• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.23 no.11
• /
• pp.661-665
• /
• 2013

We investigated the characteristics of electroless plated Cu films on screen printed Ag/Anodized Al substrate. Cu plating was attempted using neutral electroless plating processes to minimize damage of the anodized Al substrate; this method used sodium hypophosphite instead of formaldehyde as a reducing agent. The basic electroless solution consisted of $CuSO_4{\cdot}5H_2O$ as the main metal source, $NaH_2PO_2{\cdot}H_2O$ as the reducing agent, $C_6H_5Na_3O_7{\cdot}2H_2O$ and $NH_4Cl$ as the complex agents, and $NiSO_4{\cdot}6H_2O$ as the catalyser for the oxidation of the reducing agent, dissolved in deionized water. The pH of the Cu plating solutions was adjusted using $NH_4OH$. According to the variation of pH in the range of 6.5~8, the electroless plated Cu films were coated on screen printed Ag pattern/anodized Al/Al at $70^{\circ}C$. We investigated the surface morphology change of the Cu films using FE-SEM (Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy). The chemical composition of the Cu film was determined using XPS (X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy). The crystal structures of the Cu films were investigated using XRD (X-ray Diffraction). Using electroless plating at pH 7, the structures of the plated Cu-rich films were typical fcc-Cu; however, a slight Ni component was co-deposited. Finally, we found that the formation of Cu film plated selectively on PCB without any lithography is possible using a neutral electroless plating process.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
• /
• v.40 no.2
• /
• pp.70-76
• /
• 2007

Ni-P-SiC composite coating layers were prepared by electroless plating method and their deposition rate, codeposition of SiC, morphology, surface roughness, hardness, wear and friction properties were investigated. The deposition rate was kept almost constant independent of the concentration of SiC in the plating solution and the codeposition of SiC in the composite coating layer increased with increased concentration of SiC in the plating solution except the early stage. Vickers microhardness increased with respect to the increased codeposition of SiC and the heat treatment at $300^{\circ}C$ in air for 1 hour. It was found that the wear volume decreased with increased up to 50 wt.% of SiC codeposition, and that friction coefficient increased gradually with increased codeposition of SiC. Considering the wear and the friction behaviors, the composite coating layer obtained by using 50 wt.% of SiC codeposition is desirable for the practical application for anti-wear and anti-friction coatings.

• Composites Research
• /
• v.20 no.5
• /
• pp.43-48
• /
• 2007

The absorption and the interference shielding of electromagnetic wave have been very important issues for commercial and military purposes. The stealth technique is one of the most typical applications of electromagnetic wave absorption technology. This study has started for the development of composite fillers containing dielectric and magnetic lossy materials. To improve the electromagnetic characteristics of conductive nano fillers, carbon nanofibers (CNFs) with nickel-phosphorous (Ni-P) or nickel-iron (Ni-Fe) have been fabricated by the electroless plating process. Observations by the electron microscopy (SEM/TEM) and element analyzer (EDS/ELLS) showed the uniform Ni-P and Ni-Fe coated CNFs. The compositions of the plating layers were about Ni-6wt%P and Ni-70wt%Fe, respectively. The average thicknesses of the plating layers were about $50\;{\sim}\;100\;nm$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
• /
• 2000.05a
• /
• pp.15-16
• /
• 2000

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
• /
• v.49 no.1
• /
• pp.54-61
• /
• 2016

Screen printing of commercially available Ag paste is the most widely used method for the front side metallization of Si solar cells. However, the metallization using Ag paste is expensive and needs high temperature annealing for reliable contact. Among many metallization schemes, Ni/Cu/Sn plating is one of the most promising methods due to low contact resistance and mass production, resulting in high efficiency and low production cost. Ni layer serves as a barrier which would prevent copper atoms from diffusion into the silicon substrate. However, Ni based schemes by electroless deposition usually have low thermal stability, and require high annealing process due to phosphorus content in the Ni based films. These problems can be resolved by adding W element in Ni-based film. In this study, Ni-W-P alloys were formed by electroless plating and properties of it such as sheet resistance, resistivity, specific contact resistivity, crystallinity, and morphology were investigated before and after annealing process by means of transmission line method (TLM), 4-point probe, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM).

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.438-442
• /
• 2013

In the present work, electroless plating was used for coating thin films consisting mainly of Ni and P on carbon fiber. Structural changes appeared upon the post-annealing at various temperatures of the Ni-P film on carbon fiber was studied using various analysis methods. Scanning, a flat surface structure of Ni-P film on carbon fiber was found after electroless plating of Ni-P film on carbon fiber without post-annealing, whereas annealing at $350^{\circ}C$ resulted the formation of porous structures. With increasing the annealing temperature to $650^{\circ}C$ with an interval of $50^{\circ}C$, the pore size increased, but the density decreased. X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed the existence of metallic Ni, and Ni-P compounds before post-annealing, whereas the post-annealing resulted in the appearance of NiO peaks, and the decrease in the intensity of the peak of metallic Ni. Using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), phosphorous oxides were detected on the surface upon annealing at $650^{\circ}C$, and $700^{\circ}C$, which can be attributed to the phosphorous compounds originally existing in the deeper layers of the Ni films, which undergo sublimation and escape from the film upon annealing. Escape of phosphorous species from the bulk of Ni-P film upon annealing could leave a porous structure in the Ni films. Porous materials can be of potential applications in diverse fields due to their interesting physical properties such as high surface area, and methods for fabricating porous Ni films introduced here could be easily applied to a large-scale production, and therefore applicable in diverse fields such as environmental filters.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
• /
• 2018.06a
• /
• pp.33.1-33.1
• /
• 2018

pH is expressed mathematically as $pH=-{\log}[H^+]$, is a measure of the hydrogen ion concentration, [$H^+$] to specify the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. The pH scale usually ranges from 0 to 14. Every aqueous solution can be measured to determine its pH value. The pH values below 7.0 express the acidity, above 7.0 are alkalinity and pH 7.0 is a neutral solution. The solution pH can be determined by indicator or by measurement using pH sensor, which measuring the voltage generated between a glass electrode and a reference electrode according to the Nernst Equation. The pH value of solutions depends on the temperature and the activity of contained ions. In nickel electroless plating process, the controlled pH value in some limited ranges are extremely important to achieve optimal deposition rate, phosphorus content as well as solution stability. Basically, nickel electroless plating solution contains of $Ni^{2+}ions$, reducing agent, buffer and complexing agents. The plating processes are normally carried out at $82-92^{\circ}C$. However, the change of its pH values with temperatures does not follow any rule. Thus, the purpose of study is to understand the relationship between pH and temperature of some based solutions and electroless nickel plating solutions. The change of pH with changing temperatures is explained by view of the thermal dynamic and the practical measurements.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.175-182
• /
• 1993

Electroless plating of nickel was studied electrochemically in the presence of complexing agents. Nickel sulfate solution with dimethylamine borance(DMAB) as the reducing agent was used. Effects of temperature pH, concentration and complexing agents-citric acid, EDTA, tartaric acid-were studied.Experimental meas-urements showed that the rate of electroless nickel deposition was closely related to electrochemical parame-ters such as temdperature, pH, concentration and the properties of complexing agets.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
• /
• 2003.05a
• /
• pp.80-81
• /
• 2003

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.103-113
• /
• 1991

Electroless Ni-Cu-P alloy plating of Al base hard disk was performed to investigate some properties according to the change of composition. It was found that the composition of Ni and Cu in deposits changed linearly with increasing the mole ratio of NiSO4.6H2O/CuSO4.5H2O. The increase in hardness by heat - treatment was confirmed to be associated with small size grained crystallization of the amorphous deposits. Acid resistance of all deposits layer. which had been heated up to 30$0^{\circ}C$, was found to be exellent when immersed in 1N-H2SO4 solution, and it showed more superior acid resistance with decreasing Cu content and with increasing P. The resistivity of the deposits heat treated became smaller at temperature more than 50$0^{\circ}C$, and it became largerly with increasing P content. Cu 44.1wt% alloy(C bath) showed the most superior non-magnetically stable characteristics after heat treatment. It was superiorly with higher temperature and with decreasing P content.