tert -Butylamine borane as a reductant in electroless nickel plating for improved etch resistance in the electrolyte
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Bull Mater Sci (2020) 43:226 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12034-020-02186-4
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tert-Butylamine borane as a reductant in electroless nickel plating for improved etch resistance in the electrolyte SOLLEE KIM and SUKEUN YOON* Division of Advanced Materials Engineering, Institute for Rare Metals, Kongju National University, Chungnam 31080, Republic of Korea *Author for correspondence ([email protected]) MS received 22 November 2019; accepted 13 February 2020 Abstract. An Ni–B coating was developed on a copper substrate by the direct electroless technique and from a plating bath containing tert-butylamine borane (TBAB). The influence of the electroless plating conditions, using TBAB as a reducing agent on the composition, surface morphology, high-temperature stability and etch resistance in the electrolyte of the coatings, was investigated. The resulting electroless Ni–B plating surfaces were examined and characterized by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy for morphology and chemical composition, respectively. Electrochemical characterization by potentiodynamic polarization confirmed that a 0.1 M nickel concentration bath for the Ni–B plating was optimized by a TBAB concentration of 0.03 M, temperature of 60°C and pH of 8. Under the optimal bath conditions, the Ni–B electroless plating layer exhibited superior etch resistance in the electrolyte as well as improved stability at high temperature than the Ni–B electroless plating layer prepared using dimethylamine borane. Hence, owing to the remarkable properties of the Ni–B electroless plating layer, this fabrication technique that employs TBAB can be extended to fabricate other Ni–B electroless plating layers. Keywords.
1.
Electroless plating; Ni–B alloy; tert-butylamine borane; deposition rate; electrolyte resistance.
Introduction
Since the inception of Ni electroless plating by Brenner and Riddell in 1946, this technique, which offers good adhesion and uniform thickness, has been widely studied because it can be employed not only for metal materials but also for non-conductive surfaces, such as plastics and ceramics [1,2]. Ni electroless plating techniques are generally classified as Ni–P, Ni–B and pure Ni or Ni-based alloys depending on the reducing agents (i.e., sodium hypophosphite (NaH2PO2), sodium borohydride (NaBH4), dimethylamine borane (DMAB, C2H7BN) and hydrazine (NH2NH2) in the plating bath [3–7]. In particular, among them, Ni–P electroless reduction by sodium hypophosphite has enjoyed commercial success owing to its low cost, workability and excellent physical properties of the coating [8]. However, the usage of the Ni–B electroless plating method has been relatively limited owing to the higher cost incurred, as well as greater sensitivity of this method to impurities than Ni–P electroless plating method using hypophosphite. This, despite the distinct advantages of an Ni–B electroless coating compared to an Ni–P electroless coating, in terms of its high hardness and low fric
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