EP3929333A1 - Neuartige kathodenelektrodenstruktur für elektroplattierungsanlagen - Google Patents

Neuartige kathodenelektrodenstruktur für elektroplattierungsanlagen Download PDF

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Publication number
EP3929333A1
EP3929333A1 EP20181936.4A EP20181936A EP3929333A1 EP 3929333 A1 EP3929333 A1 EP 3929333A1 EP 20181936 A EP20181936 A EP 20181936A EP 3929333 A1 EP3929333 A1 EP 3929333A1
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EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
conductive
sided
electrode structure
conductive layer
double
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Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
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Application number
EP20181936.4A
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English (en)
French (fr)
Inventor
Ling-Pao Shan
Chun-Kuei Huang
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Individual
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Individual
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Publication date
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Priority to EP20181936.4A priority Critical patent/EP3929333A1/de
Publication of EP3929333A1 publication Critical patent/EP3929333A1/de
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    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C25—ELECTROLYTIC OR ELECTROPHORETIC PROCESSES; APPARATUS THEREFOR
    • C25D—PROCESSES FOR THE ELECTROLYTIC OR ELECTROPHORETIC PRODUCTION OF COATINGS; ELECTROFORMING; APPARATUS THEREFOR
    • C25D17/00—Constructional parts, or assemblies thereof, of cells for electrolytic coating
    • C25D17/005—Contacting devices
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C25—ELECTROLYTIC OR ELECTROPHORETIC PROCESSES; APPARATUS THEREFOR
    • C25D—PROCESSES FOR THE ELECTROLYTIC OR ELECTROPHORETIC PRODUCTION OF COATINGS; ELECTROFORMING; APPARATUS THEREFOR
    • C25D17/00—Constructional parts, or assemblies thereof, of cells for electrolytic coating
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C25—ELECTROLYTIC OR ELECTROPHORETIC PROCESSES; APPARATUS THEREFOR
    • C25D—PROCESSES FOR THE ELECTROLYTIC OR ELECTROPHORETIC PRODUCTION OF COATINGS; ELECTROFORMING; APPARATUS THEREFOR
    • C25D17/00—Constructional parts, or assemblies thereof, of cells for electrolytic coating
    • C25D17/001—Apparatus specially adapted for electrolytic coating of wafers, e.g. semiconductors or solar cells

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to an electroplating technique, in particular to an a cathode electrode structure of a single-sided or double-sided horizontal type electroplating equipment applicable for semiconductor chips, printed circuit boards and photovoltaic cells.
  • the currently available photovoltaic cells adopt low-cost metals to replace some or all silver paste.
  • the cost of the silver paste is more than 25% of the total cost of the production process. It is obvious that using the low-cost metals to replace some or all silver paste is very important for reducing the cost of the production of the photovoltaic cells.
  • the chemical deposition method is based on electroplating process. Compared with the physical deposition method, the electroplating process is simpler and can selectively deposit the metals. Therefore, the production cost of the electroplating process can be very low, so the cost of the production of the crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells can be considerably reduced. Accordingly, using the electroplating process to deposit the metals on the crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells is a popular development field for now.
  • the cathodes of these equipment usually adopt hard conductive metal materials because there is no proper elastic conductive material.
  • the objects to be plated are usually fragile, so tend to be crushed during the production process, which is not good for mass production.
  • part of the cathodes of these equipment can also adopt elastic conductive fiber materials which are made by doping metal powders or graphite powders into non-conductive fibers, so the shortcoming of this method is that the electric conductivity of the elastic conductive fiber materials is insufficient.
  • the present invention provides a conductive cathode to perform the single-sided or double-sided horizontal electroplating process so as to solve the aforementioned problem.
  • the currently available electroplating equipment for horizontal electroplating are usually designed to use a hard metal rolling rod to serve as the cathode.
  • the objects to be plated e.g. photovoltaic cells and semiconductor chips
  • the cathode rolling rod made of hard materials cannot properly and stably contact the object to be plated.
  • the cathode rolling rod keeps jumping up and down over the surface of the object to be plated, so many electric arcs may be generated during the electroplating process. The electric arcs would damage the object to be plated or break through the object to be plated, which would influence the quality of the products.
  • the present invention provides an electrode structure of a single-sided or double-sided horizontal type electroplating equipment applicable for semiconductor chips, printed circuit boards and photovoltaic cells, which can effectively avoid that the object to be plated is crushed during the electroplating process, increase the service life of the cathode, and make sure that the electrical contact between the cathode and the object to be plated is proper and stable. Besides, large current is allowed to pass through the electrode structure during the electroplating process, which can prevent from the generation of the electric arcs in order to increase the operational speed of the equipment and produce high-quality products in mass production.
  • the present invention provides a new electrode structure for a single-sided or double-sided horizontal or vertical type electroplating equipment, which includes a conductive shaft connected to an electric source.
  • a soft and flexible conductive layer tubular in shape is sheathed on the conductive shaft and the two ends of the conductive layer are provided with conductive terminals directly contacting the conductive shaft respectively.
  • the outer surface of the conductive layer forms a cathode electrically contacting an object to be plated and a cavity is formed between the inner surface of the conductive layer and the conductive shaft.
  • the buffer cushion layer is disposed inside the cavity, and the outer surface and the inner surface of the buffer layer press against the conductive shaft and the conductive layer.
  • the advantages of the present invention are as follows: Via the conductive terminals contacting the conductive shaft, the electrical connection between the conductive layer and the electric source is realized, such that the cathode, needed by the electroplating process, can be formed on the outer surface, for pressing the object to be plated by rolling, of the conductive layer.
  • the buffer cushion layer disposed inside the cavity can provide flexible support for the cathode contacting the object to be plated in order to maintain the proper flexible and soft pressing contact between the cathode and the object to be plated, which can further prevent from fire electrical arcing or sparks generated and finally increasing the yield rate of the manufacturing by the electroplating process.
  • the buffer cushion layer is made of an elastic material, and the elastic material is plastics or rubber.
  • the diameter of the conductive shaft is 1mm-100mm and the length of the conductive shaft is 1mm-5000mm.
  • the soft and flexible conductive layer is made of conductive fibers and the diameter of each of the conductive fibers is 0.005 ⁇ 100um.
  • the conductive fibers are made of one or more materials selecting from the group consisting of stainless steel, nickel, titanium, tungsten, graphite and metal alloy.
  • the cathode is a full contact without clip or chucking point structure.
  • the present invention is applicable to single-sided or double-sided horizontal or vertical type electroplating equipment for semiconductor chips, printed circuit boards and photovoltaic cells.
  • the electroplating equipment include the above electrode.
  • the advantages of the single-sided or double-sided horizontal type electroplating equipment in accordance with the present invention are that when the single-sided or double-sided horizontal type electroplating equipment for manufacturing semiconductor chips and photovoltaic cells adopt the cathode, the object to be plated will not be damaged by the cathode, and the proper flexible and soft pressing contact between the cathode and the object to be plated can be maintained in order to improve the uniformity of the electroplating effect and increase the yield rate of the products manufactured by the electroplating process.
  • Fig. 1 ?? Fig. 3 show an electrode structure of a single-side or double-sided horizontal type electroplating equipment; the electrode structure includes a conductive shaft 1 connected to an electric source.
  • a tubular conductive layer 2 is sheathed on the conductive shaft 1.
  • An application example of the conductive shaft 1 and the conductive layer 2 is as shown in Fig.3 ; the conductive shaft 1 with the conductive layer 2 are installed on a currently available single-sided or double-sided horizontal type electroplating equipment 4.
  • the electroplating equipment 4 is loaded with an object to be plated 5 and move the object to be plated to pass through the working area.
  • the upper side and the lower side of the working area are provided with the electroplating solution containers 6 respectively.
  • the electroplating solution is dripped or poured on one surface or two surfaces of the object to be plated 5.
  • the surface of the object to be plated 5, close to the electroplating solution container 6, serves as an anode and the surface, contacting the object to be plated 5 and on the both side of the electroplating solution container 6, of conductive layer 2 of the present invention serves as a cathode, such that the object to be plated 5 can electrically connect the anode to the cathode in order to perform the single-sided or double-sided electroplating process.
  • the present invention is characterized in that the conductive layer 2 is sheathed on the conductive shaft 2, as shown in Fig. 1 ⁇ Fig. 3 .
  • the two ends of the conductive layer 2 are provided with conductive terminals 21 directly contacting the conductive shaft 1 respectively.
  • the outer surface of the conductive layer 2 forms the cathode electrically contacting an objected to be plated 5 and a cavity 22 is formed between the inner surface of the conductive layer 2 and the conductive shaft 1.
  • the buffer layer 3 is disposed inside the cavity 22, and the outer surface and the inner surface of the buffer layer 3 press against the conductive shaft 1 and the conductive layer 2.
  • the electrical connection between the conductive layer 2 and the electric source is realized, such that the cathode, needed by the electroplating process, can be formed on the outer surface, for pressing the object to be plated 5 by rolling, of the conductive layer 2.
  • the buffer layer 3 disposed inside the cavity 22 can provide flexible support for the cathode contacting the object to be plated 5 in order to maintain the proper flexible and soft pressing contact between the cathode and the object to be plated 5, which can prevent from damaging the fragile objects and can further prevent from fire electrical sparks generated because the object to be plated 5 is damaged by the currently available cathode for the purpose of increasing the yield rate of the products manufactured by the electroplating process.
  • the buffer layer 3 can be made of an elastic material material.
  • the elastic material may be any one of PP, PE, PVC, PU and PO.
  • the diameter of the conductive shaft 1 is 1mm-100mm and the length of the conductive shaft 1 is 1mm-5000mm.
  • the conductive layer 2 may adopt conductive fibers and the conductive fibers are made of one or more materials selecting from the group consisting of stainless steel, nickel, titanium, tungsten, graphite and copper alloy.
  • a full contact without clips or chucking point structure is formed between the cathode and the object to be plated 5 in the embodiment.
  • the key point of implementing a common electroplating process is that the object to be plated 5 should contact the cations and the negative electrode (cathode) at the same time, and the metal grid lines needed by the object to be plated 5 (e.g. a semiconductor chip, a printed circuit board or a photovoltaic cell) can obtain electrons from the surface, contacting the cathode, of the object to be plated 5. Then, the metal cations in the electroplating solution can be plated on the object surface.
  • the electrode structure of the embodiment includes the conductive layer 2 (the conductive fibers) and the buffer layer 3, the object to be plated 5 can pass through the cathode without clips during the electroplating process, and a firmly soft and good contact between the conductive layer 2 and the object to be plated 5, a semiconductor chip or a photovoltaic cell, can be formed, which not only can maintain great electroplating uniformity, but also can avoid that the fragile objects are damaged.
  • the single-sided or double-sided horizontal type electroplating equipment 4 of the present invention for manufacturing photovoltaic cells includes the above electrode.
  • the electroplating equipment 4 adopts the aforementioned cathode, which not only can make sure that the object to be plated 5 processed by the electroplating equipment 5 will not be damaged because being clamped by the cathode, but also can make sure that the object 5 to be plated can have great and stable conductive flexible contact in order to increase the yield rate of the products manufactured by the electroplating process.

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  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
  • Electrochemistry (AREA)
  • Materials Engineering (AREA)
  • Metallurgy (AREA)
  • Organic Chemistry (AREA)
  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Sustainable Development (AREA)
  • Electroplating Methods And Accessories (AREA)
EP20181936.4A 2020-06-24 2020-06-24 Neuartige kathodenelektrodenstruktur für elektroplattierungsanlagen Withdrawn EP3929333A1 (de)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP20181936.4A EP3929333A1 (de) 2020-06-24 2020-06-24 Neuartige kathodenelektrodenstruktur für elektroplattierungsanlagen

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP20181936.4A EP3929333A1 (de) 2020-06-24 2020-06-24 Neuartige kathodenelektrodenstruktur für elektroplattierungsanlagen

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP3929333A1 true EP3929333A1 (de) 2021-12-29

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EP20181936.4A Withdrawn EP3929333A1 (de) 2020-06-24 2020-06-24 Neuartige kathodenelektrodenstruktur für elektroplattierungsanlagen

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Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2513515A (en) * 1946-05-13 1950-07-04 Republic Steel Corp Composite roll for electrotinplating lines
JPS61207598A (ja) * 1985-03-12 1986-09-13 Nomura Seimitsu Denshi Kk 通電ロ−ラ装置
US20030051999A1 (en) * 2000-04-20 2003-03-20 Egon Hubel Elastic contact element
WO2004101865A2 (de) * 2003-05-15 2004-11-25 Gebr. Schmid Gmbh & Co. Einrichtung zur behandlung von gegenständen, insbesondere galvanisierung für leiterplatten
EP2061073A2 (de) * 2007-11-13 2009-05-20 Rena Sondermaschinen GmbH Vorrichtung und Verfahren zum Transport von empfindlichem Gut

Patent Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2513515A (en) * 1946-05-13 1950-07-04 Republic Steel Corp Composite roll for electrotinplating lines
JPS61207598A (ja) * 1985-03-12 1986-09-13 Nomura Seimitsu Denshi Kk 通電ロ−ラ装置
US20030051999A1 (en) * 2000-04-20 2003-03-20 Egon Hubel Elastic contact element
WO2004101865A2 (de) * 2003-05-15 2004-11-25 Gebr. Schmid Gmbh & Co. Einrichtung zur behandlung von gegenständen, insbesondere galvanisierung für leiterplatten
EP2061073A2 (de) * 2007-11-13 2009-05-20 Rena Sondermaschinen GmbH Vorrichtung und Verfahren zum Transport von empfindlichem Gut

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