Electroless metal deposition of electronic components in an enclosable vessel
AssigneeCFMT, Inc.
InventorsChristopher F. McConnell, Steven Verhaverbeke
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Abstract
The present invention provides methods of electrolessly depositing metal onto the surfaces of electronic components using an enclosable single vessel. The methods of the present invention include contacting the electronic components with an activation solution followed by contacting the electronic components with a metal deposition solution. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the oxygen levels in the activation solution and metal deposition solution are controlled in a manner for improved processing results. In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the activation and metal deposition solutions are used one time without reuse.
Claims20
A method of electrolessly depositing a metal onto an electronic component comprising:
- (a) loading a plurality of electronic components in an enclosable single vessel;
- (b) forming an activation solution comprising at least one seeding agent, wherein the activation solution is substantially free of oxygen;
- (c) feeding the activation solution into the vessel, contacting the electronic components in the vessel with the activation solution for a first contact time, and removing the activation solution from the vessel, wherein the activation solution is contacted with the electronic components a single time, without reuse of the activation solution;
- (d) forming a metal deposition solution comprising at least one source of metal ions, at least one reducing agent, and oxygen;
- (e) feeding the metal deposition solution into the vessel and contacting the electronic components in the vessel with the metal deposition solution for a second contact time to deposit metal onto the surfaces of the electronic components, wherein the metal deposition solution is contacted with the electronic components a single time, without reuse of the metal deposition solution;
- (f) exposing the electronic components to sonic energy for at least a portion of the second contact time;
- and
- (g) removing the metal deposition solution from the vessel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.