The effect of organic solvent (Ethanol) on electroless Ni-P deposition

Use of electroless nickel for electronic applications continues to grow and is clearly the most diverse market segment. This project is aimed to investigate the possibility to coat nickel by using organic solvent for nickel composite coating deposition with undissolved-incorporated particles in water using electroless plating and to coat on water-dissolved materials. The work focuses on optimizing the coating parameters of electroless nickel phosphorous (Ni-P) in organic solvent which is ethanol on a copper substrate. The maximum concentration of ethanol was 50% to be added in an aqueous solution of plating bath to dissolve the entire Ni salt, complexing agent, stabilizer and reducing agent. The effect of 50% ethanol on electroless Ni-P deposition and characterization of Ni-P coating were studied. The characterization of coating materials was conducted using X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) and Field Emission Scanning Microscopy (FESEM) with Energy Dispersive X-Ray (EDX). The result showed that the agglomerated Ni-P deposited on coating surface become bigger when the NiSO₄ concentration increases at the optimum plating time of 20 minutes. The performance of deposited Ni-P in this study showed highest adhesion level when the concentration of NiSO4 was 15 g/L while the thickest coating was formed at 40 minutes of 35 g/L NiSO₄ concentration.