Electroplating solution for electroplating lead and lead/tin alloys
AssigneeLucent Technologies Inc.
InventorsJoseph Anthony Abys, Kenneth J. Murski, Yun Zhang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An electroplating solution for plating bright tin, lead, or tin-lead alloy solder coatings in high speed electroplating applications. The electroplating solution includes an alkane or alkanol sulfonic acid electrolyte, a non-ionic surfactant, a grain refiner and two brightening agents: an aromatic aldehyde and a carboxylic acid. In one embodiment of the electroplating solution, the sulfonic acid electrolyte is methane sulfonic acid, the non-ionic surfactant is octylphenoxy(10)polyethoxy ethanol, the grain refiner is phenolphthalein, the aromatic aldehyde is chlorobenzaldehyde, and the carboxylic acid is methacrylic acid.
Claims14
An electroplating solution useable for plating tin, lead, or tin-lead alloy solder coatings comprising:
- a sulfonic acid electrolyte;
- at least one of a tin sulfonate salt and a lead sulfonate salt;
- a non-ionic surfactant comprising an aromatic compound;
- a grain refiner comprising a heterocyclic compound;
- and
- brightening agents consisting essentially of an aromatic aldehyde and a carboxylic acid, wherein the surfactant, grain refiner and brightening agents are selected such that the electroplating solution is adapted for high speed plating of a bright solder coating having a carbon content of less than about 0.1%.
A process for electroplating a substrate with tin, lead, or tin-lead alloys comprising the steps of
- providing an electroplating solution comprising a sulfonic acid electrolyte;
- at least one of a tin sulfonate salt and a lead sulfonate salt;
- a non-ionic surfactant comprising an aromatic compound;
- a grain refiner comprising a heterocyclic compound;
- and brightening agents consisting essentially of an aromatic aldehyde and a carboxylic acid,
- positioning the substrate in the electroplating solution;
- applying current densities at greater than about 300 ASF;
- and
- maintaining the temperature of the electroplating solution at a sufficiently high temperature so that the substrate is electroplated with a bright solder coating have a carbon content of less than about 0.1%.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.