Electroless gold plating solution

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 5601637
  • Patent Number
    5,601,637
  • Date Filed
    Monday, August 14, 1995
    28 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, February 11, 1997
    27 years ago
Abstract
The present invention provides an electroless gold plating solution which offers deposition layers exactly onto predetermined areas on the surface of the workpiece, without undesirable spread of plated areas. The electroless gold plating solution according to the invention contains 5-500 mg/l, or preferably 10-100 mg/l, or sodium nitrobenzenesulfonate and/or p-nitrobenzoic acid as a reduction inhibitor.
Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
(1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electroless gold plating solution, particularly a solution capable of plating exactly onto predetermined parts on the workpiece.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
An electroless gold plating solution contains a reducing agent, such as boron potassium hydride or boron sodium hydride, which causes gold deposit onto the workpiece, as disclosed, for example, in the Japanese laid open patent No. 52-124428 or No. 55-24914.
Such conventional plating solutions contain a relatively large amount of a reducing agent to assure high deposition rates, which may, however, lead to excessive reduction of gold by which gold deposits onto unwanted parts of the workpiece, for example outside a metalized part. This may result in undesired electrical connections between separate plated parts arranged at a short distance.
The present invention aims at elimination of such problems associated with conventional plating solutions, and provides an electroless gold plating solution from which gold deposits exactly onto desired parts of the workpiece without undesirable spread of the plated area.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The electroless gold plating solution according to the invention contains 5-500 mg/l, or preferably 10-100 mg/l, of sodium nitrobenzensulfonate (NBS hereinafter) and/or p-nitrobenzoic acid (PNBA hereinafter) to control the reduction rate of gold. These substances do not effectively control metal deposition at a concentration less than 5 mg/l, while lowering the deposition rate at more than 500 mg/l.
Addition of NBS and/or PNBA, being an oxidizing agent, controls the action of the reducing agent to make gold deposit only onto desired portions of the workpiece, without lowering the deposition rate excessively.
The electroless gold plating solution according to the invention contains gold in a form of an alkali metal gold cyanide, such as potassium gold cyanide or sodium gold cyanide, the former being the preferred form. A preferable concentration range of gold is 0.5-8 g/l (as Au metal).
As the reducing agent are used boron-based substances, such as dimethylamineborane, boron potassium hydride, or boron sodium hydride. A preferable concentration range of the reducing agent is 1-30 g/l.
The electroless gold plating solution according to the invention may, in addition, contain an alkali metal cyanide, specifically sodium cyanide or potassium cyanide, when the stability of the self-catalyzing process is especially needed. A preferable concentration range of such an alkali metal cyanide is 0.1-10 g/l.
Further, 0.1-50 ppm thallium compound and/or lead compound may be added to the plating solution as an additive metal so as to raise a deposit rate. As to the thallium compound to be added, thallium formate, thallium sulfate, thallium oxide, thallium malonate, thallium chloride, etc. are preferably applied. The thallium formate is particularly feasible to use because of having a lower toxicity than the thallium sulfate, etc. As to the lead compound, lead citrate, lead acetate, lead oxide, etc. are preferably applied.
Along with the thallium and/or lead compounds mentioned above, the solution may contain 0.1-10 g/l, or preferably 0.5-2 g/l, of a chelating agent, such as diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid, ethyle nediaminetetraacetic acid, or nitrilotriacetic acid, the first being a preferable agent. Such a chelating agent acting as a complexing agent prevents precipitation of gold even at high concentrations of the thallium or lead compound mentioned above, thus allowing addition of a less restricted amount of such a metal compound to the plating solution.
The pH value of the solution should preferably be kept in a range from 11 to 14. An alkali metal hydroxide, such as sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide is used as a pH adjustor to maintain such pH level.
Plating operations using the solution should preferably performed at a temperature of 50.degree.-80.degree. C.
It should be noted that the content of the invention is not limited to the above description, and the objects, advantages, features, and usages will become more apparent according to descriptions below. It is also to be understood that any appropriate changes without departing from the spirit of the invention are in the scope of the invention.





DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Embodiments of the present invention will be described hereinafter.
First Embodiment
TABLE 1______________________________________Potassium gold cyanide 4 g/l as goldDimethylamineborane 8 g/lThallium formate 10 ppm as thalliumNitrilotriacetic acid 2 g/lPotassium hydroxide 35 g/lPotassium cyanide 2 g/l______________________________________
TABLE 2______________________________________ Temperature 70.degree. C. pH 14 Plating time 30 min.______________________________________
Various amounts of NBS were added to an electroless gold plating solution of the composition presented above prepared using guaranteed reagents. The deposits obtained were evaluated. The evaluation was performed for checking to see the portions to be plated have no deposit squeezed out, and on the deposition rate. A pair of metalized parts at a distance of 100 .mu.m were formed on the workpiece, onto which gold was deposited using the solution above, and the electrical connection between the two gold-plated parts were checked. The plating was performed until the thickness of the deposited layer reached 2 .mu.m, and the deposition rates were measured. Deposits obtained had a uniform lemon-yellow color and presented no problem in the appearance.
TABLE 3______________________________________ NBS additives Deposition rateNo. (mg/l) Evaluation (.mu.m/hr)______________________________________Examples 1 5 .largecircle. 4.3 2 25 .largecircle. 4.3 3 100 .largecircle. 3.8 4 200 .largecircle. 3.4 5 500 .largecircle. 3.0 6 1000 .largecircle. 1.8Comparative 7 -- .times. 4.3Example______________________________________ Evaluation .largecircle.: No continuity between goldplated parts. .times.: Continuity between goldplated parts.
As the results shown in Table 3 indicate, in the Examples wherein the solutions contain NBS, only the interior of the metalized parts are gold-plated, thereby giving no continuity between the gold-plated parts abutting each other. While the solution used in the Reference Example without NBS resulted in an electrical continuity between the metalized parts abutting each other, because gold deposited also outside the metalized parts on the surface of the workpiece. The addition of NBS did not lead to any excessive decrease in deposition rate in comparison with non-addition of NBS.
Second Embodiment
TABLE 4______________________________________Potassium gold cyanide 4 g/l as goldBoron potassium hydride 20 g/lThallium formate 10 ppm as thalliumNitrilotriacetic acid 2 g/lPotassium hydroxide 10 g/lPotassium cyanide 2 g/l______________________________________
TABLE 5______________________________________ Temperature 70.degree. C. pH 13 Plating time 30 min.______________________________________
In this example where boron potassium hydride was used as the reducing agent, addition of 5-500 mg/l of NBS led to results similar to those in Example 1 above.
The electroless gold plating solution according to the invention, as described above, offers deposition layers exactly onto predetermined areas on the surface of the workpiece, without undesirable spread of plated areas, and is therefore well suited for plating onto very small areas.
Claims
  • 1. An electroless gold plating solution containing gold as a gold alkali metal cyanide, a boron-based reducing agent, and an alkali metal hydroxide as a pH adjustor, wherein 5-99 mg/l of sodium nitrobenzenesulfonate, p-nitrobenzoic acid or mixtures thereof are added.
  • 2. An electroless gold plating solution as defined in claim 1 wherein the boron-based reducing agent contains at least one of dimethylamineborane, boron potassium hydride, and boron sodium hydride.
  • 3. An electroless gold plating solution as defined in claim 1 wherein the concentration of the reducing agent is 1 to 30 g/l.
  • 4. An electroless gold plating solution as defined in claim 2 wherein the concentration of the reducing agent is 1 to 30 g/l.
  • 5. An electroless gold plating solution as defined in claim 1, which has a pH value of 11 to 14.
  • 6. An electroless gold plating solution as defined in claim 2, which has a pH value of 11 to 14.
  • 7. An electroless gold plating solution as defined in claim 3, which has a pH value of 11 to 14.
  • 8. An electroless gold plating solution as defined in claim 4, which has a pH value of 11 to 14.
  • 9. An electroless gold plating solution as defined in claim 1, which contains alkali metal cyanide.
Priority Claims (1)
Number Date Country Kind
6-195349 Aug 1994 JPX
US Referenced Citations (6)
Number Name Date Kind
4188234 Jans Oct 1978
4337091 El-Shazly et al. Jun 1982
5130168 Mathe et al. Jul 1992
5258062 Nakazawa et al. Nov 1993
5277790 Morrissey Jan 1994
5338343 Kroll et al. Aug 1994
Foreign Referenced Citations (10)
Number Date Country
52-124428 Oct 1977 JPX
55-24914 Feb 1980 JPX
56-152958 Nov 1981 JPX
59-229478 Dec 1984 JPX
60-121274 Jun 1985 JPX
61-279685A Dec 1986 JPX
62-99477 May 1987 JPX
63-262482A Oct 1988 JPX
3-02471 Mar 1991 JPX
2225026 May 1990 GBX
Non-Patent Literature Citations (1)
Entry
European Search Report, for EP95305653.8 (2 pages).