Production of Three-dimensional Nickel Microstructures by Electroless Plating on Through-hole-type Polymer Micromold

摘要

In this study, a method to produce three-dimensional nickel microstructures by pouring an electroless plating solution into a through-hole mold made of photocurable resin is presented. Single-spiral and double-spiral models of 100-mu m-diameter wires and 450-mu m-long bunny models with 40-mu m-thick ears at the minimum were fabricated using nickel, which was obtained from the resin mold. After the inflow plating into the through-hole resin mold, the spiral shape was found to be successfully transformed to the nickel product after the resin mold was sublimated. For the bunny model, dip plating was added after the inflow plating to the thin ears for successful transfer of original mold shape. The fine structure of the model surface suggested that the replication accuracy achieved the resolution of the optical lamination modeling.