Electrodeposition of Cu on PEDOT for a Hybrid Solid-State Electronic Device

Abstract

Conductive polymers are nowadays attracting great attention for their peculiar mechanical, electrical and optical proprieties. In particular, PEDOT can be used in a wide range of innovative applications, from electroluminescent devices to photovoltaics. In this work, the electrochemical deposition of 3,4 ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) was performed on various substrates (ITO, thin films of gold and palladium on silicon wafers) by means of both potentiostatic and potentiodynamic techniques. This was intended to further expand the applications of electrochemically deposited PEDOT, particularly regarding the preparation of thin films in tight contact with electrode surfaces. This allows one to obtain systems prone to be used as electrodes in stacked devices. Chronoamperometric experiments were performed to study the nucleation and growth process of PEDOT. SEM, ESEM and AFM analysis allowed the characterization of the morphology of the polymeric films obtained. Raman and visible spectroscopy confirmed the high-quality of the coatings on the different substrates. Then, the PEDOT films were used as the base material for the further electrodeposition of a copper layer. In this way, a hybrid electronic device was obtained, by using electrochemical methods only. The high conductivity and ohmic behavior of the device were confirmed over a wide range of frequencies with electrical impedance spectroscopy analysis.

AC-Bipolar Electrosynthesis and Luminol Electrochemiluminescence Imaging of Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) and Its Composite Films

“…Apart from mechanistic discourse, the addition of metallic particles inside the polymer matrix, or their dispersion on the polymer surface, has been shown to significantly improve the polymer catalytic activity toward several redox reactions, − making these composite materials suitable for sensing, electrocatalysis, and microelectronic devices. , …”

“…Apart from mechanistic discourse, the addition of metallic particles inside the polymer matrix, or their dispersion on the polymer surface, has been shown to significantly improve the polymer catalytic activity toward several redox reactions, 56−58 making these composite materials suitable for sensing, 59 electrocatalysis, and microelectronic devices. 60,61 Similar to the fabrication of PEDOT-Cu films, PEDOT-PT composites were prepared by positioning a PEDOT BPE film in an electrochemical cell (Figure 1a) containing an electrolytic solution composed of thiophene as a monomer for anodic electropolymerization and BQ as a sacrificial reagent for reduction (Figure 4a) (see the Experimental Section for details). Due to the relatively high ΔV min value (2.19 V, Table 1) required to initiate the redox reactions on the BPE, bipolar electropolymerization was performed by applying a fairly high AC voltage (150 V, ΔV BPE = 22.73 V, Table 1) to ensure a sufficient electric field was generated for the bipolar electrosynthesis.…”

A systematic study of pulse and pulse reverse plating on acid copper bath for decorative and functional applications

“…Electroplating of copper is one of the most commonly used plating processes for both functional and decorative applications 1 , 2 . Pulsed (PC) and pulsed-reverse current (PRC) plating is widely used in electronics for printed circuit boards 3 , but also for the deposition of alloys 4 , composite materials 5 and semiconductors 6 , 7 . On the contrary, only direct current (DC) is used in the decorative field 2 .…”

Optimisation of Thiourea Concentration in a Decorative Copper Plating Acid Bath Based on Methanesulfonic Electrolyte

“…In the electroplating industry, copper plating is an important treatment and it is often the first and irreplaceable step in the electrodeposition of metal films for both technological [1] and decorative [2] purposes. Copper is an excellent undercoat for subsequent deposits, since it has good capability to compensate substrate defects that could accelerate corrosion, and its deposition can be chemically tailored to obtain levelled, high thickness bright films.…”