Selective And Direct Gold Electroplating On Silicon Surface For MEMS Applications

This paper describes development and characterization of a novel technology for selective and direct gold electroplating on silicon surface. In the MEMS field, the gold electroplating is increasingly draw attention for its low electrical resistivity, high physicochemical stability, high biocompatibility, and high reflectivity. But it is generally thought that the electroplating directly on silicon surface is difficult because of its low adhesion. We have successfully achieved the fine gold electroplating technique without seed layer on silicon surface by novel two-step gold electroplating method.