Electroless nickel plating solution, electroless nickel plating method using same, and flexible nickel plated layer formed by using same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016168718-A1
Application number	US-201414905376-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 1, 2014
Priority date	Jul 16, 2013
Publication date	Jun 16, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present invention provides an electroless nickel plating solution supplying high flexibility to a plated layer and having improved stability. The electroless nickel plating solution according to an embodiment of the present invention is an electroless nickel plating layer using an electroless nickel plating method. The electroless nickel plating solution comprises: a nickel metal salt providing a nickel ion for plating, and containing sulfamic acid nickel; a reducer reducing the nickel ion for plating; a complexing agent forming a complex together with the nickel ion for plating; and a cyan-based stabilizer providing stability of the electroless plating solution and preventing the generation of pits in a flexible nickel plated layer.

First claim

1 . An electroless nickel plating solution that forms a flexible nickel plated layer by using an electroless nickel plating method, the electroless nickel plating solution comprising:
a nickel metal salt that provides a nickel ion used for plating, and contains sulfamic acid nickel; a reducer that reduces the nickel ion used for plating; a complexing agent that forms a complex with the nickel ion used for plating; and a cyan-based stabilizer that provides stability to the electroless nickel plating solution and prevents the generation of pits in the flexible nickel plated layer.

2 . The electroless nickel plating solution of claim 1 , wherein the nickel metal salt is comprised in the range of 4 g to 7 g per 1 liter of the electroless nickel plating solution.

3 . The electroless nickel plating solution of claim 1 , wherein:
the reducer comprises at least one of sodium hypophosphite, potassium hypophosphite, or ammonium hypophosphite; and the reducer is comprised in the range of 20 g to 50 g per 1 liter of the electroless nickel plating solution.

4 . The electroless nickel plating solution of claim 1 , wherein:
the complexing agent comprises at least one of carboxylic acid, alpha hydroxyl acid, or amino acid; and the complexing agent is comprised in the range of 40 g to 80 g per 1 liter of the electroless nickel plating solution.

5 . The electroless nickel plating solution of claim 1 , wherein the complexing agent comprises, per 1 liter of the electroless nickel plating solution: carboxylic acid or a derivative thereof in the range of 5 g to 20 g; alpha hydroxyl acid or a derivative thereof in the range of 5 g to 20 g; and amino acid or a derivative thereof in the range of 5 g to 100 g.

6 . The electroless nickel plating solution of claim 1 , wherein the complexing agent comprises, per 1 liter of the electroless nickel plating solution: a sum of adipic acid and tartaric acid in the range of 5 g to 20 g; lactic acid in the range of 5 g to 20 g; and glycine in the range of 5 g to 100 g.

7 . The electroless nickel plating solution of claim 1 , wherein the complexing agent comprises, per 1 liter of the electroless nickel plating solution: tartaric acid in the range of 5 g to 20 g; a sum of lactic acid and citric acid in the range of 5 g to 20 g; and glycine in the range of 5 g to 100 g.

8 . The electroless nickel plating solution of claim 1 , wherein:
the cyan-based stabilizer comprises at least one of sodium thiocyanate (NaSCN), potassium thiocyanate (KSCN), sodium cyanide (NaCN), or potassium cyanide (KCN); and the cyan-based stabilizer is comprised in the range of 0.1 ppm to 5 ppm per 1 liter of the electroless nickel plating solution.

9 . The electroless nickel plating solution of claim 1 , further comprising a metal stabilizer that provides stability to the electroless nickel plating solution, prevents a reduction reaction of the nickel ion used for plating, and contains metal atoms,
wherein the metal stabilizer is comprised in the range of 0.1 ppm to 20 ppm per 1 liter of the electroless nickel plating solution.

10 . The electroless nickel plating solution of claim 9 , wherein the metal stabilizer comprises at least one of tin (Sn), zinc (Zn), magnesium (Mg), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), thorium (Th), thallium (Tl), selenium (Se), tellurium (Te), molybdenum (Mo), arsenic (As), or bismuth (Bi).

11 . The electroless nickel plating solution of claim 1 , further comprising a pH control agent that controls the pH of the electroless nickel plating solution to be in the range of 3.5 to 5.5.

12 . The electroless nickel plating solution of claim 11 , wherein the pH control agent comprises at least one of sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, ammonium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, or potassium hydroxide.

13 . An electroless nickel plating method that uses an electroless nickel plating solution, the electroless nickel plating method comprising:
preparing the electroless nickel plating solution according to claim 1 ; and immersing an object to be plated in the electroless nickel plating solution to form a flexible nickel plated layer on the object to be plated.

14 . The electroless nickel plating method of claim 13 , wherein the forming of the flexible nickel plated layer is performed at a pH in the range of 3.5 to 5.5.

15 . The electroless nickel plating method of claim 13 , wherein the forming of the flexible nickel plated layer is performed at a temperature in the range of 70° C. to 95° C.

16 . The electroless nickel plating method of claim 13 , wherein the forming of the flexible nickel plated layer is performed at a plated layer formation rate of at least 15 μm per hour.

17 . A flexible nickel plated layer formed on a surface of an object to be plated through an electroless nickel plating method by using the electroless nickel plating solution according to claim 1 .

18 . The flexible nickel plated layer of claim 17 , wherein the flexible nickel plated layer has a composite structure in which at least two of an amorphous structure, a columnar crystal structure, a granular crystal structure, or a bulk crystal structure are mixed.

19 . The flexible nickel plated layer of claim 17 , wherein the flexible nickel plated layer has a hardness of at least 500 Hv.

20 . The flexible nickel plated layer of claim 17 , wherein the flexible nickel plated layer has a number of bending cycles of at least 500 cycles.

Assignees

• Korea Ind Tech Inst

Inventors

• Lee Hongkee
• Jeon Junmi

Classifications

• C23C18/32 Primary

  Coating with nickel, cobalt or mixtures thereof with phosphorus or boron (C23C18/50 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C23C18/1675

  Process conditions · CPC title

• C23C18/36

  using hypophosphites · CPC title

• C23C18/168

  Control of temperature, e.g. temperature of bath, substrate · CPC title

• C23C18/34 Primary

  using reducing agents · CPC title