JP2006183120A - Plating device and plating formation method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a plating device and a plating formation method where the overlap between electronic components is released, so as to be separated. <P>SOLUTION: Chip-shaped electronic components 40 as the objects for plating are stored inside a barrel 31 together with conductive media, and they are dipped into a vessel 11 stored with a plating liquid 12. The barrel 31 is composed of meshes so that the plating liquid can be circulated therethrough, the barrel 31 is rotated in a state that the whole of the barrel 31 is dipped into the plating liquid 12, and tip-shaped electronic components 40 and the conductive media are mixed. Further, the chip-shaped electronic components 40 are irradiated with shock waves by shock wave generators 23, 25. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a plating apparatus and a plating method for plating an electrode of a chip-type electronic component such as a chip resistor, a chip capacitor, a chip inductor, and a chip sensor.

  When soldering chip-type electronic components on circuit boards used in electronic devices, etc., it is necessary to improve their solderability and ensure good electrical continuity, so plating on the external electrodes of chip-type electronic components Is given. Conventionally used apparatuses for electrolytic plating of electrodes include apparatuses using a rack method (rack plating method) and apparatuses using a barrel method (barrel plating method).

  In the rack method, a plating target is fixed to the rack, and a cathode is connected to the surface to be metallized so that a current flows. For example, the barrel method, for example, throws the plating target together with metal media in a cylindrical barrel, In this method, an object is electroplated while rotating a barrel in a plating tank filled with a plating solution. Although the above barrel method can plate a large number of objects at a time, there is a possibility that the objects to be plated overlap each other.

  As a method other than these, for example, in Patent Document 1, ceramics having a metallized surface are arranged on a mesh-like plate having conductive wires so that the metallized surface and the mesh-like plate are in contact with each other. Disclosed is a method in which an electroplating is applied to a metallized surface while passing a current through the metallized surface using the meshed plate as a cathode contact and vibrating or swinging the meshed plate to move the contact between the metallized surface and the meshed plate. Has been.

  Further, Patent Document 2 discloses an apparatus that drives an air cylinder, restricts movement by a stopper to give vibration to the cathode, and performs plating while swinging a plating object placed on the cathode. Yes. In the methods and apparatuses disclosed in these Patent Documents 1 and 2, chip parts are attached to each other by a plating film, or a net-like plate is vibrated in order to prevent adhesion between the chip parts and the cathode, or the cathode Is moving back and forth.

Japanese Patent No. 2627775 Japanese Patent No. 3106854

  However, the barrel method inevitably generates defective products due to overlapping of plating objects. In addition, the methods disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 both provide a plate and a cathode on which they are placed, for example, a vibration generator and a super A method of vibrating or swinging using a sound wave generator, an air cylinder or the like is employed. In other words, the conventional method has a configuration in which the vibration applied to the plate or the cathode is indirectly transmitted to the object to be plated (the object to be plated). Therefore, not only the structure of the device is complicated, but also the vibration that reaches each plating object is insufficient to prevent the chip parts from sticking to each other. There was a problem of not becoming.

  As a result, the barrel method has problems such as plating only when the metal media and the metallized surface of the object to be plated are in contact with each other, and the time required for plating is increased. Further, the methods of Patent Documents 1 and 2 not only have a complicated structure and cause a failure, but also have not sufficiently solved the same problem as that of the barrel method.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a plating apparatus and a plating forming method capable of preventing adhesion of chip parts in a plating process with a simple configuration. .

  As a means for achieving this object and solving the above-mentioned problems, for example, the following configuration is provided. That is, the present invention is a plating apparatus for immersing a plating object in a container in which a plating solution is stored and plating the plating object, wherein the plating liquid is configured to be circulated and the plating object. , A stirring means for stirring the plating object stored in the storage means, and a shock wave having a predetermined output is applied to the plating object in the storage means stirred by the stirring means. And a shock wave generating means.

  For example, the stirring means performs stirring so that the object to be plated is mixed with the conductive medium by rotating the storage means in a predetermined direction in the plating solution in the container.

  Further, for example, the shock wave generating means can irradiate the shock wave from a plurality of different directions. For example, the output of the shock wave can be adjusted according to the plating object.

  As another means for solving the above-described problem, for example, the following configuration is provided. That is, the present invention is a plating forming method in which a plating object is immersed in a container in which a plating solution is stored, and the plating object is plated. A step of accommodating an object; a step of immersing the accommodating means accommodating the plating object in the plating solution; and agitating the plating object accommodated in the accommodating means immersed in the plating solution; And irradiating a shock wave having a predetermined output to the object to be plated in the agitated storage means.

  For example, in the stirring step, the object to be plated is mixed with a conductive medium by rotating the housing means in a predetermined direction in the plating solution in the container.

  For example, the shock wave is irradiated from a plurality of different directions. For example, the method further includes a step of adjusting the output of the shock wave in accordance with the plating object.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to easily break and separate the overlapping of electronic components during plating. Further, since these can be realized with a simple structure, sufficient reliability as a plating apparatus can be secured.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Specifically, a plating apparatus and a plating process for plating a chip-type electronic component according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. In addition, the plating apparatus demonstrated here is a plating apparatus which employ | adopted the barrel method. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of a plating apparatus according to this embodiment. FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of a barrel unit including a barrel and its drive mechanism used in the plating apparatus according to the present embodiment.

  In the plating apparatus shown in FIG. 1, for example, a plating solution 12 containing a metal to be plated is stored in a plating tank 11 whose upper surface is open. The barrel 31 into which the chip-type electronic component 40 such as a chip is inserted is immersed to a depth at which it is completely immersed in the plating solution 12. As will be described later, the barrel 31 is supported so as to be rotatable in the barrel unit 30, and the entire barrel 31 is immersed in the plating solution 12 by immersing the lower portion of the barrel unit 30 in the plating solution 12. Yes.

  An anode (anode) 35 is further immersed in the plating solution 12. By applying a voltage between the anode 35 and the cathode (cathode) 33, a chip-type electronic component placed in the barrel 31 is used. 40 is electroplated. In addition, in the barrel 31, together with the chip-type electronic component 40, for example, a conductive medium such as an iron ball (also referred to as a current-carrying dummy or a metal medium) is introduced to the external electrode of the chip-type electronic component 40. The plating formation is ensured.

  As shown in FIG. 2, support portions 32 a and 32 b are attached horizontally on both sides of the barrel unit 30 in the vicinity of the upper portion of the barrel unit 30. The support portions 32 a and 32 b of the barrel unit 30 are placed on the holding portions 13 and 14 protruding from the portions. By doing so, the whole barrel unit 30 is supported by the plating tank 11, and at the same time, the barrel 31 is immersed in the plating solution 12.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the barrel 31 has a cylindrical shape whose peripheral portion is surrounded by a mesh 37. Of the disc-like members at both ends, the barrel 31 has an outer periphery on one disc 41. In order to transmit the rotational driving force of the motor 22 to the barrel 31 via the gear 21, teeth 43 that mesh with the gear 21 are engraved. That is, the barrel 31 obtains the rotational driving force of the motor 22 and rotates at a constant speed around the longitudinal axis in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG.

  On the other hand, the chip-type electronic component 40 put into the barrel 31 is rotated and moved by the mesh 37 of the barrel 31 at the position indicated by the shade in FIG. Along with the rise and fall. Thereby, the chip-type electronic component 40 and the metal media are mixed, and the chip-type electronic component 40 is electroplated by the energizing action of the conductive media.

  In the plating apparatus according to the present embodiment, the chip-type electronic component 40 in the barrel 31 is irradiated with a shock wave from the outside in order to prevent the chip-type electronic component 40 in the barrel 31 from being plated in an overlapping state. Shock wave generators 23 and 25 are provided. This is to prevent the products from overlapping or pairing (also referred to as W failure or Abeck failure) during the plating process by applying a shock wave to the chip-type electronic component 40. The shock wave generators 23 and 25 are not fixed in irradiation direction, and can be freely changed in position according to the direction in which the shock wave is desired to be irradiated.

  A shock wave is a pressure wave that travels beyond the speed of sound, and occurs in nature due to volcanic explosions or lightning.If the pressure is changed extremely in an elastic medium such as gas, liquid, solid, etc. A wave that propagates at a speed exceeding A shock wave is different from a sound wave such as an ultrasonic wave because of its high physical expansion force and pressure on the impact surface. In addition, the shock wave moves at supersonic speed, and its speed increases as the pressure increases.

  Shock wave generation methods include underwater discharge method (spark gap method), which generates shock waves by explosively evaporating surrounding water by short-time high-pressure discharge in water, and focuses them with a semi-rotating elliptical reflector, piezoelectric Ceramic elements (piezo elements) are arranged in a spherical shell, and a high voltage (high voltage pulse) is radiated intermittently to generate a shock wave pulse, which is focused on the center of the spherical shell, and a high voltage pulse is applied to the electromagnetic coil. An electromagnetic sound source method (electromagnetic conversion method) is known in which a shock wave is generated and collected by an acoustic lens, but any method can be applied to the present invention.

  The shock waves generated by these methods have been applied for other medical purposes.For example, by irradiating the generated shock waves to a stone formed in the kidney, urinary tract, etc. The stone is crushed without performing surgery.

  The shock wave generators 23 and 25 used in the plating apparatus according to this embodiment generate a shock wave by any one of the methods described above, and the chip-type electronic component 40 in the barrel 31 is moved from the shock wave generators 23 and 25. A shock wave with a predetermined pressure is irradiated. Along with this, the individual chip-type electronic components 40 are affected by the high-pressure wave of the shock wave, the chip-type electronic components are overlapped, and these components are separated from each other.

  At this time, since the conductive medium is also affected by the high-pressure wave similarly to the chip-type electronic component 40 due to the irradiated shock wave, the mixing of the chip-type electronic component and the conductive medium is promoted rather than simply rotating the barrel 31. And the opportunity for mutual contact increases. Therefore, the plating formation in the chip-type electronic component 40 proceeds smoothly, and the plating process time can be shortened.

  It is sufficient that the shock wave generated from the shock wave generators 23 and 25 has a pressure that can prevent the components from being overlapped in the plating process. Therefore, the control unit 10 does not output a shock wave having such a pressure that the shock wave from the shock wave generators 23 and 25 crushes the component itself or separates the electrode of the chip-type electronic component from the substrate. It is controlled as follows.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the barrel 31 itself is rotated in the axial direction, and two shock wave generators 23 and 25 are used for the chip-type electronic component 40 in the barrel 31. The shock wave is irradiated from two different directions. This is because the parts that are mixed and agitated in the barrel 31 and overlapped with each other are irradiated with the shock wave more uniformly than when the shock wave is received from only one direction, and the overlap of the parts is more crushed. Easier to separate.

  If the shock wave is uniformly applied to the chip-type electronic component 40 from different directions, the chip-type electronic component 40 can be more reliably separated. For this reason, the number of shock wave generators arranged outside the plating apparatus is not limited to two. For example, a number of shock wave generators that can irradiate shock waves from three directions, four directions, or more are arranged. It is good also as composition to do. Moreover, you may enable it to irradiate the shock wave of the different pressure according to object continuously or intermittently.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a plating process using the plating apparatus according to the present embodiment. First, in step S51 of FIG. 3, the object to be plated (here, the chip-type electronic component as described above) and the conductive medium are put into the barrel 31. In the next step S52, the barrel 31 is immersed in the plating solution 12. In step S53, the motor 22 is driven to rotate the barrel 31, and the object to be plated and the metal medium are mixed.

  In step S54, the shock wave generators 23 and 25 irradiate the plating object in the barrel 31 with a shock wave having a predetermined output while rotating the barrel 31. In a succeeding step S55, it is determined whether or not the plating processing time exceeds a preset time T. If it is determined that the plating process time is less than T, the barrel rotation and the shock wave irradiation in steps S53 and S54 are continued. In addition, the irradiation time of the shock wave to the plating target is the same as the plating processing time.

  When the plating processing time exceeds the set time T, the plating processing is completed. That is, in step S57, the rotation of the barrel 31 and the irradiation of the shock wave are stopped, and in step S59, a plating target in which plating is formed on the electrode or the like is taken out from the barrel 31.

  In the chip resistor, the plating on the external electrode is not limited to one layer, and may be a plurality of layers. When laminating a plurality of platings, for example, in a case where Ni film-Cu film-Ni film-Sn film is laminated, for each plating layer, using the plating apparatus according to the present embodiment, The above-described plating process shown in FIG. 3 is performed. As a result, electrolytic nickel (Ni) plating-electrolytic copper (Cu) plating-electrolytic nickel (Ni) plating-electrolytic tin (Sn) plating is formed on the external electrode.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the chip-type electronic components put into the barrel of the plating apparatus are plated, shock waves provided outside the chip-type electronic components are applied to these chip-type electronic components. By irradiating the shock wave from different directions from the generator, the chip-type electronic components in the barrel can be easily crushed and separated. As a result, a high-quality plated layer can be reliably and uniformly formed on the electrode of the chip-type electronic component.

  In addition, since there is no pairing (overlap) between chip-type electronic components in the barrel, there is no need to set the plating time in consideration of the overlap, so the plating process time is greatly reduced compared to the conventional case. Can do.

  Furthermore, since it is not necessary to adopt a configuration that mechanically vibrates the barrel itself in order to remove the overlap between the parts in the barrel, the configuration of the apparatus is simplified, and cracks and wear may occur in the barrel. Absent. Accordingly, the plating apparatus itself is less likely to fail, and the structure of the apparatus is simple, so that repair is easy. Also, by disposing the shock wave generating device outside the plating apparatus, even if the shock wave generating device fails, it is only necessary to replace it.

It is a figure which shows the cross-section of the plating apparatus which concerns on the embodiment of this invention. It is an external appearance perspective view which shows the barrel used for the plating apparatus which concerns on the example of an embodiment, and its drive mechanism part. It is a flowchart which shows the plating process process using the plating apparatus which concerns on this Example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Control part 11 Plating tank 12 Plating liquid 21 Gear 22 Motor 23, 25 Shock wave generator 30 Barrel unit 31 Barrel 32a, 32b Support part 33 Cathode (cathode)
35 Anode
37 mesh 40 chip-type electronic component 41 disc 43 teeth

Claims (8)

A plating apparatus for immersing a plating object in a container in which a plating solution is stored and plating the plating object,
A storage means configured to allow the plating solution to flow and to store the plating object;
Agitating means for agitating the plating object accommodated in the accommodating means;
A plating apparatus comprising: a shock wave generating unit that irradiates a shock wave having a predetermined output to the plating object in the housing unit stirred by the stirring unit. The agitation means performs agitation so that the plating object is mixed with a conductive medium by rotating the storage means in a predetermined direction in a plating solution in the container. Plating equipment. The plating apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the shock wave generating unit can irradiate the shock wave from a plurality of different directions. The plating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the output of the shock wave can be adjusted according to the plating object. A plating method for immersing a plating object in a container in which a plating solution is stored and plating the plating object,
Storing the plating object in a storage means through which the plating solution can flow; and
Immersing the containing means containing the plating object in the plating solution;
Stirring the plating object accommodated in the accommodating means immersed in the plating solution;
Irradiating a shock wave having a predetermined output to the object to be plated in the agitated storage means. 6. The plating method according to claim 5, wherein, in the stirring step, the object to be plated is mixed with a conductive medium by rotating the container in a predetermined direction in the plating solution in the container. The plating method according to claim 6, wherein the shock wave is irradiated from a plurality of different directions. The plating method according to claim 5, further comprising a step of adjusting an output of the shock wave according to the plating object.

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