Fabrication of Ni-Mn Microprobe Structure with Low Internal Stress and High Hardness by Employing DC Electrodeposition

Abstract

Due to its widely tunable mechanical property and incompatibility with most solders, Ni-Mn alloy can become a viable candidate in the fabrication of testing probe for microelectronic devices. In this study, the electrodeposition of Ni-Mn alloy in nickel sulphamate electrolyte with the addition of manganese sulphate was investigated under direct current (DC) power source. The effects of current density and Mn2+concentration in the electrolyte on the coating composition, cathodic efficiency, microstructure and mechanical properties were explored. The results showed that the raise of the Mn2+concentration in the electrolyte alone did not effectively increase the Mn content in the coating but reduce the cathodic efficiency. On the other hand, increasing the current density facilitated the codeposition of the Mn and rendered the crystallite from coarse columnar grain to the refined one. Thus, both hardness and internal stress of the coating increased. The fabrication of testing probes at 1 A/dm2was shown to satisfy the high hardness, low internal stress, reasonable fatigue life, and nonsticking requirements for this microelectronic application.

Cu/Ni/Au multilayers by electrochemistry: A crucial system in electronics - A critical review

“…Increasing the Mn salt concentration, and employing higher current densities lead to more incorporation of Mn inside Ni-Mn films, however, cracked surfaces appeared at high Mn contents due to increasing internal stress [102].…”

Influence of electric brush‐plating voltage on hydrophobic behaviour of a cauliflower‐like Ni coating surface

“…The fabrication of superhydrophobic surfaces on metal substrates with high surface energy attract much attention owing to their great importance in daily life as well as in various industrial and biological applications such as anti-contamination, self-cleaning, non-stick characteristics and corrosion resistance [7][8][9][10][11][12]. However, the metal surface with chemical modification might affect its intrinsic properties such as electrical conductivity and magnetic conductivity.…”

Electrodeposition of Ni–Fe–Mn/Al2O3 functionally graded nanocomposite coatings

“…13 For instance, addition of Mn into the Ni deposits improved the mechanical properties. 17,18 The potential of applying this method for the case of Ni–Fe has been neglected in literature.…”