• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.77-82
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• 2022

During etching process of PCB, the electroplated copper line and seed layer copper have different etching rates and it caused the over etching of copper line as well as undercut of lines. In this research, the effects of etchants composition on copper etching characteristics were investigated. The optimum concentration of hydrogen peroxide and sulfuric acid of etchants were obtained using polarization and OCV (open circuit voltage) analysis for both rolled copper and electroplated copper. The inhibiting effects of different inhibitors were investigated using OCV and ZRA (zero resistance ammeter) analysis. The galvanic current between electroplated copper and seed layer copper were measured using ZRA method. Inhibitors for least galvanic current could be chosen based on galvanic coupling in ZRA analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.38-43
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• 2019

Electrochemical etching is a popular process to apply metal patterning in various industries. In this study, the electrochemical etching using a patterned copper layer was proposed to fabricate multilayered structures. The process consists of electrodeposition, laser patterning, and electrochemical etching, and a repetition of this process enables the production of multilayered structures. In the fabrication of a multilayered structure, an etch factor that reflects the etched depth and pattern size should be considered. Hence, the etch factor in the electrochemical etching process using the copper layer was calculated. After the repetition process of electrochemical etching using copper layers, the surface characteristics of the workpiece were analyzed by EDS analysis and surface profilometer. As a result, multilayered structures with various shapes were successfully fabricated via electrochemical etching using copper layers.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.31 no.10
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• pp.569-575
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• 2021

The reactivity evaluation of copper is performed using ethylenediamine, aminoethanol, and piperidine to apply organic chelators to copper etching. It is revealed that piperidine, which is a ring-type chelator, has the lowest reactivity on copper and copper oxide and ethylenediamine, which is a chain-type chelator, has the highest reactivity via inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS). Furthermore, it is confirmed that the stable complex of copper-ethylenediamine can be formed during the reaction between copper and ethylenediamine using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and radio-thin layer chromatography. As a final evaluation, the copper reactivity is evaluated by wet etching using each solution. Scanning electron micrographs reveal that the degree of copper reaction in ethylenediamine is stronger than that in any other chelator. This result is in good agreement with the evaluation results obtained by ICP-MS and NMR. It is concluded that ethylenediamine is a prospective etch gas for the dry etching of the copper.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.349-359
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• 2012

To reveal localized plastic deformation zones in a tough pitch copper, the etching characteristics of a copper sample have been examined. The etching was carried out on a sample surface using an etchant consisting of 25 ml nitric acid solution and 75 ml water. To clarify the plastic deformation zone, the sample deformed plastically was heated to between $250^{\circ}C$ and $300^{\circ}C$ before the etching process. This is due to a change of the microstructure and crystal orientation in the plastic deformation zone producing recrystallized small grains. In this case, the plastically deformed zone is severely etched, whereas the undeformed zone is only slightly etched. Identification of the details of the deformation zone from the etching is further discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.512-521
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• 2015

In this research, environmental friendly organic acid containing microetching system to improve adhesion strength between photoresist resin and Copper Clad Laminate(CCL) was developed without using strong oxidant $H_2O_2$. Etching rate and surface contamination on CCL were examined with various etching conditions with different etchants, organic acids and additives. to develope an optimum microetching condition. Etching solution with 0.04 M acetic acid showed the highest etching rate $0.4{\mu}m/min$. Etching solution with the higher concentration of APS showed the higher etching rate but surface contamination on CCL is very serious. In addition, stabilizer solution also played an important role to control the surface contamination. As a result of research, the etching solution containing 0.04 M of acetic acid, 0.1 M of APS with 4 g/L of stabilizer solution(ST-1) was best to improve adhesion between CCL and photoresist resin as well as showed the most clean and rough surface with the etching rate of $0.37{\mu}m/min$.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.410-415
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• 1999

The adhesion strength of sputtered copper films to Inconel substrates has been studied using the scratch test. The effects of substrate treatments before deposition such as chemical or ion bombardment etching were investigated by means of a mean critical load derived from a Weibull-like statistical analysis. It was found that the mean critical load was very weak unless the amorphous layer produced by mechanical polishing on the substrate surface was eliminated. Chemical etching in a nitric-hydrochloric acid bath was shown to have practically no effect on the enhancement of the adhesion. In contrast, the addition in this bath of nickel and copper sulphates allowed removal of the amorphous layer and an increase in the values of the mean critical load. However, it was observed that excessive chemical etching could cancel out the mean critical load enhancement. The results obtained in the case of ion bombardment etching pretreatments could be far higher than those obtained with chemical etching. Moreover, for a sufficiently long period of ion bombardment etching, the adhesion strength was so high that it was impossible to observe evidence of an adhesion failure.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.20 no.B
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• pp.77-86
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• 2000

In order to observe the pattern forming of copper plate and chemical corrosion reaction, a study on the effect of the process parameters on the formation of micro-pattern by a photochemical etching of copper plate was carried out. The results are as follows : 1) Etching rate increases as the concentration of etchant increases under the regular condition of the temperature by the increasing of diffusion rate to surface. 2) Etching rate increases as the temperature of etchant increases by the fast acting of the material delivery of diffusion to surface under the regular condition of concentration. 3) It was found that etching speed increases as the material delivery of convection rising increased when the aeration speed of etchant increases. This result was from the fact acted by the material delivery of convection rising rather than material delivery of diffusion to the surface.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.162-171
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• 2021

Dry etching of copper thin films is performed using high density plasma of ethylenediamine (EDA)/hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP)/Ar gas mixture. The etch rates, etch selectivities and etch profiles of the copper thin films are improved by adding HFIP to EDA/Ar gas. As the EDA/HFIP concentration in EDA/HFIP/Ar increases, the etch rate of copper thin films decreases, whereas the etch profile is improved. In the EDA/HFIP/Ar gas mixture, the optimal ratio of EDA to HFIP is investigated. In addition, the etch parameters including ICP source power, dc-bias voltage, process pressure are varied to examine the etch characteristics. Optical emission spectroscopy results show that among all species, [CH], [CN] and [H] are the main species in the EDA/HFIP/Ar plasma. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results indicate the formation of CuCN compound and C-N-H-containing polymers during the etching process, leading to a good etch profile. Finally, anisotropic etch profiles of the copper thin films patterned with 150 nm scale are obtained in EDA/HFIP/Ar gas mixture.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.92-99
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• 2013

In this study the nanofiltration (NF) membrane treatment of a sulfuric acid waste solutions containing copper ion ($Cu^{+2}$) discharging from the etching processes of the printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing industry has been studied for the recycling of acid etching solution. SelRO MPS-34 4040 NF membrane from Koch company was tested to obtain the basic NF data for recycling of etching solution and separation efficiency (total rejection) of copper ion. NF experiments were carried out with a dead-end membrane filtration laboratory system. The pure water flux was increased with the increasing storage time in sulfuric acid solution and lowering pH of acid solution because of the enhancement of NF membrane damage by sulfuric acid. The permeate flux of acid solution was decreased with the increasing copper ion concentration. Total rejection of copper ion was decreased with the increasing storage time in sulfuric acid solution and copper ion concentration, and lowering the pH of acid solution. The total rejection of copper ion was decreased from initial 37% to 15% minimum value.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.97-103
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• 2007

A novel selective metallization process to fabricate the fine conductive line based on inkjet printing has been investigated. Recently, Inkjet printing has been widely used in flat panel display, electronic circuits, biochips and bioMEMS because direct inkjet printing is an alternative and cost-effective technology for patterning and fabricating objects directly from design without masks. The photosensitive etching resist used in this process is an organic polymer which becomes solidified when exposed to ultraviolet lights and has high viscosity at ambient temperature. A piezoelectric-driven inkjet printhead is used to dispense 20-30 ${\mu}m$ diameter droplets onto the copper substrate to prevent subsequent etching. Repeatability of circuitry fabrication is closely related to the formation of steady droplets, adhesion between etching resist and copper substrate. Therefore, the ability to form small and stable droplets and surface topography of the copper surface and chemical attack must be taken into consideration for fine and precise patterns. In this study, factors affecting the pattern formation such as adhesion strength, etching mechanism, UV curing have been investigated. As a result, microscale copper patterns with tens of urn high have been fabricated.