PLATING/ANODIZING

What's New in Vertical Acid Copper

Plating for PCB Manufacturing
Developments in the world of printed circuit boards.
GEORGE MILAD / UYEMURA INTERNATIONAL CORP.

In the North American market there are

some dramatic changes in the printed circuit
board landscape, as we see the migration
of manufacturing to the East, particularly
to China. Most of the big runners are made
overseas.
There are certain categories of products
that remain in North America, however—
those that are classified as high value added.
These are primarily prototype boards, large
backplane (>40 layers), and boards for
military use.
Prototype boards require very elaborate
front-end engineering to bring the part to
its final configuration in a reasonable time
frame. Prototype boards are never made
in numbers, but they may go through a
series of iterations before finalization.
These boards cover a range of complexity
with some being highly sophisticated with
high layer count, small holes, and buried
and blind laser drilled vias. Less than 3
mil lines and spaces and “Via Fill” are first
encountered here.
Backplane type boards may reach a thick-
ness of 400 mils, and although the holes are hole connectivity that convey the signal from
usually greater than 15 mils, it is the highest end to end of the final device.
aspect ratio demand; 25:1 is actually being Surface uniformity is sometimes plagued
manufactured and plated today. This is one with the occurrence of nodules, which come
of the highest value added products in PCB from a variety of sources. Gold wire bonding
manufacturing. applications have no tolerance to any level
To meet these specification requirements of nodulation.
the board shop is forced to seek new and New developments are helping meet this
advanced processes in every department challenge. A big part of the developments
in the manufacturing process. Acid copper are focused on:
plating comes under heavy scrutiny, as it is • New chemical additive packages for
the process that forms the traces and the thru improved distribution.

pfonline.com 185
 PLATING/ANODIZING

• Mass transfer improvements to the peaks, resulting in an exaggerated profile.

complement the additives With good solution agitation, the leveler
• Nodules elimination by use of will accumulate more rapidly and readily at
insoluble anode the peaks and it will inhibit growth or depo-
• “Via Filling,” a specific application sition. The valleys will allow faster deposit
growth and allow the valleys to catch up to
Acid Copper Organic Additives: the peak, thus creating leveling.
The additives fall into three main categories:
• Carriers Pulse Plating
• Brighteners For the last few years the copper plating
• Levelers industry was focused on pulse plating and
in particular periodic pulse reverse, as the
Carriers increase the polarization resis- solution for all. As time progressed and the
tance and are current suppressors. The level of difficulty continued to climb, the
suppression is a result of the carrier being plating current density for pulse began to
adsorbed to the surface of the cathode; this drop and the primary advantage of plating
results in increasing the effective thickness of at higher current density began to disap-
the diffusion layer. The result is better orga- pear. Add to that the complexity of oper-
nization. This gives rise to a deposit with a ating a pulse rectifier with added definition
tighter grain structure. The carrier modified of ASF, forward to reverse ratio, duty cycle
diffusion layer also improves plating distribu- and waveform. In many instances pulse also
tion without burning the deposit. required an elaborate and frequent scheme of
The brightener is a grain refiner. Its organic regeneration to maintain the copper
random adsorption may produce a film that thickness distribution benefits.
will suppress crystallographic differences. Pulse plating is presently being utilized,
Alternatively brighteners may be adsorbed it is a more complex process and requires
preferentially on particular active sites such additional controls, the deposit produced is
as lattice kinks, growth steps, or tops of cones, usually not bright. The physical properties
or surface projections in general; growths at (tensile and elongation) of pulse plating,
these locations are then blocked. The bright- though meeting minimum requirements, are
ener produces a fine grained non directional not as good as those produced by DC plating.
(equiaxed) grain structure. It is the additive
that directly affects the tensile strength and High Throw DC Plating
elongation properties of the deposit. A new generation of “High Throwing Power”
Levelers are small molecules that carry acid copper systems have come to the market
a partial charge that are attracted prefer- to fill the void. These baths are designed for
entially to the higher current density areas today’s plating currents, which are lower
on the plating surface. Levelers or leveling than the traditional 25 - 30 ASF, which was
agents are selective inhibitors present at low common in the days of double-sided, and
concentrations in the electrolyte as compared simpler products.
to the depositing metal. In case of a micro High throw baths are designed to give the
profile the diffusion layer does not follow the desired physical properties at current densi-
profile contour, but is maximum at the valleys ties as low as 5 ASF and as high as 20 ASF. They
and minimum at the peaks. Consequently, in produce bright ductile deposits.
absence of a leveling agent, depositing ions These bath types are characterized by
diffuse more rapidly to the peaks than to the a specific combination of organic additive
valleys, and deposits grow more rapidly on package that includes a unique leveling

186 2016 PF DIRECTORY

 PLATING/ANODIZING

agent. The leveler plays a key role in improving Diffusion refers to the movement of ions
throwing power particularly if it is coupled through the solution in response to a concen-
with eductor (airless) agitation. tration gradient. It is a consequence of random
Some of these baths can give a throwing molecular motion that operates to produce
power greater than 65 percent for a 28:1 more uniform distribution throughout the
aspect ratio drilled hole plating 1.0 mil in the solution. As soon as plating begins to deplete
hole, in a vertical dip tank mode. the copper ions in the immediate vicinity of
the cathode (in the diffusion layer) diffusion
Mass Transfer drives more ions in to equalize the concen-
Mass transfer becomes a key parameter that tration. If the plating rate is higher than the
must be understood and managed for high rate of diffusion alternate sources of “mixing”
aspect ratio plating. An example is plating are required.
a 330-mil-thick board with a 22-mil hole Eductors are used today in many of acid
diameter, a 15:1 aspect ratio, an 8-mil-hole copper plating tanks. They create turbulent
in a 93- or 125-mil-thick board, or a blind via solution flow without the use of air sparging.
with an aspect ratio greater than1.0. Mass The design and layout of the eductor sparging
transfer is influenced first and foremost by system is important to maximize the solution
diffusion, also affected by solution agita- shearing action at the surface for the board
tion, and part or rack agitation. Of course, a to be plated. If properly designed eductors
reduction in plating rate will always improve can preclude the need for part agitation.
distribution by maximizing the role of diffu- The increased solution flow at the surface as
sion for mass transfer. compared to the middle of the hole could be
effective in improving the throwing
power, provided the chemical addi-
tives used are designed to respond
preferentially to solution movement.
Eductors eliminate the need for
compressed air or air blowers, and
also provides a safer environment
where acid is not constantly been
blown into the air, or the exhaust
system.
Air sparging is used in acid copper
plating as a means of solution agita-
tion to replenish the metal ions at the
depositing site. Air spargers should be
properly designed to give sufficient
turbulence

Nodule Elimination
Insoluble Anode
The use of insoluble anodes is well
established in the acid copper convey-
orized equipment. It offers a series
of advantages over the conventional
copper slugs/balls in titanium baskets.
The most prominent advantage is the

pfonline.com 187
 PLATING/ANODIZING

and the use of ozone to oxidize copper metal.

Adapting this to vertical plating lines is
beginning to make inroads in the industry.
The elimination of anode maintenance,
the consistency of the anode area and the
elimination of the soluble anode as a source
of nodulation have proven to be major assets.

Via Fill Plating

To meet the demands of high density inter-
connect, “via filling” is quickly becoming
a clear choice for connecting the different
layers in buildup technology (stacked vias
and vias in pad) manufacturing. They result
in an overall improvement in long-term reli-
ability of the PCB and the package.
Suppliers have developed new electro-
lytes for plugging vias shut. Both pulse
plating and DC plating proprietary “Via
Filling” chemistries are available in the
market place. DC plating offers a series of
advantages as it does not require pulse
rectification and avoids the complexity
of managing a pulse wave. In addition
DC plating systems are stable and do not
require the constant regeneration of pulsed
electrolytes.
This automated line enables plating of Via filling is based on high depositing ion
about 1,500 PCB panels each week. concentration coupled with a low concen-
tration of a leveling agent, in addition to
absence of copper anodes, which need to be the carrier and the brightener additives.
filmed and bagged to contain naturally occur- Most of these systems require optimized
ring sludge from getting on the work. solution flow. The flow allows the leveler to
Anodes, even in their purest form, are accumulate on the surface, thus inhibiting
prolific sources of suspended matter that plating while the bottom of the via continues
leads to nodules. Insoluble anodes eliminate to plate. The plating dynamics in the bottom
the need for dummy plating to film the anode. of the hole are very different than those on
The need for standard anode maintenance is the board surface. Eventually as the hole fills,
also eliminated. The anode shape and dimen- the plating dynamics even out.
sions are not altered throughout the life of the Acid copper plating has come a long way
insoluble anode. since the early days of double and single
The insoluble anode requires a continuous sided printed wiring boards. Plating chal-
supply of copper ions brought into the system lenges will continue to increase as new
from an external source. Some of the methods product demands (lighter smaller and more
used to generate copper are the dissolution reliable) come to market. As one leading
of copper oxide into the electrolyte, the elec- edge milestone is conquered, a new one is
trolytic dissolution in an external rectified cell set. Stay tuned.

188 2016 PF DIRECTORY