How to obtain a good coating without understanding the role of components

As is well known, in the acidic bright copper plating process, the acid copper brightener plays an important role in the quality of the coating, and there are generally three components of the acid copper brightener: wetting agent, leveling agent, and brightener. These three components need to have a good synergistic effect with each other and a strict ratio in order to achieve the best performance. Acid copper brightener Cu-510
So we need to first clarify a question: what roles do these three play in the acidic bright copper plating process?
About wetting agents
In the acidic bright copper plating process, wetting agents are mostly used as surfactants to enhance the wetting effect of the solution on the electrode, reduce the interfacial tension between liquid gas and liquid solid, and make it difficult for hydrogen bubbles generated by hydrogen evolution at the cathode to stay on the surface of the cathode during the electroplating process, thereby reducing the probability of pinholes in the coating and increasing cathodic polarization. However, wetting agents are generally not used separately.
About leveling agents
The so-called leveling agent refers to the acid bright copper plating process that can obtain a flat coating after adding it. From a microscopic perspective, leveling agents can fill the surface defects of the workpiece. For this reason, some people also call leveling agents leveling agents, which are an important component of electroplating additives.
In the acidic bright copper plating process, leveling agents can often improve the problem of the coating not shining in low current density areas.
The function of leveling can be divided into the following three types:
① Geometric leveling
② Negative leveling
③ Positive leveling
The electroplating production aims to achieve a positive leveling effect.
About Brighteners
In the acidic bright copper plating process, the main function of brighteners is to increase the cathode current density, refine the coating grains, and work together with carriers, wetting agents, and leveling agents to give the produced coating a fully bright appearance.
Acid copper brighteners are generally divided into two categories: dye type and non dye type.
The non dye type brightener was developed by Chinese technicians in the late 1970s. The brightener has a wide usage temperature, but the obtained coating has a lower brightness than the dye type.
Dye type brighteners have good flatness and brightness even in the low plating area, and their process adjustment is also relatively easy in the production of acidic bright copper plating. However, traditional dye based brighteners have certain drawbacks. For example, the process temperature range of dye based brighteners is narrow, and the temperature control requirements for equipment are high.
If the electroplating factory wants to obtain a coating with good brightness in the low area of the coating, but does not want to be restricted due to the narrow process temperature range. What should I do? Is there a way to have the best of both worlds?
Yes, we can use Bigley's acidic bright copper plating process Cu-510, which belongs to the high dye type acid copper brightener. It not only has the advantages of traditional dye type brighteners, but also has a wide operating temperature range, and can obtain a bright and uniform copper coating within the temperature range of 20-35 ℃.
Wide temperature means that when the temperature of the bath solution is high, even in the low area of the coating, the brightness will not be significantly reduced. This can reduce the defect rate of the product and avoid cost waste caused by rework.