Electroless Deposition: A Mechanistic Approach
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Manchester
Department Name: Chemistry
Abstract
Electroless deposition has a number of extremely important technological applications, most notably in the fabrication of integrated circuits. The method consists of the spontaneous reduction of a metal (for example copper or silver) from a solution of its salt, e.g. Cu(II) or Ag(I). Clearly a reducing agent - a chemical which acts as the source of the electrons - is required, but the electroless reaction is particularly useful because a surface (that acts as a catalyst to allow the deposition to proceed) is also necessary. This means that deposition is specific and, to some extent, can be controlled. The technique is used to deposit metallic coatings on various types of surface, but has become very important in recent years as a means to deposit the copper interconnects required in microelectronics (your lap-top can function because of some apparently simple, but clever, chemistry). Surprisingly, in view of its importance, the chemical fundamentals of this process are not well understood. The deceptive simplicity of the electroless process is probably the reason for this knowledge gap . Here, a novel electrochemically-based approach to probe electroless deposition is outlined. The aim of this proposal is to establish the new method as the state-of-the art technique for the determination of basic parameters relating to this important metal deposition process.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
Robert Dryfe (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Plana D
(2013)
Galvanic and bipolar cells as probes of electroless deposition: The Cu-dimethylamine borane system
in Electrochemistry Communications
Plana D
(2009)
The voltammetric response of bipolar cells: Mechanistic investigations of electroless deposition
in Electrochemistry Communications
Plana D
(2011)
The electro-oxidation of dimethylamine borane: Part 2, in situ FTIR on single-crystal gold electrodes
in Electrochimica Acta
Plana D
(2011)
The electro-oxidation of dimethylamine borane: Part 1, polycrystalline substrates
in Electrochimica Acta
Plana D
(2010)
The voltammetric response of bipolar cells: Reversible electron transfer
in Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry
Jones F
(2008)
Hydrodynamic voltammetry at the interface between immiscible electrolyte solutions: Numerical simulation of the voltammetric response
in Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry
Plana D
(2010)
Kinetics of electroless deposition: the copper-dimethylamine borane system.
in Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids
Ho HL
(2009)
Transport of neutral and ionic solutes: the gel/electrode and gel/electrolyte interfaces.
in Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids
Liao Y
(2011)
A study of corrosion performance of electroless Ni-P and Ni-W-P coatings on AZ91D magnesium alloy
in Materialwissenschaft und Werkstofftechnik
Liao Y
(2012)
Electroless copper plating using dimethylamine borane as reductant
in Particuology
Description | Electroless deposition mechanism/kinetics quantified. |
Exploitation Route | development of electroless deposition methods. |
Sectors | Chemicals Energy |