Advanced Features of Electrolytic Silver-tin (AgSn20) Process

This work describes the Silveron™ GT-820 Silver-Tin as a robust process for the electrodeposition of silver-tin alloys of composition equal to Ag3Sn and Ag4Sn. A design of experiment method was used to study the influence of process parameters on the deposit performance. It was found that the alloy composition is controlled by organics components of the bath. It is independent on the metal concentration ratio and the applied current density inside the specified process window. The silver-tin deposit is semi-crystalline directly after plating but can be converted to a fully crystalline material by a short annealing. This coating is not only ductile and tarnish resistant but also displays a good insertion and retention force needed for press-fit interconnections. The product was tested successfully under serial production conditions and shown to be suitable for tin and tin-lead replacement in solderless interconnections. Continue reading

Influence of Alloy Composition on Performance of Zinc-Nickel Coatings

Electrodeposited zinc-nickel coatings are broadly used as sacrificial coatings for steel since many years in the automotive industry and for other high corrosion resistant applications. The best corrosion resistance is obtained with ZnNi deposits having 12–15 % Ni in the alloy. Many studies were performed showing the influence of nickel content in the alloy [1]. In industrial plating electrolytes other metals than Zn and Ni can be present. In alkaline zinc-nickel electrolytes mild steel is usually used as anode material. Depending on electrolyte composition and plating conditions more or less iron can be dissolved by anodic dissolution into the electrolyte. It is well known that the iron is codeposited into the zinc nickel alloy, but the effect on the alloy properties was never systematically investigated. In this study the influence of up to 800 mg/L iron in commercially used alkaline zinc nickel processes is investigated. Up to 8 % iron is amorphously codeposited in the alloy. No new iron containing phases could be detected by X-ray diffraction (XRD). ZnNi g-phases (Ni2Zn11/Ni5Zn21) are still the dominant phases, but plain orientation can be affected by iron codeposition. Corrosion properties are investigated by electrochemical measurements and neutral salt spray test. Whereas no huge difference in the corrosion properties between the bare ZnNi and ZnNiFe coatings was observed, the corrosion resistance with a subsequent trivalent chromium passivate can be drastically improved using iron in the alloy.  Continue reading