Optimization of electroless copper plating on polyethylene films modified by surface grafting of vinyl ether of monoethanolamine

Metallized plastics have recently received significant interest for their useful applications in electronic devices such as for integrated circuits, packaging, printed circuits and sensor applications. In this work the metallized films were developed by electroless copper plating of polyethylene films grafted with vinyl ether of monoethanoleamine. There are several techniques for metal deposition on surface of polymers such as evaporation, sputtering, electroless plating and electrolysis. In this work the metallized films were developed by electroless copper plating of polyethylene films grafted with vinyl ether of monoethanoleamine. Polyethylene films were subjected to gamma-radiation induced surface graft copolymerization with vinyl ether of monoethanolamine. Electroless copper plating was carried out effectively on the modified films. The catalytic processes for the electroless copper plating in the presence and the absence of SnCl2 sensitization were studied and the optimum activation conditions that give the highest plating rate were determined. The effect of grafting degree on the plating rate is studied. Electroless plating conditions (bath additives, pH and temperature) were optimized. Plating rate was determined gravimetrically and spectrophotometrically at different grafting degrees. The results reveal that plating rate is a function of degree of grafting and increases with increasing grafted vinyl ether of monoethanolamine onto polyethylene. It was found that pH 13 of electroless bath and plating temperature 40°C are the optimal conditions for the plating process. The increasing of grafting degree results in faster plating rate at the same pH and temperature. The surface morphology of the metallized films was investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The adhesion strength between the metallized layer and grafted polymer was studied using tensile machine. SEM photos and adhesion measurements clarified that uniform and adhered deposits were obtained under optimum conditions.

Development of copper sulfide/cadmium sulfide thin-film solar cell s : third technical progress report, January 13 - April 12, 1980 /

"Work Performed Under Contract No. AC02-77CH00178."

Development of copper sulfide/cadmium sulfide thin film solar cell s : fourth technical progress report, April 13 - July 12, 1980 /

"Work Performed Under Contract No. AC02-77CH00178."

Rapid synthesis of porous honeycomb Cu/Pd through a hydrogen-bubble templating method

A rapid electrochemical method based on using a clean hydrogen-bubble template to form a bimetallic porous honeycomb Cu/Pd structure has been investigated. The addition of palladium salt to a copper-plating bath under conditions of vigorous hydrogen evolution was found to influence the pore size and bulk concentration of copper and palladium in the honeycomb bimetallic structure. The surface was characterised by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, which revealed that the surface of honeycomb Cu/Pd was found to be rich with a Cu/Pd alloy. The inclusion of palladium in the bimetallic structure not only influenced the pore size, but also modified the dendritic nature of the internal wall structure of the parent copper material into small nanometre-sized crystallites. The chemical composition of the bimetallic structure and substantial morphology changes were found to significantly influence the surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopic response for immobilised rhodamine B and the hydrogen-evolution reaction. The ability to create free-standing films of this honeycomb material may also have many advantages in the areas of gas- and liquid-phase heterogeneous catalysis.

Fabrication of microelectrodes deeply embedded in LiNbO3 using a femtosecond laser

We present a novel technique to fabricate deeply embedded microelectrodes in LiNbO3 using femtosecond pulsed laser ablation and selective electroless plating. The fabrication process mainly consists of four steps, which are (1) micromachining of microgrooves on the surface of LiNbO3 by femtosecond laser ablation; (2) formation of AgNO3 films on substrates; (3) scanning the femtosecond laser beam in the fabricated microgrooves for modi. cation of the inner surfaces; and (4) electroless copper plating. The void-free electroless copper plating is obtained with appropriate cross section of microgrooves and uniform initiation of the autocatalytic deposition on the inner surface of grooves. The dimension and shape of the microelectrodes could be accurately controlled by changing the conditions of femtosecond laser ablation, which in turn can control the distribution of electric field inside LiNbO3 crystal for various applications, opening up a new approach to fabricate three-dimensional integrated electro-optic devices. (C) 2008 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.

Mechanism study of femtosecond laser induced selective metallization (FLISM) on glass surfaces

We investigate the mechanism of selective metallization on glass surfaces with the assistance of femtosecond laser irradiation followed by electroless plating. Irradiation of femtosecond laser makes it possible to selectively deposit copper microstructures in the irradiated area on glass surfaces coated with silver nitrate films. The energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) analyses reveal that silver atoms are produced on the surface of grooves formed by laser ablation, which serve as catalysis seeds for subsequent electroless copper plating. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.