• 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.18 no.4
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• pp.148-153
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• 2019

Pure nickel with a thickness of 1 mm was plated on type 304 stainless steels and low alloy steels (JIS G3131 SPHC) by electrolytic plating method in a circulating plating bath. Plating performance, mechanical properties, and surface characteristics were evaluated in terms of pretreatment process, anode material, pH, current density, and flow rate of the plating solution. Addition of hydrochloric acid during pre-treatment process improved the adhesion performance of plating. To improve plating efficiency, it is desirable to use S-nickel rather than electrolytic nickel. The use of S-nickel was also confirmed to be desirable for maintaining the pH and concentration of the plated solution. The defect of the plating using S-nickel anode produced pit on the surface. However, it is believed that proper control can be obtained by increasing the flow rate. Internal stress and hardness values of electrolytic nickel plating according to current density need to be carried out with further studies.

• 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 Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.88-95
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• 2008

Young's modulus of electroplated nickel thin film is systematically investigated using the resonance method of atomic force microscope. Thin layers of nickel to be measured are electroplated onto the surface of an AFM silicon cantilever and Young's modulus of plated nickel film is investigated as a function of process conditions such as the plating temperature and applied current density. It is found that Young's modulus of plated nickel thin film is as high as that of bulk nickel at low plating temperature or low current density, but decreases with increasing plating temperature or current density. The results imply that the plating rate increases as increasing the plating temperature or current density, therefore, slow plating rate produces a dense plating material due to the sufficient time fur nickel ions to form a dense coating.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.270-274
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• 2001

With Increasing importance of electroless nickel plating technology in many fields such as electronic and automobile industries, the treatment of the spent baths is becoming a serious problem. These spent baths contain iron and zinc as impurities, organic acids as complexing reagents, and phosphonate ions as oxidized species of tile reducing reagent. as well as several grams per liter of nickel. The spent baths are currently treated by conventional precipitation method. but a mettled with no sludge generation is desired. This work aims at establishing a recycling process of nickel from tile spent baths using solvent extraction. Extraction behaviors of nickel. iron. and zinc in various 쇼pes of real spent baths are investigated as a function of pH using LIX841, di (2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid (D2EHPA), and PC88A as tile extractants. Nickel is extracted by LIX84I at the equilibrium pH of more than 6 with high efficiency. For the weakly acid baths. iron and zinc are extracted by D2EHPA or PC88A without adjusting the pH of the baths leaving nickel in the aqueous phase. Stripping of nickel from LIX84I with sulfuric acid is also investigated. It is shown that concentrated nickel sulfate solution (> 100 ㎏-Ni/㎥) is obtained. This solution can be reused in the electroless plating process. Based on these findings, flow sheets for recovering nickel from the spent baths are proposed.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.228-235
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• 2008

Nickel plating thickness increased with the electric current density, and the augmentation was more thick in $6{\sim}10A/dm^2$ than low current. Hull-cell analysis was tested to evaluate the current density. Optimum thickness was obtained at a temperature of $60^{\circ}C$, and the pH fluctuation of 3.5~4.0. Over the Nickel ion concentration of 300 g/L, plating thickness increased with the current density. The rate of decrease in nickel ion concentration was increased with the current density. The quantity of plating electro-deposition was increased at the anode surface, which was correlated with the increase of plating thickness. The plating thickness was increased because of the quick plating speed. However, the condition of the plating surface becomes irregular and the minuteness of nickel plating layer was reduced with the plating rate. After the corrosion test of 25 h, it was resulted in that maintaining low electric current density is desirable for the excellent corrosion resistance in lustered nickel plating. According to the program simulation, the thickness of diffusion layer was increased and the concentration of anode surface was lowered for the higher current densities. The concentration profile showed the regular distribution at low electric current density. The field plating process was controlled by the electric current density and the plating thickness instead of plating time for the productivity. The surface physical property of plating structure or corrosion resistance was excellent in the case of low electric current density.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.61-67
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• 2008

In this paper, electrochemical and microstructural characteristics of nickel-plated Alloy 600 were investigated in order to identify the performance of electroless Ni-plating on Alloy 600 in high-temperature aqueous condition with the comparison of electrolytic nickel-plating. For high temperature corrosion test of nickel-plated Alloy 600, specimens were exposed for 770 hours to typical PWR primary water condition. During the test, open circuit potentials (OCP's) of all specimens were measured using a reference electrode. Also, resistance to flow accelerated corrosion (FAC) test was examined in order to check the durability of plated layers in high-velocity flow environment at high temperature. After exposures to high flow rate aqueous condition, the integrity of surfaces was confirmed by using both scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). For the field application, a remote process for electroless nickel-plating was demonstrated using a plate specimen with narrow gap on a laboratory scale. Finally, a practical seal design was suggested for more convenient application.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.239-244
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• 2019

Plating wastewater containing various heavy metals can be produced by several industries. Specifically, we focused on the removal of copper (Cu2+) and nickel (Ni+) ions from the plating wastewater because all these ions are strictly regulated when discharged into watershed in Korea. The application of both nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) technologies for the treatment of wastewater containing copper and nickel ions to reduce fresh water consumption and environmental degradation was investigated. In this work, the removal of copper (Cu2+) and nickel (Ni+) ions from synthetic water was studied on pilot scale remove by before using two commercial nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis(RO) spiral-wound membrane modules (NE2521-90 and RE2521-FEN by Toray Chemical). The influence of main operating parameters such as feed concentration on the heavy metals rejection and permeate flux of both membranes, was investigated. Synthetic plating wastewater samples containing copper ($Cu^{2+}$) and nickel ($Ni^{2+}$) ions at various concentrations(1, 20, 100, 400 mg/L) were prepared and subjected to treatment by NF and RO in the pilot plant. The results showed that NF, RO process, with 98% and 99% removal for copper and nickel, respectively, could achieve high removal efficiency of the heavy metals.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2018.06a
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• pp.33.1-33.1
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• 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
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.102-119
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• 2022

Gold plating is used as a coating of connecter 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. As increasing the demand for miniaturization of printed circuit boards and downsizing of electronic devices, several types of electroless gold plating solutions have been developed. Most of these conventional gold plating solutions contain cyanide compounds as a complexing agent. The gold film obtained from such baths usually satisfies the requirements for electronic parts mentioned above. However, cyanide bath is highly toxic and it always has some possibility to cause serious problems in working environment or other administrative aspects. The object of this investigation was to develop a cyanide-free electroless gold plating process that assures the high stability of the solution and gives the excellent solderability of the deposited film. The investigation reported herein is intended to establish plating bath composition and plating conditions for electroless gold plating, with thiomalic acid as a complexing agent. At the same time, we have investigated the solution stability against nickel ion and pull strength of solder ball. Furthermore, by examining the characteristics of the plated Au plating film, the problems of the newly developed electroless Au plating solution were improved and the applicability to various industrial fields was examined. New type electroless gold-plating bath which containing thiomalic acid as a complexing agent showing so good solution stability and film properties as cyanide bath. And this bath shows the excellent stability even if the dissolved nickel ion was added from under coated nickel film, which can be used at the neutral pH range.