar veneer. This process can obtain an electroless plating or deposition of a ductile, bright layer of copper on various surfaces such as insulating members, metal, ceramic, and other supporting surfaces. Circuposit electroless copper fullbuild electroless copper uniform, bright electroless copper activator activator 472 ionic palladium activator, activation of copper for electroless nickel. A copperformaldehyde electroless plating process is a perfect example of such a case.
New to electroless copper plating, need specific info 2000. Submerge the wafer to be plated into an electrolyte bath, apply a current, and copper ions will migrate and deposit onto regions with a pre. Electroless copper plating, however, offers advantages over electrolytic plating that make it the method of choice in certain cases. Electroless nickel plating is a form of alloy treatment designed to increase resistance and hardness in a metal or plastic. The deposition rate and deposit properties of electroless copper plating depend on the copper complexing agent, reducing agent, bath temperature and ph. Electroless copper plating, however, offers advantages over electrolytic plating that make it the method. Pdf recent progress in electroless plating of copper. New to electroless copper plating, need specific info. The electroless nickel plating process is simpler than its counterpart electroplating. A working knowledge of the chemistry of the electroless process, coupled with the selection of the proper pretreatment. The anodic reaction is the oxidation of the reducing agent formaldehyde.
After each process step, the plastic is rinsed with water to prevent carryover of solution from one bath to another. Highend applications like plating of integrated circuit ic substrate interconnects require. Pdf new electroless copper plating bath using sodium. Electroless copper plates much more slowly, and is a much more expensive process, than electrolytic copper plating.
The chemical reduction potential of the electroless nickel plating reaction can be affected by many factors. The principal reasons for its widespread commercial and industrial use are to be found in the unique properties of the en deposits. It takes place in an electrolytic cell where electrolysis which uses direct electric current to dissolve a. The pretreatment process,composition of electroless a copper bath and the operating conditions are shown in table 1 and 2. The component is treated with chemicals to remove oils and other corrosive elements, and is then activated with an acid etch or. The electroplating of plastics follows the same cycle as that described for decorative chromium electroplating.
Autocatalytic electroless plating, also known as electroless plating, is a plating process which involves deposition without any current applied. The concept of copper electroplating is straightforward. Surface modification with copper by electroless deposition technique. Electroless copper process improvements as shown in table 2, the pcb roadmap for mobile applications shows a general reduction in microvia diameter, which will also come with a reduction on surface copper thickness in order to achieve the desired reduction in trace width. Copper is plated onto a substrate from an electroless plating bath having a mix potential relative to a saturated calomel electrode of about minus 630 to about minus 675 millivolts at a temperature of.
Early innovations led to the development of the msystemsm85, our highly successful. The metal plating process involves creating an outer coating of nickel, copper, chromium or other metal to inhibit corrosion or to enhance the appearance of the parent metal. Electroless nickel plating per milc26074, astm b733, ams. The objective was to minimize the ionic and organic. Chapter 12 fundamental aspects of electroless copper plating tau. Copper plating is the process of plating a layer of copper electrolytically on the surface of an item. Electroless plating, immersion plating, and mirroring 75 fundamental principles 75 applications of electroless plating 79 innovations in mirroring and immersion plating 84 chapter 7. Rochelles salt is commonly produced as a byproduct during electroless copper plating. Electroless copper plating, however, offers advantages over electrolytic plating that. Electroless copper plating an overview sciencedirect topics. During the 195459 period, gutzeit 1719 at gatc general american transportation corporation worked on full scale. Electrolytic copper plating additives and contaminants. The process consists of pretreatment, alkaline cleaning, and acid dipping, which were described previously. The electroless deposition process has several advantages over electroplating such as unlimited throwing power, little or no excess deposit on high points.
The deposition rate and deposit properties of electroless copper plating depend on the copper complexing agent, reducing. Electroless copper plating is used to plate holes to make pths and vias. A sustainable electroless copper coating process was developed for plating automotive fasteners shaped from aisi 9255 low carbon, high silicon steel. Results and discussion our previous research showed that exfoliation of. Particles present in electroless copper solution act as nuclei for seeding. The nickel plating process has been modified to produce molds for the blow molding, thermoforming, and rotational molding industries. Electroless plating, also known as chemical or autocatalytic plating, is a nongalvanic plating method that involves several simultaneous reactions in an aqueous solution, which occur without the use of. Chapter the fundamental aspects of electroless nickel plating.
Plating on plastics and metal finishing technologies. Today en has grown into a very substantial segment of the metal products finishing industry. Electroless copper plating using sodium hypophosphite as the reducing agent in place of formaldehyde is attractive because of its low ph, low cost, and relative safety, compared with high ph formaldehyde. Edta has been one of the most widely used chelating agents in. We employed an electroless copper plating process 18. Electroless copper plating an overview sciencedirect. Electroless plating is a method of plating metal by chemical rather than electrical means, in which the piece to be plated is immersed in a reducing agent that, when catalyzed by certain. Electroplating is an electrolytic process for depositing a layer of metal upon a substrate to enhance the appearance or properties of the component. Traditional electroless copper plating solutions often use formaldehyde as the reducing agent because of its low cost and the high quality of the deposit 38. The invention relates to a new and improved process for the electroless plating of copper, and to a novel and improved electroless copper plating bath. Electroless cu plating microelectronics applications.
Electroless copper plating is widely used for the fabrica tion of printed. Chapter 3 troubleshooting electroless nickel plating solutions. The process is a chemical reaction and is autocatalytic. Electroless cu plating is used in the electronics industry to obtain conductive layers on bare resins. Electroless copper plates uniformly over all surfaces, regardless of size and shape.
The operator clamps the production panels into the jigs. In electroless copper plating, there is always a tugofwar between the deposition rate and bath stability. All of the chemicals used for desmear, electroless, and electrolytic copper plating were standard dow electronic materials products, except where otherwise noted. It can be improved, however, by adjusting the operating temperature and ph of the bath.
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