• 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.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.32 no.9
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• pp.361-368
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• 2022

The overall process, from the pre-treatment of aluminum substrates to the eco-friendly neutral electroless Ni-P plating process, was observed, compared, and analysed. To remove the surface oxide layer on the aluminum substrate and aid Ni-P plating, a zincation process was carried out. After the second zincation treatment, it was confirmed that a mostly uniform Zn layer was formed and the surface oxide of aluminum was also removed. The Ni-P electroless plating films were formed on the secondary zincated aluminum substrate using electroless plating solutions of pH 4.5 and neutral pH 7.0, respectively, while changing the plating bath temperature. When a neutral pH7.0 electroless solution was used, the Ni-P plating layer was uniformly formed even at the plating bath temperature of 50 ℃, and the plating speed was remarkably increased as the bath temperature was increased. On the other hand, when a pH 4.5 Ni-P electroless solution was used, a Ni-P plating film was not formed at a plating bath temperature of 50 ℃, and the plating speed was very slow compared to pH 7.0, although plating speed increased with increasing bath temperature. In the P contents, the P concentration of the neutral pH 7.0 Ni-P electroless plating layer was reduced by ~ 42.3 % compared to pH 4.5. Structurally, all of the Ni-P electroless plating layers formed in the pH 4.5 solution and the neutral (pH 7.0) solution had an amorphous crystal structure, as a Ni-P compound, regardless of the plating bath temperature.

• 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.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.107-111
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• 2014

Electroless plated Ni-Co-P films have been used to suppress the electromagnetic waves from magnetic recording media, and the suppression is known to be achieved with films made with optimized plating composition and plating condition. Effects of complexing agents on the deposition rate and bath stability of Ni-Co-P film were studied using sodium citrate, sodium tartrate and multi-complex agents containing both of them. Deposition of electroless Ni-Co-P platings was dependent upon the complexing agents. Deposition rate was twice when using sodium tartrate compared to that using sodium citrate. And it was slightly slower with multi-complex agents than with sodium tartrate, bath stability being declined in the former. Deposition rate increased with increasing pH until pH 11. Excellent bath stability and good deposition rate were obtained using multi-complex agent as sodium citrate 0.10 mol/L and sodium tartrate 0.15 mol/L in the electroless Ni-Co-P plating films.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.27 no.8
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• pp.409-415
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• 2017

For enhanced cavitation erosion resistance of vessel propellers, an electroless Ni-P plating method was introduced to form a coating layer with high hardness on the surface of Cu alloy (CAC703C) used as vessel propeller material. An electroless Ni-P plating reaction generated by Fe atoms in the Cu alloy occurred, forming a uniform amorphous layer with P content of ~10 wt%. The amorphous layer transformed to (Ni3P+Ni) two phase structure after heat treatment. Cavitation erosion tests following the ASTM G-32 standard were carried out to relate the microstructural changes by heat treatment and the cavitation erosion resistance in distilled water and 3.5 wt% NaCl solutions. It was possible to obtain excellent cavitation erosion resistance through careful microstructural control of the coating layer, demonstrating that this electroless Ni-P plating process is a viable coating process for the enhancement of the cavitation erosion resistance of vessel propellers.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.187-193
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• 2019

Electroless Ni-P coatings are widely used in the chemical, mechanical, and electronic industries because of their excellent wear and abrasion resistance. In this study, the effect of $TiO_2$ particles of composite coating was investigated. To improve the corrosion resistance, electroless $Ni-P-TiO_2$composite coating was studied by varying the $TiO_2$ content. The morphology and phase structure of $Ni-P-TiO_2$ composite coatings were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy(SEM), X-ray diffractometry(XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS). The result showed that $Ni-P-TiO_2$composite coating is composed of Ni, P, Ti and O. It exhibits an amorphous structure, high hardness and good corrosion resistance to the substrate. $Ni-P-TiO_2$ composite coatings have higher open circuit potential than that of the substrate, which obtained at $TiO_2$ content of 5.0 g/L optimal integrated properties.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.269-274
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• 2014

Electroless plating process as a solution deposition method is a viable means of preparing conductive metal films on non-conducting substrates through chemical reactions. In the present study, the preparation and properties of electroless Ni-plating on flexible silicone rubber are described. The process has been performed using a conventional Ni(P) chemical bath. Additives and complexing agents such as ammonium chloride and glycine were added and the reaction pH was controlled by NaOH aqueous solution. Ni deposition rate and crystallinity have been found to vary with pH and temperature of the plating bath. It was shown that Ni-films having the high crystallinity, enhanced adhesion and optimum electric conductivity were formed uniformly on silicone rubber substrates under pH 7 at $70^{\circ}C$. The conductive Ni-plated silicone rubber showed a high electromagnetic interference shielding effect in the 400 MHz-1 GHz range.

• 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 the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.29-34
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• 2020

The behavior of brittle fracture of electroless nickel immersion gold (ENIG) /Sn-3.0wt.%Ag-0.5wt.%Cu (SAC305) solder joints was evaluated. The pH of the electroless nickel plating solution for ENIG surface treatment was changed from 4.0 to 5.5. As the pH of the Ni plating solution increased, pin hole in the Ni-P layer increased. The thickness of the interfacial intermetallic compound (IMC) of the solder joint increased with pH of Ni plating solution. The high speed shear strength of the SAC305 solder joint on ENIG surface finish decreased with the pH of the Ni plating solution. In addition, the brittle fracture rate of the solder joint was the highest when the pH of the Ni plating solution was 5.