JPH03271398A - Electroplating equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To uniformalize plated film thickness of the articles to be treated regardless of difference in the plating conditions by supplying electricity from the respective correspondent power sources to every power supply stage which is constituted of both the cathodes for supporting the articles to be treated and the anodes. CONSTITUTION:A plurality of power supply stages 3 are continuously arranged which are constituted of both the cathodes 4 for supporting the articles W to be treated and the anodes 5. Power supply is performed from the respective correspondent power sources 6 to the stages 3 respectively. Plating current supplied from the respective power sources 6 is independently controlled in accordance with the plating conditions of the articles W to be treated. Thereby the film thickness of the articles W to be treated is uniformalized regardless of the plating conditions. Moreover it is prevented that the film thickness of the article W to be treated which is positioned to the farthest end is made thicker than the film thickness of the other articles W without charging a dummy article.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an electroplating apparatus that uses a treated article as a cathode in a plating solution and forms a plating film on the surface of the treated article by electrolysis.

[Conventional technology].

Conventionally, this type of electroplating apparatus has been constructed as shown in FIG.

That is, this electroplating apparatus 10 includes a plating tank 11 that stores a plating solution, and a cathode 12 that is a row of cathode portions 12a that support a workpiece W to be plated. A plurality of anodes 13 are provided and electrically connected to each other. Each pair of the cathode portion 12a and the anode 13 constitutes an individual power feeding stage 14 that performs plating processing on each workpiece W. Further, this electroplating apparatus 10 is provided with a single power supply 15 that supplies the required plating current to all of the power supply stage 14, that is, all of the cathode portions 12a and all of the anodes 13 at once. ing.

Therefore, in this electroplating apparatus 10, the processed product W, which has undergone plating pretreatment, is introduced from one end side of the plating tank 11, and
Each of the input products W to be processed is transported by each power feeding stage 14, that is, by being intermittently fed (takt processing) while being supported by each cathode portion 12a, thereby being plated.

Then, the processed product W that has been plated is transferred to the plating tank 1.
It will be sent to the next process from the other end side of 1.

Note that the mechanism for transporting the processed product W is not illustrated.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

By the way, in the electroplating apparatus IO having the conventional configuration, the following disadvantages were caused.

Namely, this electroplating equipment! When a group of processed products W are successively plated using 10, if the plating conditions such as the shape and area of these processed products W are different from each other, the plating formed on the surface of each processed product W will be different. This results in variations in the film thickness. This inconvenience is considered to be due to the fact that the required plating current is uniformly supplied from the power supply 15 to all of the power feeding stages 14, regardless of the plating conditions of the processed product W.

Furthermore, when a group of processed products W are continuously introduced into the plating tank 11, there is no other processed product W in the front or rear position of the first and last processed products W, so the most The plating film thickness on the processed product W that has been plated at the end position, especially the plating film thickness on the side where there is no adjacent processed product W, becomes thicker. This inconvenience is caused by the influence of the power supply stage 14, which is supported by the cathode portion 12a of the power supply stage 14 located at the end and is located adjacent to or far away from the workpiece W being plated, and does not support the workpiece W. This is considered to be the result of receiving Therefore, in order to avoid this, it has been customary to take the trouble to put another dummy product in front of or behind the processed product W located at the end.

The present invention has been devised to eliminate such inconveniences, and it is possible to achieve uniform plating film thickness on processed products regardless of differences in plating conditions. An object of the present invention is to provide an electroplating apparatus that can prevent the plating film thickness of the processed product located at the end of the group from becoming thicker than that of the other products without causing any problems.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve such an object, the electroplating apparatus according to the present invention has a plurality of power supply stages each consisting of a cathode for supporting a product to be plated and an anode for the cathode, and each of the power supply stages This feature is characterized by the provision of multiple power supplies that supply power to each unit.

[Function] According to the above configuration, power is supplied from each of the corresponding power sources to each of the power supply stages consisting of a cathode and an anode that support the processed product, so that the power supply from each TA can be individually controlled. , it becomes possible to supply power according to the plating conditions of the processed product supported by the cathode of this power supply stage. Furthermore, if the cathode does not support the product to be processed, it is possible to stop the power supply to the power feeding stage, so that the product being plated will not be affected by this power feeding stage.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of an electroplating apparatus according to this embodiment, and reference numeral 1 in this figure indicates the electroplating apparatus. This electroplating apparatus 1 stores plating solution P! 2, and a plurality of power feeding stages 3 that are arranged continuously in the plating tank 2 and perform plating on the processed products W put into the plating tank 2, and each power feeding stage 3 supports the processed product W to be plated. It consists of a cathode 4 and an anode 5 corresponding thereto.

Further, this electroplating apparatus l is provided with a plurality of power supplies 6 that supply power to each of the power supply stages 3,
A required plating current that is individually controlled is supplied from each power supply 6 to each corresponding power supply stage 3, that is, the cathode 4 and anode 5 that constitute this stage. Note that each of the power supply stages 3 in this figure has 2
The anodes 5 are arranged to face each other with the cathode 4 in between, but the configuration is not limited to this, and the number of anodes 5 and the shape of the plating tank 1 are subject to change. It should be determined according to the above needs.

Next, the operation of the electroplating apparatus 1 according to this embodiment will be explained.

First, from one end side of the plating tank 2, a processed product W that has undergone plating pre-treatment and is to be plated is introduced, and the processed product W that has been introduced is passed through the cathode 4 constituting the first power supply stage 3. Supported.

Therefore, the first power supply stage 3 is supplied with a required plating current set according to the plating conditions such as the shape and area of the processed product W from the corresponding first power supply 6. This processed product W is subjected to a plating process.

Then, each time a predetermined time (takt time) associated with intermittent feeding (takt processing) elapses, the processed product W is transferred to the second, third, etc. by a transport mechanism (not shown).
They are sequentially transported to the power feeding stage 3, supported by the respective cathodes 4, and then subjected to plating processing. At this time, a required plating current according to the plating conditions of the processed product W is supplied from each of the corresponding power sources 6 to the power supply stage 3 composed of the cathode 4 that supports the processed product W that has been transported. Powered.

Further, a new processed product W to be plated is subsequently transported to the first power supply stage 3 that sent out this processed product W, and this newly processed product W is supported by the cathode 4 of the power supply stage 3. be done.

Then, for this power feeding stage 3, the corresponding first
A required plating current corresponding to the plating conditions of the newly processed product W is supplied from the second power supply 6, and the plating process of the processed product W is performed.

Therefore, in this electroplating apparatus 1, by repeating the above-mentioned operations, the processed products W that are continuously input are
are transported by each power feeding stage 3, in other words, are plated by being intermittently fed (tact processing) while being supported by each cathode 4, and the processed products W that have been plated are transferred to the other end of the plating tank 2. Being sent out from the side. That is, the cathode 4 supporting the processed product W of this embodiment
Power is supplied to each of the power supply stages 3 consisting of the and anodes 5 from the corresponding power supplies 6, and the plating current supplied from each power supply 6 is individually controlled according to the plating conditions of the processed product W. become.

By the way, there are no other processed products W in front or behind the first and last processed products W in the group of processed products W that are continuously input. Therefore, since there is no need to supply power to the power supply stage 3 consisting of the cathode 4 and anode 5 that do not support the processed product W, only the power supply to this power supply stage 3 is stopped by the corresponding power supply 6.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, in the present invention, a plurality of power feeding stages each consisting of a cathode supporting a product to be plated and an anode for the cathode are arranged in series, and a plurality of power supplies are connected to each of the power feeding stages. It is set up.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to individually control the current supplied from each power supply, and it is possible to supply power according to the plating conditions of the processed product supported by the cathode of this power supply stage. Become. Furthermore, if the cathode does not support the product to be processed, it is possible to stop the power supply to the power feeding stage, so that the product being plated will not be affected by this power feeding stage.

As a result, it is possible to make the plating film thickness uniform on the processed products regardless of the difference in plating conditions, and moreover, it is possible to achieve uniform plating film thickness on the processed products located at the end of the group without introducing dummy products. An effect can be obtained in that the film thickness can be prevented from becoming thicker than others.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of an electroplating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of an electroplating apparatus according to a conventional example. In the figure, 1 is an electroplating device, 2 is a plating tank, and 3 is a plating tank.
is a power feeding stage, 4 is a cathode, 5 is an anode, 6 is a power source, and W is a processed product.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) An electric device characterized in that a plurality of power supply stages each consisting of a cathode supporting a product to be plated and an anode therefor are arranged in series, and a plurality of power supplies are provided for supplying power to each of the power supply stages. Plating equipment.