Abstract
This paper presents a novel, direct, selective, vacuum-free, and low-cost method of electroless copper deposition, allowing additive patterning of nonconductive surfaces. Ag nanoparticles (NPs) synthesized inside a photosensitive polymer are acting as seeds for electroless copper deposition. The resulting copper film surface morphology was studied with scanning electron microscopy. Copper films were shown to display a rough grainlike structure, covering substrate uniformly with good metal-substrate adhesion. Copper thickness was studied as a function of the plating time, temperature, and Ag NPs seed concentration. A maximal copper thickness of ${0.44}\,\pm \,{0.05}~\mu \text{m}$ was achieved when plated at 30 °C with 0.4 M Ag(I). The minimum feature resolution of copper patterns, grown with 0.025- and 0.1-M silver salt, is attained down to ${10}~\mu \text{m}$ . The maximum electrical conductivity of the copper film prepared with 0.025-, 0.1-, and 0.4-M Ag(I) approaches ( ${0.8}\,\pm \,0.1) \times {10}^{{7}}$ S/m, ( ${1.1}\,\pm \,{0.1}) \times {10}^{{7}}$ S/m and ( ${1.6}\,\pm \, {0.4}{)} \times {10}^{{7}}$ S/m, respe- ctively. Electroless copper interconnections and LED circuit on glass substrate were fabricated as a proof of concept demonstrators.
Highlights
E LECTROLESS metal deposition is a facile method to fabricate metallic patterns on nonconductive substrates.Manuscript received October 17, 2018; revised December 31, 2018 and January 21, 2019; accepted January 29, 2019
Copper thickness grows linearly with plating time which is in agreement with the previously published work [19], [20]
Uniform copper films with good electrical properties were obtained on silicon and glass substrates by a newly developed electroless copper plating (ECP) method that minimizes processing steps
Summary
E LECTROLESS metal deposition is a facile method to fabricate metallic patterns on nonconductive substrates. Manuscript received October 17, 2018; revised December 31, 2018 and January 21, 2019; accepted January 29, 2019. Date of publication February 15, 2019; date of current version March 22, 2019. The review of this paper was arranged by Editor M.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have