Nowadays, variable materials have been investigated to find alternative lightweight conductors instead of copper because copper has a relatively high density. Carbon nanotube (CNT) is one of the most suitable materials as an alternative conductor to Cu, thanks to its high conductivity. In addition, CNT has many other great properties, such as low density, high strength, and high ampacity. However, individual CNT loses some of its performance after the assembly process. Therefore, CNT materials have been electroplated with copper to achieve lighter conductors. In this study, CNT buckypaper (CNTBP) is fabricated using a multi-walled carbon nanotube and copper electroplated using optimizing electrolyte with the help of additive chemicals such as accelerator and suppressor. Furthermore, the effect of hydrochloric acid in the electrolyte on the electroplating of CNTBP is observed. The results show that HCl in electrolyte enhances the effectiveness of additive chemicals and provide a well-plated CNTBP@Cu composite. The composite in this study is expected to be used in various areas.

The current density in copper electroplating is directly related with the productivity; then, to increase the productivity, an increase in current density is required. This study is based on an analysis of changes in surface characteristics and mechanical properties by applying the addition of Alcian Blue (AB, C56H68Cl4CuN16S4). The amount of Alcian Blue in the electrolytes is changed from 0 to 100 ppm. When Alcian Blue is added at 20 ppm, a seed layer is formed homogeneously on the surface at the initial stage of nucleation. However, crystals electroplated in electrolytes with more than 40 ppm of Alcian Blue are observed to have growth in the vertical direction on the surface and the shapes are like pyramids. This tendency of initial nucleation formation causes protrusions when the thickness of copper foil is 12 μm. Thereafter, a lot of extrusions are observed on the group of 100 ppm Alcian Blue. Tensile strength of groups with added Alcian Blue increased by more than 140% compare to no-addition group, but elongation is reduced. These results are due to the decrease of crystal size and changes of prior crystal growth plane from (111) and (200) to (220) due to Alcian Blue.

To understand how reactivity between reinforcing nanoparticles and aqueous solution affects electrodeposited Cu thin films, two types of commercialized cerium oxide (ceria, CeO2) nanoparticles were used with copper sulfate electrolyte to form in-situ nanocomposite films. During this process, we observed variation in colors and pH of the electrolyte depending on the manufacturer. Ceria aqueous solution and nickel sulfate (NiSO4) aqueous solutions were also used for comparison. We checked several parameters which could be key factors contributing to the changes, such as the oxidation number of Cu, chemical impurities of ceria nanoparticles, and so on. Oxidation number was checked by salt formation by chemical reaction between CuSO4 solution and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution. We observed that the color changed when H2SO4 was added to the CuSO4 solution. The same effect was obtained when H2SO4 was mixed with ceria solution; the color of ceria solution changed from white to yellow. However, the color of NiSO4 solution did not show any significant changes. We did observe slight changes in the pH of the solutions in this study. We did not obtain firm evidence to explain the changes observed in this study, but changes in the color of the electrolyte might be caused by interaction of Cu ion and the by-product of ceria. The mechanical properties of the films were examined by nanoindentation, and reaction between ceria and electrolyte presumably affect the mechanical properties of electrodeposited copper films. We also examined their crystal structures and optical properties by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and UV-Vis spectroscopy.

In an effort to overcome the problems which arise when fabricating high-aspect-ratio TSV(through silicon via), we performed experiments involving the void-free Cu filling of a TSV(10~20 μm in diameter with an aspect ratio of 5~7) by controlling the plating DC current density and the additive SPS concentration. Initially, the copper deposit growth mode in and around the trench and the TSV was estimated by the change in the plating DC current density. According to the variation of the plating current density, the deposition rate during Cu electroplating differed at the top and the bottom of the trench. Specifically, at a current density 2.5 mA/cm2, the deposition rate in the corner of the trench was lower than that at the top and on the bottom sides. From this result, we confirmed that a plating current density 2.5 mA/cm2 is very useful for void-free Cu filling of a TSV. In order to reduce the plating time, we attempted TSV Cu filling by controlling the accelerator SPS concentration at a plating current density of 2.5 mA/cm2. A TSV with a diameter 10 μm and an aspect ratio of 7 was filled completely with Cu plating material in 90 min at a current density 2.5 mA/cm2 with an addition of SPS at 50 mg/L. Finally, we found that TSV can be filled rapidly with plated Cu without voids by controlling the SPS concentration at the optimized plating current density.

Micro-scale copper bumps for build-up PCB were electroplated using a pulse-reverse method. The effects of the current density, pulse-reverse ratio and brightener concentration of the electroplating process were investigated and optimized for suitable performance. The electroplated micro-bumps were characterized using various analytical tools, including an optical microscope, a scanning electron microscope and an atomic force microscope. Surface analysis results showed that the electroplating uniformity was viable in a current density range of 1.4-3.0 A/dm2 at a pulse-reverse ratio of 1. To investigate the brightener concentration on the electroplating properties, the current density value was fixed at 3.0 A/dm2 as a dense microstructure was achieved at this current density. The brightener concentration was varied from 0.05 to 0.3 ml/L to study the effect of the concentration. The optimum concentration for micro-bump electroplating was found to be 0.05 ml/L based on the examination of the electroplating properties of the bump shape, roughness and grain size.

Micro-sized bumps on a multi-layered build-up PCB were fabricated by pulse-reverse copper electroplating. The values of the current density and brightener content for the electroplating were optimized for suitable performance with maximum efficiency. The micro-bumps thus electroplated were characterized using a range of analytical tools that included an optical microscope, a scanning electron microscope, an atomic force microscope and a hydraulic bulge tester. The optical microscope and scanning electron microscope analyses results showed that the uniformity of the electroplating was viable in the current density range of 2-4 A/dm2; however, the uniformity was slightly degraded as the current density increased. To study the effect of the brightener concentration, the concentration was varied from zero to 1.2 ml/L. The optimum concentration for micro-bump electroplating was found to be 0.6 ml/L based on an examination of the electroplating properties, including the roughness, yield strength and grain size.

In this work, a nickel metal (Ni) electroplating on the activated carbon fiber (Ni/ACFs) surfaces was carried out to remove the toxic hydrogen chloride (HCl) gas. The surface properties of the treated ACFs were determined by using nitrogen adsorption isotherms at 77 K, SEM, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements. HCl removal efficiency was confirmed by a gas-detecting tube technique. As a result, the nickel metal contents on the ACF surfaces were increased with increasing the plating time. And, it was found that the specific surface area or the micropore volume of the ACFs studied was slightly decreased as increasing the plating time. Whereas, it was revealed that the HCl removal efficiency containing nickel metal showed higher efficiency values than that of untreated ACFs. These results indicated that the presence of nickel metal on the ACF surfaces played an important role in improving the HCl removal over the Ni/ACFs, due to the catalytic reactions between nickel and chlorine.