• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.328-332
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• 2011

The formation of front metal contact silicon solar cells is required for low cost, low contact resistance to silicon surface. One of the front metal contacts is Ni/Cu plating that it is available to simply and inexpensive production to apply mass production. Ni is shown to be a suitable barrier to Cu diffusion into the silicon. The process of Ni electroless plating on front silicon surface is performed using a chemical bath. Additives and buffer agents such as ammonium chloride is added to maintain the stability and pH control of the bath. Ni deposition rate is found to vary with temperature, time, utilization of bath. The experimental result shown that Ni layer by SEM (scanning electron microscopy) and EDX analysis. Finally, plated Ni/Cu contact solar cell result in an efficiency of 17.69% on $2{\times}2\;cm^2$, Cz wafer.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.263-271
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• 2003

Optimal conditions of electroless nickel plating in acid baths has been studied for industrial applications of a developed EN solution. The phosphorus content in the deposition ranges from 8 to $12\;wt.\%$. The investigated EN plating parameters are ion concentrations of nickel and hypophosphite, concentration of reducing and complexing agent, temperature, and pH. The average plating rate of Ni-P deposition was ca. $14{\mu}m/h$. The EN solution used shows a deposition rate of $10{\mu}m/h$ up to seven metal turnovers.

• Clean Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.63-69
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• 2003

The metal finishing industry generates a variety of pollutants such as acidic or alkaline wastewater, chromic compounds, cyanide, heavy metals, and toxic materials. Especially, zinc plating process is one of the processes which cause serious environmental problems. In this study, we applied the proven optimum technology to important unit processes in terms of implement effects through the process diagnosis and analysis. This study aimed to improve the working environment and the environmental pollutions in zinc plating process.

• 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.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.90-100
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• 2010

Micro-conductive patterns were microfabricated on an insulating substrate ($SiO_2$) surface by a selective electroless nickel plating process in order to investigate the formation of seed layers. To fabricate micro-conductive patterns, a thin layer of metal (Cu.Cr) was deposited in the desired micropattern using laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT). and above this layer, a second layer was plated by selective electroless plating. The LIFT process. which was carried out in multi-scan mode, was used to fabricate micro-conductive patterns via electroless nickel plating. This method helps to improve the deposition process for forming seed patterns on the insulating substrate surface and the electrical conductivity of the resulting patterns. This study analyzes the effect of seed pattern formation by LIFT and key parameters in electroless nickel plating during micro-conductive pattern fabrication. The effects of the process variables on the cross-sectional shape and surface quality of the deposited patterns are examined using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and an optical microscope.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.217-221
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• 2015

Developing a metallization that has low cost and high efficiency is essential in solar-cell industries, to replace expensive silver-based metallization. Ni/Cu two-step metallization is one way to reduce the cost of solar cells, because the price of copper is about 100 times less than that of silver. Alkaline electroless plating was used for depositing nickel seed layers on the front electrode area. Prior to the nickel deposition process, 2% HF solution was used to remove native oxide, which disturbs uniform nickel plating. In the subsequent step, a nickel sintering process was carried out in $N_2$ gas atmosphere; however, copper was plated by light-induced plating (LIP). Plated nickel has different properties under different bath conditions because nickel electroless plating is a completely chemical process. In this paper, plating bath conditions such as pH and temperature were varied, and the metal layer's structure was analyzed to investigate the adhesion of Ni/Cu metallization. Average adhesion values in the range of 0.2-0.49 N/mm were achieved for samples with no nickel sintering process.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.26-29
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• 2004

Metal plated plastics are becoming more prevalent in materials of communication parts. A new technique MmSH is a process of injecting plastics to produce innovated physical properties compared to the conventional injection process. This study involves two ways of coating plastics Ni by electroless plating and varying bath and plasma treatment for improved adhesion strength between plating layer and surface. MmSH injection processed ASS with plasma treated after neutralization showed a superior adhesion force and a gloss and rate of deposition when it was in pH 7.5. On the other hand, conventional injection processed ASS was in pH 6.5.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.67-72
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• 1999

Optimal pretreatment processes for metal plating on engineering plastics, especially on Nylon-inorganic filler alloy was studied. For Nylon-inorganic filler alloy, adhesion strength between resin surface and metal could be improved by just etching process that eliminate amorphous layer. In the SEM picture and surface roughness measurement, etching treatment was found to make enabled the surface condition very rough and the adhesion strength good. It was also found that the surface condition of plated article and its adhesion strength partly depended upon molding condition of Nylon-inorganic filler alloy. EDS, peaks showed that what kinds of and how much of the metal elements remained on the resin surface after pretreatment processes. Cr did not affect on adsorption of Sn and Pd remarkably.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2006.09a
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• pp.604-605
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• 2006

Recently the Marangoni convention is supposed to be an important phenomenon that significantly affects the solidification. For understanding the Marangoni convection mechanism, visualizing the convention phenomenon of molten tin with ultrasonic has been conducted. This paper reports developing a tracer material of micro metal balloon that is used in the molten system. We have succeeded in coating the surface of Shirasu-ballons with nickel by plating process. The obtained metal balloon is spherical and some characterizations were conducted.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.110-114
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• 2011

Polymeric films of high chemical stability and mechanical strength covered with a thin metallic film have been extensively used in various fields as electric and electronic materials. In this study, we have chosen polypropylene (PP) as the polymer due to its outstanding chemical resistance and good creep resistance. We coated thin nickel film on PP films by the electroless plating process. The surfaces of PP films were pre-treated and modified to increase the adhesion strength of metal layer on PP films, prior to the plating process, by an environment-friendly process with atmospheric plasma generated using dielectric barrier discharges in air. The surface morphologies of the PP films were observed before and after the surface modification process using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The static contact angles were measured with deionized water droplets. The cross-sectional images of the PP films coated with thin metal film were taken with SEM to see the combined state between metallic and PP films. The adhesion strength of the metallic thin films on the PP films was confirmed by the thermal shock test and the cross-cutting and peel test. In conclusion, we made a composite material of metallic and polymeric films of high adhesion strength.