Abstract
Despite growing interest in pulse current electroplating, published theories have not evolved beyond treatments of simple, single-step reaction kinetics. This omission of multiple-step kinetics and associated reaction pseudocapacitance is responsible for the inability to interpret mechanistically several key pulse current electrodeposition process characteristics.
A complex kinetics charge transfer model is developed to describe the enhanced geometric control of deposit thickness achievable with judiciously chosen pulse current control conditions. This semiquantitative analysis demonstrates that deposit thickness ‘levelling’ is primarily the result of the strong potential dependence of the reaction pseudocapacitance, together with proper choices of pulse current control variables. For any system of interest, a well defined on-time current,I A, and on-time and off-time periods,t A andt B, are optimum for minimizing relative deposit thickness variation.
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Hager, H.E. Current levelling behaviour under pulse current electroplating conditions: The role of reaction pseudocapacitance. J Appl Electrochem 16, 189–195 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01093350
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01093350