• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.263-270
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• 2018

Ag-coated Cu dendrites were prepared as a filler for an electromagnetic interference shielding application. Ag layers on the Cu dendrites was coated by two approaches. One is a direct autocatalytic plating with a reducing agent. The other approach was achieved by two-step plating, a galvanic displacement reaction to form Ag seed layers on Cu following by an autocatalytic plating with a reducing agent. The procedure-dependent average particle size and tap density of Ag-coated Cu dendrites were characterized. The electrical resistance and electromagnetic interference shielding effect (EMI SE) were analyzed with the Ag-coated Cu dendrites prepared in the two approaches. Additionally, the content of the Ag coated on Cu dendrites was controlled from 2% to 20%. The electrical resistance and EMI SE were critically determined by Ag contents coated on Cu.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.555-560
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• 2003

Ag-coated Cu particles were prepared by dropping method of coating agent and were evaluated by scanning electron microscope and color difference meter. The shape of Cu particles having obvious crystal plan and edge was changed spherically according to the increase of Ag coating amount. When the Ag coating amount was 50 wt% to Cu particles, the whiteness of Ag-coated Cu particles was almost similar to that of pure Ag particles. Adding $NH_4$OH in reductant solution could increase effectively the whiteness of the Ag-coated particles. The Ag-coated particles having the highest whiteness was obtained when the content of hydrazine in reductant solution was 0.48 M.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.97-104
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• 2016

In the preparation of Ag-coated Cu flakes using L-ascorbic acid as a reductant for the electroless Ag plating, the effects of pretreatment methods and the reductant concentration on the uniformity of Ag coating layer and the anti-oxidation property of Ag-coated Cu flakes during the heating in air were evaluated. It was found that the removal degree of surface oxide layer during the pretreatment has great influence on the uniformity of Ag coating layer and the formation degree of hole defects in the flakes has slight effect on the anti-oxidation property of Ag-coated Cu flakes. It was also verified that the reductant concentration has great influence on the coverage uniformity and thickness of Ag coating, thus it was could be considered a main process parameter. When the reductant concentration was 0.04 M, high-quality Ag-coated Cu flakes was obtained. When the concentration increased to 0.06 M, however, the anti-oxidation property of Ag-coated Cu flakes became remarkably worse owing to remnant of Cu surface non-coated with Ag by the formation of pure Ag fine particles.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.546-551
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• 2011

Ag spot-coated Cu nanopowders were synthesized by a hydrothermal-attachment method (HA) using oleic acid capped Ag hydrosol. Cu nano powders were synthesized by pulsed wire exploding method using 0.4 mm in diameter of Cu wire (purity 99.9%). Synthesized Cu nano powders are seen with comparatively spherical shape having range in 50 nm to 150 nm in diameter. The oleic acid capped Ag hydrosol was synthesized by the precipitation-redispersion method. Oleic acid capped Ag nano particles showed the narrow size distribution and their particle size were less than 20 nm in diameter. In the case of nano Ag-spot coated Cu powders, nanosized Ag particles were adhered in the copper surface by HAA method. The components of C, O and Ag were distributed on the surface of copper powder.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.65-71
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• 2017

To prepare the Cu-based filler material indicating enhanced oxidation resistance property and Ag content, Ag-coated Cu particles was fabricated by Ag plating of 40 wt % on the spherical Cu particles with an average size of $2{\mu}m$ and their oxidation behavior was also evaluated. In the case that ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid was used alone, the fabricated particles frequently showed broken structures such as delamination at Ag shell/core Cu interface and hollow structure that are induced by excessive galvanic displacement reaction. As a result, fraction of defect particles increased up to 19.88% after the Ag plating of 40 wt.%. However, the fraction in the 40 wt.% Ag-coated Cu particles decreased to 9.01% and relatively smooth surface and dense microstructure in the Ag shell were also observed with additional usage of hydroquinone as a complexing agent. Ag-coated Cu particles having the enhanced microstructure did not show any weight increase by oxidation for exposure to air at $160^{\circ}C$ for 2 h, indicating increased oxidation resistance property.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.24 no.11
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• pp.617-624
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• 2014

To elucidate the effects of a pretreatment process on the uniformity of Ag electroless plating on Cu flakes, pretreatment time was mainly considered with a mixed solution of 0.15 M ammonium hydroxide and 0.0375 M ammonium sulphate. Optical inspection of Ag-coated Cu flakes determined that the optimal pretreatment time is 120 s. Repetition of the sequence in which Ag plating was done immediately after the pretreatment of 120 s clearly enhanced the plating uniformity. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that holes were formed irregularly on some Cu flakes during the period from the asdropping of an Ag precursor solution to 5 min. The hole formation was judged to be due to continuous removal of Cu on the local surfaces by the repetitive formation and elimination of $Cu_2O$ or $Cu(OH)_2$ layers. However, the increase of the amount of Ag coating suppressed the hole creation and increasingly enhanced the antioxidant property.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.291-297
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• 2007

The field emission properties of CNT-emitters coated with Ag-Cu alloy have been investigated. The vertical aligned multi-walled CNTs were synthesized by dc-plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (dc-PECVD) and the Ag-Cu alloy was coated by using dc-magnetron sputter. The morphology of alloy-coated and un-coated CNT-emitters was observed by using SEM and their field emission properties were also measured. Annealing the AgCu-coated CNTs at temperature more than ${\sim}700^{\circ}C$, the Ag-Cu alloy was diffused to and aggregated on the top of the CNT as a Q-tip. A significant progress on the field emission was not observed with coating Ag-Cu alloy on the CNTs, but a certain improvement in a resistance against oxygen gas was made confirmation. It seems to be due to inertness of Ag-Cu alloy on the CNTs.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.51-56
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• 2016

To fabricate a copper (Cu)-based fine conductive filler having antioxidation property, submicron silver (Ag)-coated Cu particles were fabricated and their antioxidation property was evaluated. After synthesizing the Cu particles of $0.705{\mu}m$ in average diameter by a wet-reduction process, Ag-coated Cu particles were fabricated by successive Ag plating using ethylene grycol solvent. Main process parameters in the Ag plating were the concentration of reductant (ascorbic acid), the injection rate of Ag precursor solution, and the stirring rate in mixed solution. Thus, Ag plating characteristics and the formation of separate fine pure Ag phase were observed with different combinations of process parameters. As a result, formation of the separate pure Ag phase and aggregation between Ag-coated Cu particles could be suppressed by optimization of the process parameters. The Ag-coated Cu particles which were fabricated using optimal conditions showed slight aggregation, but excellent antioxidation property. For example, the particles indicated the weight gain not exceeding 0.1% until $225^{\circ}C$ when they were heated in air at the rate of $10^{\circ}C/min$ and no weight gain until 75 min when they were heated in air at $150^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.57-62
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• 2017

In the process for preparing Ag-coated Cu flakes by electroless silver plating using hydroquinone reducing agent, Ag coating qualities were compared by changing various process parameters such as type of pretreatment solution, plating temperature, pH of plating solution, type and injection rate of plating solution, and pulp density. Effective pretreatment solution for removing the oxide layer on a Cu flake was preferentially suggested. The conditions of low plating temperature, pH value of 4.34, slow injection rate of Ag plating solution, elimination of deionized water in the Ag plating solution, and high pulp density significantly suppressed the formation of separated tiny Ag particles, and thus the surface coverage of Ag coating on Cu flakes was enhanced.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.109-116
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• 2016

To achieve the fabrication of high-quality Ag-coated Cu particles through a wet chemical process, we reported herein pretreatment conditions using an ammonium-based mixed solvent for the removal of a $Cu_2O$ layer on Cu particles that were oxidized in air for 1 hr at $200^{\circ}C$ or for 3 days at room temperature. Furthermore, we discussed the results of post-Ag plating with respect to removal level of the oxide layer. X-ray diffraction results revealed that the removal rate of the oxide layer is directly proportional to the concentration of the pretreatment solvent. With the results of Auger electron spectroscopy using oxidized Cu plates, the concentrations required to completely remove 50-nm-thick and 2-nm-thick oxides within 5 min were determined to be X2.5 and X0.13. However, the optimal concentrations in an actual Ag plating process using Cu powder increased to X0.4 and X0.5, respectively, because the oxidation in powder may be accelerated and the complete removal of oxide should be tuned to the thickest oxide layer among all the particles. Back-scattered electron images showed the formation of pure fine Ag particles instead of a uniform and smooth Ag coating in the Ag plating performed after incomplete removal of the oxide layer, indicating that the remaining oxide layer obstructs heterogeneous nucleation and plating by reduced Ag atoms.