Cyanide containing electrolyte is widely used as a strike bath or to build up copper on substrates like steel, aluminium and zinc. Due to environmental consideration cyanide based bath formulations are replaced by a suitable non-cyanide formulation. However, only few processes are established commercially. Baths based on alkaline phosphonates were not commercially successful due to inherent problem of stability and bath control. This paper describes the development of a non-cyanide alkaline copper plating bath from an alkaline tartrate solution with an amine and sulfur containing additives. Paper describes the influence of additive concentration, operating current density and throwing power of the bath.
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