International Conference & Workshop on Recent Trends in Technology, (TCET) 2012

Proceedings published in International Journal of Computer Applications® (IJCA)

Effect of Pulse Reverse Plating Using Silver On Printed

Circuit Boards
S. Jayapoorani Dalim Kumar Ghosh,
Assistant Professor, Associate Professor
Department of ECE Department of Mathematics,
Sona College of Technology, Salem VSB Engineering College, Karur,

ABSTRACT throwing power. When the current is reversed in pulse plating

Plating process is one of the most critical steps in the it reduces the polarisation effect causing the metal dissolution
manufacturing process of PCB. The thickness distribution in [6] that restricted the dissolution at the high point of the
the hole is an important factor in double sided and also cathode. In Pulse reverse Current (PRC) technique plating
multilayered PCB . Here the plating process is carried using current is interrupted and a stripping time is introduced into
pulse reverse plating on the printed circuit board . Pulse the plating cycle [8].PRC has the same effect of replenishing
Reverse Electroplating is similar to DC plating but it has a the diffusion layer pulse plating and selectively dissolves the
square wave along with a periodic reverse current.[1]In protrusions of the metal surface to ensure a uniform deposit.
periodic reverse current process a layer is produced on the Pulse-reverse plating system can reduce the surface
cathode surface with a lower metal Concentration. Periodic thicknesses and has good ability to filling high aspect hole.
reverse current help to obtain a plating thickness which is When there is longer reverse time it reduces the quality of
uniform in nature and also in nano structured grain size which deposit[12].
results in high binding of the metal with the substrate

Keywords:
Pulse reverse plating, PCB, silver, Nanostructured coating,
current density

1. INTRODUCTION
Printed circuit boards are electronic circuits created by
mounting electronic components on a nonconductive board, Fig. 1. Pulse reverse current waveform with the five
and creating conductive connections between them. The parameters highlighted:
creation of circuit patterns is accomplished by using both (a) cathodic current intensity amplitude,
additive and subtractive methods. The conductive circuit is (b) cathodic pulse duration on time,
generally copper whereas here silver is used for the purpose of (c) anodic current intensity amplitude,
plating. The development of PCB industry has increased the (d) anodic pulse duration on time, and
circuit densities. The task of the plating department is to (e) off-time of the pulse
obtain high quality plated products especially by increasing Table 1:Tabulation for Pulse reverse Plating
the performance of the product. In more recent times it has
been discovered that through controlling the grain size and
microstructure, metals can be strengthened and hardened with
little or no loss of ductility[13]. The electrochemical
deposition of pulse reverse current plating plays a new role for
Printed circuit Boards. The idea here is to obtain space
qualified PCB by using reverse pulse plating technique. As
the name suggests, Pulse reverse is the direction of the current
that alternates so that the sample acts as both cathode and
anode. Pulse reverse plating helps in obtaining an improved
quality deposit such as reduced grain size, increased
conductivity and reduced porosity[4].Pulse plating lead to During the Design of Experiments (DOE), the background
grain sizes less than 100 nm and leads to nano structured conditions kept constant are: concentration of metal salts,
coating[11].In conventional type copper is used for this conductive salts and buffering agents, concentration of
purpose . Here silver is used for filling the vias between the
impurities, electrolyte temperature, electrolyte pH, plating cell
layers of the PCB. The biggest obstacle in via filling is the geometry, composition and condition of the anode,
distribution of current density[2].Silver has 7% higher anode/cathode surface area ratio, the nature and condition of
conductivity than copper and the hardness of the board also the substrate as well as its conductive seed layer.[3]
increases. When the current is reversed ,the dependence on
2. Design of Experiment
current density is same for dissolution as for deposition. At
2.1 PULSE REVERSE PLATING
lower anodic current density the rate of dissolution is higher at The composition of the electrolyte for PR plating are as
the central Parts of the structure and at high current density follows. The electroplating cell consists of a standard parallel
the rate of dissolution is faster at the edges, this feature is
electrode setup. The main advantage of pulse reverse plating
exploited for mass distribution control by finding suitable is that there are 5 parameters that can be controlled whereas in
parameters for the anodic and cathodic current conventional DC plating only one parameter that is current
pulses[5].Lowering the Current density also increases the

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 International Conference & Workshop on Recent Trends in Technology, (TCET) 2012
Proceedings published in International Journal of Computer Applications® (IJCA)

density which can be controlled. So when PR technique is electroplating it is also observed that if the current efficiency
used it leads to better control of plating parameters. is close to 100% the material deposition will be equal to
2.2 Bath composition: current distribution.[10]
Potassium cyanide, Silver Potassium cyanide and Commercial
Brightener are the main composition of the bath with a silver
content of 30gms/litre (Canning W, 2005). The purity of the
2. Conclusion
The maximum and minimum are determined as follows:
anode silver is 99.99% .Anode and cathode size ratio should
be 2:1. Silver metal concentration is normally maintained by
The frequency, f, should be greater than 1 Hz. Literature states
anode dissolution which needs small additions of metal salt
that no benefit is gained over dc plating at or below1 Hz.
occasionally. This is processed further by adding either silver
The frequency should be less than 500 Hz which is the
cyanide or potassium silver cyanide. Silver is present as
maximum switching frequency permitted by the pulse
potassium silver cyanide, and its concentration must be
rectifier.
maintained by making periodic additions of this double salt.
The average current density, Id, should be more than
10mA/cm
Table 2:Tabulation for pulse plating
The average current density should be less than 60mA/cm .
DC deposition beyond this value leads to poor quality
deposits.
S. Rev. Rev.O Rev.O Rev. Avg.effective The anodic to cathodic current ratio, c/a, should be greater
n durat N FF duty values(fwd than 1. This parameter is reported to be the most influential in
o ion time( time( cycle values-rev obtaining conformal depositions.
(min min) min) values) The cathodic current density should be greater than the anodic
) current density. This condition is required for metal deposition
on the cathode
1 15 10 5 60 0.2578
When silver is used for plating it enhances tarnish resistance
2 20 15 5 70 0.3245 .Such type of plating is used for giant magneto resistance
3 25 20 5 80 0.3974 applications[9]

4. Acknowledgement
Peak Peak Duty cycle/ Current Hard The authors gratefully acknowledge the Nanomaterials and
current current Frequency Efficiency ness micromachining laboratory present at Sona college of
ampere density (%) (VPN) Technology for pulse plating facility.
A/dm2 5. References
2.1 3.260% 10Hz 94.78 85.3 [1] C.Wenlu, D.Wanchun and L.B.Huan,2000 “Studies
2.4 3.75
20% 10Hz 91.93 83.2 of additives in acid sulfate copper pulse reversal
3.7 4.55
80% 25Hz 99.77 89.8 current electrodeposition”, Circuitree, vol.14,no.11
4.5 4.55 80% 81.42 198 48-50
100Hz [2] Beica, R., C. Sharbono, and T. Ritzdorf.
5.1 4.55 20% 10Hz 96 112.3 2008.“Through silicon via copper electrodeposition
Buffer salt is added to maintain the pH level. Here the pH for 3D integration”. Proc 58Th Electronic
Components & Technology Conference.pp.577-583.
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8cmX8cm.The objective is to obtain a space qualified PCB. Properties of Ni-Fe Thin Films” IEEE Transactions
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2 Reverse ON+OFF ASEF surfin’93 pp 249-256
[6] R.Retallick,R.Blake,D.Desalvo “Pulse
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[9] M.S.Chandrasekar,Malathy pushpavanam2008.
divided by the sum of the Time (Fwd) + sum of the Time
“Pulse and reverse pulse plating- conceptual,
(Rev).This is called as effective duty cycle and it is multiplied
advantages and applications” electrochimica
by the peak current to obtain the average current. From the
ampere time preset the plating thickness is determined.While

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 International Conference & Workshop on Recent Trends in Technology, (TCET) 2012
Proceedings published in International Journal of Computer Applications® (IJCA)

Acta533313-3322 [12] Jen Tsung Luo, Wen Bing Lin, Laurence Shang
2008. “The Effect of Pulse-Reverse Plating Time on
[10] P.Leisner,G.Bech-Neilsen,P.Moller 1992. Blind Micro Via Filling”IEEE pp 395-398
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acid copper bath”Surface finishing Alpas,1996. “Effect of grain size on friction and
[11] Erb U, T.Turi,1995 “Nanostuctured wear of nanocrystalline aluminium”,Material
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