Electrolytic plating
Integrated wet chemical process and equipment solutions for package substrates and printed circuit boards (HDI/MLB and Flex/Flex-Rigid)
Quick facts
- Electrolytic plating for the highest requirements in reliability and productivity
- Solutions for various equipment types: Uniplate® IP2, vPlate® and other vertical conveyorised lines, conventional hoist type
- Market leading Uniplate® IP2 equipment for horizontal conveyorized production
Applications
- Conformal plating
- BMV filling
- TH filling
- Pretreatment
- Metal resist, electrolytic final finishes
Product portfolio
Conformal copper plating
Panel 2.4 mm thickness incl. flash copper, hole diameter 0.2 mm, aspect ratio: 12:1, throwing power: > 85%
- High volume conformal plating production in Uniplate® InPulse2 equipment: Inpulse® 2HFU2 is masking drilling defects and provides reliable coverage of wedge voids thanks to its superior throwing power in BMVs. The process is the ideal solution for reliable mSAP flash plating. Inpulse® 2HT2 assures best plating uniformity in through holes with significantly improved surface plated copper distribution, comparing high and low hole density areas.
- The latest version of Atotech Cupracid® TP series: Cupracid® TP5: this is an electrolytic copper plating process for conventional hoist type DC equipment using soluble anodes. It provides good throwing power in through holes and BMVs. And Cupracid® TP5 also offers excellent reliability results to make it suitable for e.g. challenging automotive production.
- Cupracid® AC5 is our next generation process for conformal copper plating with soluble anodes. It provides even improved throwing power in both BMVs and Through Holes at high current densities. It is compatible to a wide range of metallization processes on the market and ideally suited for automotive production. Cupracid® AC5 is compatible with a wide range of vertical conveyorised systems with sparger electrolyte agitation as well as hoist type equipment with air agitation.
- Cuprapulse® XP8 for vertical soluble anode systems is the successor of our well-known pulse plating solution Cuprapulse® XP7 for high aspect ratio conformal copper plating. DC technology does not even come close to the throwing power performance achieved with Cuprapulse® XP8. High current density pulse plating allows for increased productivity with simultaneous quality improvements such as better surface distribution and line shape. Cuprapulse® XP8 offers better process stability, a wider working window and enhanced surface appearance.
- Cuprapulse® IN is our answer to the increasing market demand for vertical pulse plating with insoluble anodes in VCP and hoist type systems. It provides more uniform copper appearance in comparison to standard pulse plating processes with soluble anodes. It can be operated under turbulent flow conditions without oiling-out or two-tone effect. Pulse plating allows for superior throwing power in shortest plating time for high throughput in your plating equipment.
- Especially for the requirements of the flex/ rigid-flex market, we have developed InPro® FLEX2 / Cupracid® FLEX2. Both processes target conformal copper plating at high current densities and provide excellent throwing power in through holes. The deposits plated with both processes exhibit excellent crystal structure, ductility and flexibility for the highest reliability in flex application. InPro® FLEX2 is for use with insoluble anodes, Cupracid® FLEX2 operates with soluble anodes.
Copper BMV filling
- Horizontal BMV Filling: Inpulse® 2HF9 provides outstanding BMV filling performance (Superfilling®). Superlative BMV filling results with minimum surface plated copper will be achieved. Thus the use of Inpulse® 2HF9 in the unique Uniplate® InPulse2 System in combination with the Atotech Fe-redox Cu replenishment system is ideally suited and proven for high end and high volume HDI production.
- Vertical BMV filling: InPro® MVF and InPro® MVF2 are the VCP processes for current and next generation HDI BMV filling. They are designed for use of insoluble anodes in DC mode and provides excellent pattern BMV filling without dome plating at minimum plated thickness. Our mass production proven InPro® THF is not only capable for through hole filling but is also a high current density pattern BMV filling process in VCP systems with insoluble anodes. It is the reference for mSAP applications. It’s successor InPro® THF2 offers greater filling capabilities, higher uniformity and increased ductility especially for amSAP production.
- InPro® SAP3 is our mass production proven process for IC Substrate BMV filling in VCP systems with insoluble anodes. It provides an excellent within-unit distribution. To increase IC Substrate production the high uniformity can be achieved at high applicable current densities. Copper filling performance is uniform in a wide working window to ensure stable and reliable production results for fine line application. InPro® SAP6 is our next generation process. It can be operated at even higher current densities to increase productivity. InPro® SAP6 offers the best within-unit distribution in the market on high demanding IC layer and superior surface finishing compared to POR chemistry.
- BMV filling and half-filling on flex application can be challenging, especially when you need to run at high production speed. In these cases, it is difficult to achieve a uniform, void-free filling and a bright surface copper appearance, especially on RA copper foils. InPro® FLEXFILL provides excellent shininess and reliable filling performance at low and high current densities and fulfills the industry reliability standards for flex application. It is compatible with VCP, hoist type and reel-to-reel equipment with insoluble anodes and sparger electrolyte agitation.
Copper through hole filling
Laser drilled , inclusion-free through hole: Diameter 100 µm, panel thickness 0.2mm, plated Cu 15 µm
- Inpulse® 2THF2 together with the unique Uniplate® InPulse2 horizontal reverse pulse plating systems is ideally suited for through hole filling , especially for core material with a copper foil of less than 5 µm thickness. Inpulse® 2THF2 grants reliable and inclusion-free copper through hole filling combining patented X-plating and Superfilling® technology in one process chemistry achieving lowest possible surface thickness.
- InPro® THF is a filling electrolyte for laser ablated through holes (LTH) in VCP facilities for IC Substrate production. The DC plating process is running in mass production in VCP equipment worldwide. It’s successor InPro THF2 offers increased filling performance and uniformity. Both may also be used for pattern BMV filling at highest current densities for (a)mSAP production.
Metal resist plating (Tin)
- Sulfotech® LST: our metal resist process providing exceptional plated surface distribution. The electrolyte enables economical make-up and production with sulphuric acid, a MSA version exists as well. It deposits fine grain dense tin for optimal etch resistance. The low surface tension electrolyte offers good performance for BMVs and high aspect ratios. Furthermore, the process additives meet EU environmental regulations and are NPE and methanol free.
- Tinpulse® SC : enables high productivity pulse plating (3-4× higher compared to standard DC process) in metal resist application. The process provides superior metal throw in BMV and high AR through holes (AR up to 20:1) and the use of pulse plating improves crystal structures for optimal fine grain dense tin deposition. The use of pulse plating further offers a superior thickness distribution resulting in approx. 30% cost reduction in anode material and less danger of shorts, no mushrooming.
Electroytic finish
SolderFill for filling of smallest SRO’s
- Nikotron®: assures a soft, ductile and low internal stress nickel deposits. Stress level and hardness can be controlled.
- Aurotron®: electrolytic gold plating for wire bonding and soldering as well as for hard gold applications.
- Pallatron: provides an electrolytic palladium deposition for higher reliability and reduces costs for Ni/Pd/Au applications.
- SolderFill®: high-speed electrolytic tin solder depot plating which overcomes the limitations of solder paste printing and Micro-ball placement.
- StannoBond®: electrolytic tin plating process for solder on copper pillar and for thermo compression bonding.
RDL and Pillar plating
- The new Innolyte® product family for electrolytic plating is paired with an innovative equipment technology for electroplating, the MultiPlate®. Our high purity Innolyte® chemistries are designed to plate RDL structures and pillars at highest current densities while achieving excellent uniformity of the plated structures. The plated copper is of high Cu purity to ensure highest copper properties and reliability.
Pretreatment
Cleaning for 3 min at 35 °C: no attack and no dry film lift off
- CupraPro® S8: biodegradable pre-treatment for all HDI panel and pattern copper plating applications. It grants excellent cleaning and also low dynamic surface tension for optimum wetting with reduced drag out.
- CupraPro® MV: biodegradable pre-treatment product for IC Substrate plating applications, specifically developed for use in vertical hoist type equipment. It is NPE free and grants fast, effective pre-treatment through its low dynamic surface tension for via filling applications with reduced drag out.
- CupraPro® VC: new acid pre-treatment product for all panel and pattern copper plating applications, specifically developed for use in vertical conveyorized equipment. It grants low foaming in turbulent fluid environments and rapid, effective wetting of all structures, especially high aspect ratio through holes and BMVs.
Featured products
InPro® THF / InPro® THF2
Panel/pattern via filling in VCP using insoluble anodes for (a)mSAP
Cuprapulse® XP8
Precise copper deposition for reduced cost of cost of ownership
Cupracid® AC5
High-speed conformal plating solution for vertical conveyorized and hoist systems
Our new conformal copper plating solution – Cupracid® AC5 was developed for the express purpose of meeting this need. With an aspect ratio of up to 12:1, it has the potential to become the industry standard for high throwing power in BMVs and through holes.
Uniplate® InPulse2
Atotech leading integrated horizontal system for electrolytic copper deposition
The unique Uniplate® InPulse2 system and processes are ideally suited to meet all demands for high end production using pulse plating at high effective current densities with insoluble anodes.
- Inpulse® 2HF9 – our super filling technology allows reliable high volume HDI production of stacked via technology.
- Inpulse® 2THF2 – unique process enabling inclusion-free through hole filling with minimum surface plated copper.
- Inpulse® 2HFU2 – best BMV preparation for subsequent lamination and copper filling within mSAP production processes.
vPlate®
Atotech solution for vertical continuous copper plating
The unique vPlate® system provides unique technical features such as automatic lubrication system and automatic jig tester to ensure best performance. Together with our dedicated InPro® and Cuprapulse® processes this chemistry equipment combination covers all relevant applications from MLB, HDI, ICS and rigid-flex in panel and pattern plating.
- Cuprapulse® IN – first choice for conformal plating of HAR boards to achieve highest throwing power in pulse plating mode with insoluble anodes.
- InPro® SAP3 – unique process enabling inclusion-free BMV filling with minimum surface plated copper.
- InPro THF2 – not only suitable for a reliable through hole filling, but also offers great BMV filling capabilities, high uniformity and increased ductility especially for (a)mSAP production.
- InPro® VLF – If you are looking for better uniformity, higher plating current density, higher throughput, lower maintenance loading in conformal plating, InPro® VLF would be the right choice.
Multiplate® P
Atotech solution for next generation packaging technologies
- MultiPlate® is the ECD tool that offers the versatility and multifunctionality necessary to tackle current and future challenges for optimal performance in advanced packaging technologies. The MultiPlate® P system is designed for Panel-Level-Packaging and capable of processing panels up to 650×610 mm.
- Innolyte® PLP – RDL and via filling process offers excellent distribution and via filling capabilities in combination with an excellent line shape
- Innolyte® P – high purity copper pillar plating at current densities up to 20 A/dm² for best uniformity and no voiding in IMC.
