Electroless nickel deposition on the hybrid polyimide

The electroless nickel deposition on the different types of polyimide nano-composites was investigated to realize the interfacial phenomena. For silica sol-gel modified polyimide nanocomposites, silica nanoparticles with polyimide would be dissolved near the surface area when KOH was applied to activate polyimide. The interfacial bonding comes from anchoring effect from microroughened surface as well as the palladium ion exchanging with potassium carboxylate (RCOOK) from imide ring cleavage. For silane modified polyimide, the adhesion of metal layer and polyimide comes from microroughening effect, palladium absorption on the chemically bonded-Si-OH as well as the palladium ion exchanging with potassium carboxylate (RCOOK) from imide ring cleavage. In the treated region of hybrid polyimide, the electroless nickel grains are nano sized because of the nano pores remained from silica dissolution. The size depend on the modification techniques. The important parameters of polyimide metallization would be KOH concentration, treatment time, electroless nickel bath composition, electroless process parameters and post heat treatment.