1. Field of the Invention
The instant disclosure relates to a method for no-silane electroless metal deposition and a product therefrom; in particular, to a method for no-silane electroless metal deposition using a high adhesive catalyst. The instant disclosure also relates to a no-silane electroless metal layer included substrate.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, along with the development of the surface metallization of the printed-circuit board, the electromagnetic interference shielding of electronic instrument cases, the metallization process in the semiconductor industry, and the corrosion prevention of the oil pipe, etc., the electroless plating method has become more and more popular. Since the plating layer has the advantages such as high stiffness, wear resistance, corrosion resistance, electromagnetic shielding, and superior copper diffusion barrier effect, it is widely used in various fields. Some applications and purposes of the electroless-nickel plating are listed in Table 1 as below.
An electroless plating method is used to deposit metal on a substrate (e.g., silicon substrate) by chemical reaction, and also can deposit the metal on a metal or non-metal surface. A silicon substrate may be used as the substrate for electroless metal deposition. However, since the surface of the silicon substrate is smooth, the metal layer directly plated on the silicon substrate by a conventional method has inferior adhesion. A silane compound may be used as a bridge between organic and inorganic materials, since it contains two different functional groups. The silane compound may be used to modify the surface of silicon substrate, and may be used as an adhesive layer between the silicon substrate and a catalyst. In related arts, the colloidal nanoparticles may be used as a catalyst in an electroless metal-plating reaction, where each of the colloidal nanoparticles is composed of palladium nanoparticles and a macromolecular polymer wrapping the palladium nanoparticles, such as PVP-Pd. Furthermore, the macromolecular polymer may bond to the modified surface of the silicon substrate. In this way, the colloidal nanoparticles can reduce the metal onto the surface of the silicon substrate to help form a metal plating layer.
However, since the silane compound itself is nonconductive, it may produces resistance at the modified surface of the semiconductor device. So the silane compound approach is not appealing to some applications, such as solar cell application. Moreover, the pretreatment steps of the silane compound may be complicated, and may increase the manufacturing time and cost.
In order to overcome the abovementioned disadvantages, the instant disclosure provides a method of no-silane electroless metal deposition using a high adhesive catalyst, and the catalyst has high adhesion property to replace the use of silane compound. By such a way, not only can the manufacturing time be shortened and the manufacturing process simplified, but also the manufacturing cost can be reduced.
A method of no-silane electroless metal deposition using high adhesive catalyst of the instant disclosure is provided to solve the abovementioned problems. There is no need to use the silane compound, so the resistance problem is resolved, and the manufacturing process also can be simplified.
An embodiment of the instant disclosure provides a method of no-silane electroless metal deposition using high adhesive catalyst. The method includes the following steps. a) a substrate is provided, and the substrate has a surface which is subjected to a hydroxide surface modification to form a hydrophilic chemical oxide layer; b) a catalyst layer is formed on the chemical oxide layer, the catalyst layer includes a plurality of colloidal nanoparticles, and each of the plurality of colloidal nanoparticles includes a palladium nanoparticle and a high molecular polymer which wraps the palladium nanoparticle; and c) an electroless metal deposition is conducted, and a metal is deposited on the catalyst layer to form an electroless metal layer.
The instant disclosure further provides a method for forming colloidal nanoparticles being used in no-silane electroless metal deposition. The method includes the following steps: using a precursor, a protective agent, and a reducing agent to form a plurality of colloidal nanoparticles in an alkaline environment.
The instant disclosure further provides an electroless metal layer included substrate which includes a chemical oxide layer, a catalyst layer, and an electroless metal layer. The chemical oxide layer is formed by conducting a hydroxide surface modification on a surface of a substrate. The catalyst layer is located on the chemical oxide layer, and the catalyst layer includes a plurality of colloidal nanoparticles. Each of the plurality of colloidal nanoparticles includes a palladium nanoparticle and a high molecular polymer which wraps the palladium nanoparticle. The electroless metal layer is formed by conducting an electroless metal deposition to deposit a metal on the catalyst layer.
In the instant disclosure, the catalyst having high adhesion property is used to replace the silane compound in related arts in the electroless metal deposition process. The catalyst also has the function of being used as a bridge between organic and inorganic materials like the silane compound, but the catalyst does not generate much resistance like the silane compound, the instant disclosure may be used in more applications comparing to related arts. In addition, the manufacturing process may be simplified, the manufacturing time and cost may be reduced.
In order to further appreciate the characteristics and technical contents of the instant disclosure, references are hereunder made to the detailed descriptions and appended drawings in connection with the instant disclosure. However, the appended drawings are merely shown for exemplary purposes, rather than being used to restrict the scope of the instant disclosure.
Embodiments disclosed in the instant disclosure are illustrated via specific examples as follows, and people familiar in the art may easily understand the advantages and efficacies of the instant disclosure by disclosure of the specification. The instant disclosure may be implemented or applied by other different specific examples, and each of the details in the specification may be applied based on different views and may be modified and changed under the existence of the spirit of the instant disclosure. The figures in the instant disclosure are only for brief description, but they are not depicted according to actual size and do not reflect the actual size of the relevant structure. The following embodiments further illustrate related technologies of the instant disclosure in detail, but the scope of the instant disclosure is not limited herein.
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Firstly, a substrate 1 (a silicon substrate is illustrated in the instant disclosure) is provided, and the substrate 1 is cleaned using an RCA cleaning method. The RCA cleaning method is a standard procedure for wet cleaning in the industry. RCA-1 and RCA-2 are two reagents used in the RCA cleaning method. The ingredients of RCA-1 are NH4OH, H2O2, and H2O (also known as APM), and the RCA-1 is used to remove organic particles on a surface. The ingredients of RCA-2 are HCl, H2O2, and H2O (also known as HPM), and the RCA-2 is used to remove metals on a surface. In the instant disclosure, an APM solution of the RCA cleaning method is used in the cleaning procedure to clean the organic particles on the surface. The cleaning procedure includes the following steps. The substrate 1 is soaked in the APM solution for 20 minutes at 80° C., and the APM solution has a ratio of NH4OH : H2O2 : DI=1:1:5 (DI is deionized water). The substrate 1 is then soaked into a 2% hydrofluoric acid (HF) aqueous solution to remove an oxide layer on the surface. Then, a sulfuric peroxide mixture (SPM) or an ozone is used to conduct a hydroxide surface modification on a surface of the substrate 1, and the substrate 1 is soaked into the SPM (H2SO4—H2O2) with a volume ratio of 3:1 for 10 minutes, so as to hydroxylate the surface of the substrate 1 and to form a hydroxylated chemical oxide layer 2 on the surface (as shown in the leftmost figure of
Next, the surface modified substrate 1 is soaked in a PVA-Pd (polyvinyl alcohol polymer-palladium) solution for 5 minutes at 40 ° C., and the PVA-Pd is attached to the chemical oxide layer 2 of the surface of the substrate 1, so as to form a catalyst layer 3 (as shown in the middle figure of
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Each of the colloidal nanoparticles 31 of this embodiment is such that, at least one protective agent wraps at least one precursor. Specifically, the protective agent is at least one polyvinyl alcohol polymer 312 and the precursor is at least one palladium nanoparticle 311, and the at least one polyvinyl alcohol polymer 312 wraps the at least one palladium nanoparticle 311 to form at least one colloidal nanoparticle 31.
Each of the colloidal nanoparticles 31 of this embodiment has a particle size ranging from 6 nm to 10 nm, and the protective agent and the precursor in each of the colloidal nanoparticles 31 have a weight ratio of 1:1. The at least one polyvinyl alcohol polymer 312 could be a low-degree-polymerization polyvinyl alcohol polymer with its molecular weight ranging from 20000 to 30000, and the alcoholysis degree of polyvinyl alcohol polymer 312 could be 88%.
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1) Rinsing: firstly, the substrate 1 is placed into the 2% hydrofluoric acid (HF) aqueous solution for 2 minutes to remove an oxide layer which is generated in the RCA cleaning process and/or generated naturally. The substrate 1 is soaked into the SPM with a volume ratio of H2SO4: H2O2 being 3:1 for 10 minutes at about 70° C. to 80° C., so as to conduct the hydroxide surface modification on the surface of the substrate 1 to form a hydroxylated chemical oxide layer 2 on the surface of the substrate 1. In the second embodiment, the SPM also can be replaced with ozone (O3), nitrate (HNO3), a mixture of nitrate (HNO3) and hydrofluoric acid (HF; 500 ppm), or hydrofluoric acid (HF; 100 ppm).
2) Soaking: after the chemical oxide layer 2 formed substrate 1 is taken out from the SPM, the surface of the substrate 1 of the chemical oxide layer 2 is rinsed with deionized water, and the chemical oxide layer 2 formed substrate 1 is soaked in the PVA-Pd solution for 5 minutes at 40 ° C., such that a center of the palladium of the PVA-Pd may interact with hydroxyl groups and the PVA-Pd may absorb on the surface of the substrate 1 of the chemical oxide layer 2, so as to form a catalyst layer 3.
3) Electroless-nickel deposition: the chemical oxide layer 2 and catalyst layer 3 formed substrate 1 is placed into the electroless nickel plating solution having a pH of 4.9 (or about pH of 4.5 to 5.0) at 80° C. (or about 75° C. to 85° C.) to conduct the electroless metal deposition for 1 minute. During the process of electroless metal deposition, the catalyst PVA-Pd on the surface of the chemical oxide layer 2 and catalyst layer 3 formed substrate 1 may effectively decrease an active energy which is required for a reaction, so as to facilitate hypophosphite ions and nickel ions to generate redox reactions on the surface of the chemical oxide layer 2 and catalyst layer 3 formed substrate 1, and an electroless nickel phosphorus layer (electroless metal layer 4) with approximately 200 nm thickness may be deposited.
The 200 nm thickness of electroless metal layer 4 on the substrate 1 may not be enough for some applications. Therefore, after the electroless metal layer 4 being formed on the substrate 1 according to the instant disclosure, additional process like conventional electro-plating process may also be performed to the substrate 1 so as to deposit more metal onto the metal layer and increase the thickness of the metal layer to meet the needs of some applications.
The preparation method of the PVA-Pd solution in this embodiment may be identical to that in the first embodiment, thus it is not repeated herein.
The method for forming the colloidal nanoparticle 31 in this embodiment may be identical to that in the first embodiment. In addition, the PVA is used as an example in the first embodiment. In this embodiment, the high molecular polymer used to wrap the palladium nanoparticle may include but not limited to a polyvinyl alcohol polymer, a polyvinyl alcohol acid polymer, a poly(vinyl alcohol-co-ethylene) polymer, or a poly(vinyl butyral-co-vinyl alcohol-co-vinyl acetate) polymer.
In the third embodiment, the steps of the method for no-silane electroless metal deposition using the high adhesive catalyst are identical to that of the second embodiment, and also include main three steps: conducting a hydroxide surface modification on a surface of a substrate 1 to form a chemical oxide layer 2, forming a catalyst layer 3 on the chemical oxide layer 2, and conducting an electroless metal deposition to form an electroless metal layer 4. A silicon substrate is also illustrated as the substrate 1. The cleaning method of the substrate 1, the composition of the catalyst layer 3, the electroless metal deposition steps, the method for forming the colloidal nanoparticles 31 being used to the no-silane electroless metal deposition, and the composition of the colloidal nanoparticles 31 may all be identical to those of the second embodiment, thus they are not repeated herein. The difference between the third embodiment and the second embodiment is that, in the third embodiment, a RCA method is used for conducting the hydroxide surface modification on the surface of the substrate 1.
1) Rinsing: the substrate 1 is placed into a 2% hydrofluoric acid (HF) aqueous solution for 2 minutes to remove an oxide layer which is generated in the RCA cleaning process and/or generated naturally. The substrate 1 is soaked into a solvent with a volume ratio of NH4OH: H2O2: DI-water being 1:1:5 for 20 minutes at 80° C., so as to conduct the hydroxide surface modification on the surface of the substrate 1 to form a hydroxylated chemical oxide layer 2 on the surface of the substrate 1.
2) Soaking: the substrate 1 is soaked into the PVA-Pd solution for 5 minutes at 40 ° C., such that a center of the palladium of the PVA-Pd can interact with the hydroxyl groups and the PVA-Pd absorb onto the surface of the substrate 1 of the chemical oxide layer 2, so as to form a catalyst layer 3. The preparation method of the PVA-Pd solution in this embodiment can be identical to that in the first and second embodiments, thus it is not repeated herein.
3) Electroless-nickel deposition: the chemical oxide layer 2 and catalyst layer 3 formed substrate 1 is placed into the electroless nickel plating solution having a pH of 4.9 (or about pH of 4.5 to 5.0) at 80° C. (or about 75° C. to 85° C.) to conduct the electroless metal deposition for 1 minute. During the process of electroless metal deposition, the catalyst PVA-Pd on the surface of the chemical oxide layer 2 and catalyst layer 3 formed substrate 1 can effectively decrease an active energy which is required for a reaction, so as to facilitate hypophosphite ions and nickel ions to generate redox reactions on the surface of the chemical oxide layer 2 and catalyst layer 3 formed substrate 1, and an electroless nickel phosphorus layer (electroless metal layer 4) with approximately 200 nm thickness is deposited.
The 200 nm thickness of electroless metal layer 4 on the substrate 1 may not be enough for some applications. Therefore, after the electroless metal layer 4 being formed on the substrate 1 according to the instant disclosure, additional process like conventional electro-plating process may also be performed to the substrate 1 so as to deposit more metal onto the metal layer and increase the thickness of the metal layer to meet the needs of some applications.
In the third embodiment, the RCA method is used to conduct the hydroxide surface modification on the surface of the substrate 1, but in other embodiments, it also can be replaced with a sulfuric peroxide mixture method, an ozonation method, a hydrogen plasma method, or a nitric acid method. In addition, while the PVA is used as an example in the third embodiment, however, the high molecular polymer used to wrap the palladium nanoparticle may also include but not limited to a polyvinyl alcohol polymer, a polyvinyl alcohol acid polymer, a poly(vinyl alcohol-co-ethylene) polymer, or a poly(vinyl butyral-co-vinyl alcohol-co-vinyl acetate) polymer.
Via the method for no-silane electroless metal deposition using the high adhesive catalyst can achieve the following experimental results.
<Experimental Result 1: XPS Spectrum Analysis>
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<Experimental Result 2: Water Droplet Contact Angle (Hydrophilicity) Experiment>
In order to understand a degree of change of the hydrophilicity of the surface of the substrate 1 after which is conducted the SPM method in the second embodiment and the RCA method in the third embodiment in this instant disclosure, the water droplet contact angle experiment is used for measurement. Please refer to
<Experimental Result 3: Electroless Nickel Layer Adhesion Experiment>
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The descriptions illustrated supra set forth simply the preferred embodiments of the instant disclosure; however, the characteristics of the instant disclosure are by no means restricted thereto. All changes, alterations, or modifications conveniently considered by those skilled in the art are deemed to be encompassed within the scope of the instant disclosure delineated by the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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104131105 | Sep 2015 | TW | national |
105129633 | Sep 2016 | TW | national |