Abstract
The influence of various intensities of ultrasound applied for the electrolyte stirring on morphological and mechanical characteristics of electrolytically produced copper coatings has been investigated. The copper coatings produced by the galvanostatic regime of the electrodeposition from the basic sulphate electrolyte and the electrolyte with added levelling/brightening additives at the low temperature were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques (surface morphology and topography, respectively) and by Vickers microindentation (hardness). The roughness of coatings increased with the increasing intensity of ultrasound, indicating that morphology of the coatings worsened with the enhanced application of ultrasonic waves. This is attributed to the strong effect of ultrasound on hydrodynamic conditions in the near-electrode layer, which is manifested by the increase of share of the activation control in the mixed activation-diffusion control of electrodeposition with increasing the intensity of ultrasound. The concept of "effective overpotential" originally proposed to explain a change of surface morphology in the conditions of vigorous hydrogen evolution is also applicable for a change of morphology of Cu coatings under the imposed effect of ultrasonic waves. Hardness analysis of the coatings showed that an intensity of applied ultrasound did not have any significant effect on the hardness, especially for the Cu coatings produced from the basic sulphate electrolyte.
Highlights
Copper attracts huge attention from both scientific and technological communities owing to its unique characteristics, such as excellent thermal and electrical conductivities, malleability, catalytic activity, superior mechanical, anticorrosion and antimicrobial features [1-3]
We examine the effect of various intensities of applied ultrasound on the morphology of Cu coatings produced in the galvanostatic (DC) regime
The Cu coatings produced by the DC regime from electrolytes without and with additives for levelling and brightening were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques and by Vickers microindentation
Summary
Copper attracts huge attention from both scientific and technological communities owing to its unique characteristics, such as excellent thermal and electrical conductivities, malleability, catalytic activity, superior mechanical, anticorrosion and antimicrobial features [1-3]. These characteristics of copper enable its wide application in various industries, such as aerospace, automotive, microelectronics, telecommunications, medicine, energy sciences and technologies, etc. For all these purposes, the main methods of Cu synthesis in different forms are electrodeposition, electroless plating, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), physical vapor deposition (PVD), thermal spray and sputtering techniques [2]. All these parameters affect the quality of coatings produced by both constant (potentiostatic and galvanostatic (DC)) and periodically changing regimes (pulsating overpotential (PO), pulsating current (PC) and reversing current (RC)) of the electrodeposition [4]
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