• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.202-214
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• 2022

Internal connections between device, package and external terminals for connecting packaging and printed circuit board are normally manufactured by electroless Ni-P plating followed by immersion Au plating (ENIG process) to ensure the connection reliability. In this study, a new non-cyanide-based immersion and electroless Au plating solutions using thiomalic acid as a complexing agent and aminoethanethiol as a reducing agent was investigated on different underlayer electroless Ni-P plating layers. As a result, it was confirmed that the deposition behavior and film properties of electroless Au plating are affected by grain size and impurity of the electroless Ni-P film, which is used as the plating underlayer. Au plating on the electroless Ni-P plating film with a dense surface structure showed the highest bonding strength. In addition, the electroless Au plating film on the Ni-P plating film has a smaller particle size exhibited higher bonding strength than that on the large particle size.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.3-13
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• 1995

Electroless Ni and Cu platings were conducted on $B_4C$ and SiC. In the electroless Ni plating, the deposition rate on $B_4C$ was higher than on SiC. However, the electroless Cu deposition occured with high deposition rate regardless of the carbide substrates used in this study. Uniformity of the deposits was better in the electroless Cu deposition than in the electroless Ni deposition. In the topographies of the electroless depositions, Ni deposits have grown as colony, whereas Cu deposits have grown as fine individual grains.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.24 no.11
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• pp.632-638
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• 2014

We investigated the effects of DMAB (Borane dimethylamine complex, C2H10BN) in electroless Ni-B film with addition of DMAB as reducing agent for electroless Ni plating. The electroless Ni-B films were formed by electroless plating of near neutral pH (pH 6.5 and pH 7) at $50^{\circ}C$. The electroless plated Ni-B films were coated on screen printed Ag pattern/PET (polyethylene terephthalate). According to the increase of DMAB (from 0 to 1 mole), the deposition rate and the grain size of electroless Ni-B film increased and the boron (B) content also increased. In crystallinity of electroless Ni-B films, an amorphization reaction was enhanced in the formation of Ni-B film with an increasing content of DMAB; the Ni-B film with < 1 B at.% had a weak fcc structure with a nano crystalline size, and the Ni-B films with > 5 B at.% had an amorphous structure. In addition, the Ni-B film was selectively grown on the printed Ag paste layer without damage to the PET surface. From this result, we concluded that formation of electroless Ni-B film is possible by a neutral process (~green process) at a low temperature of $50^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.299-307
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• 2022

Gold plating is used as a coating of connector in printed circuit boards, ceramic integrated circuit packages, semiconductor devices and so on, because the film has excellent electric conductivity, solderability and chemical properties such as durability to acid and other chemicals. In most cases, internal connection between device and package and external terminals for connecting packaging and printed circuit board are electroless Ni-P plating followed by immersion Au plating (ENIG) to ensure connection reliability. The deposition behavior and film properties of electroless Au plating are affected by P content, grain size and mixed impurity components in the electroless Ni-P alloy film used as the underlayer plating. In this study, the correlation between electroless nickel plating used as a underlayer layer and cyanide-free electroless Au plating using thiomalic acid as a complexing agent and aminoethanethiol as a reducing agent was investigated.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.121-127
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• 1986

There are many plating methods already commercially employed in te surface technology. One of the plating methods is electroless (chemical) plating, which is deposited by auto-catalytic reduction of metallic ion with the reducing agent in the plating bath. And it has many advantages comparing with electrolytic plating in respect of properties of deposit, such as corrosion resistance, wear resistance, uniformity, hardness, adhesion and so on. So, electroless plating is the fatest growing process in metallization of plastic and electronic industry. The properties and numerous applications of electroless deposits are attracting more and more attention from finish specifies. Many metal finishers are considering set-up of new electroless line in their shops. This review will be beneficial to domestic metal finishers to understand the real status of present electroless plating technology. It will also provide some knowledge on the economic aspect of electroless plating for the commercial application of specific parts.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.487-495
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• 1999

In order to form metallic electrodes on PZT (Pb (Zr, Ti)O$_3$) ceramics, plating conditions for optimal electroless Ni deposition were investigated. Pb in PZT is the major component to inhibit the electroless deposition, because it plays a active role of catalytic poison in plating solution. Adhesion of the electroless Ni deposits is measured by push-pull scale test and peel test. Results such as deposition ability, deposition rate, and thickness of deposits showed in terms of concentration of etchant, composition of catalyzing solution, and composition and pH of electroless bath solution.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.331-335
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• 1999

Electroless plating nickel has superior mechanical property to electroplated nickel. Furthermore nickel can be coated on nonconducting substrate. In this research, electroless plating of nickel were conducted in different bath condition to find optimum conditions of electroless nickel plating for MEMS applications. The selectivity of activation method on several substrates was investigated. The effects of nickel concentration, reducing agent concentration and inhibitor on deposition rate were investigated. The effect of pH on deposition rate and content of phosphorous in deposited nickel was also investigated.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.264-268
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• 2015

Cu films were plated in an eco-friendly electroless bath (No-Formaldehyde) on Ni/screen printed Ag pattern/PET substrate. For electroless Cu plating, we used sodium-phosphinate ($NaH_2PO_2{\cdot}H_2O$) as reducing agent instead of Formaldehyde. All processes were carried out in electroless solution of pH 7 to minimize damage to the PET substrate. According to the increase of sodium-phosphinate, the deposition rate, the granule size, and rms roughness of the electroless Cu film increased and the Ni content also increased. The electroless Cu films plated using 0.280 M and 0.575 M solutions of sodium-phosphinate were made with Cu of 94 at.% and 82 at.%, respectively, with Ni and a small amount P. All electroless Cu plated films had typical FCC crystal structures, although the amount of co-deposited Ni changed according to the variation of the sodium-phosphinate contents. From these results, we concluded that a formation of higher purity Cu film without surface damage to the PET is possible by use of sodium-phosphinate at pH 7.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.03a
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• pp.86-86
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• 2003

Copper has attracted much attention in the deep submicron ULSI metallization process as a replacement for aluminum due to its lower resistivity and higher electromigration resistance. Electroless copper deposition method is appealing because it yields conformal, high quality copper at relatively low cost and a low processing temperature. In this work, it was investigated that effect of the microstructure of the substrate on the electroless deposition. The mechanism of the nucleation and growth of the palladium nuclei during palladium activation was proposed. Electroless copper deposition on TiN barriers using glyoxylic acid as a reducing agent was also investigated to replace toxic formaldehyde. Furthermore, electroless copper deposition on TaN$\sub$x/ barriers was examined at various nitrogen flow rate during TaN$\sub$x/ deposition. Finally, it was investigated that the effect of plasma treatment of as-deposited TaN$\sub$x/ harriers on the electroless copper deposition.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.1-6
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• 2016

In this article, the recent developments in electroless plating of copper, electroless bath formulation and effect of plating parameters have been reviewed. Cyanide free electroless baths are now being developed and studied due to the various environmental concerns. Various organic chemicals such as complexing agents, reducing agents, and additives such as poly-alcohols and aromatic ring compounds have been added to copper plating baths for promising results. The effects of various reducing and complexing agents, bath conditions like additives, bath pH, and composition have been summarized. Finally the applications of the electroless plating of copper and latest developments have been overviewed for further guidance in this field.