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Adhesion of electroplated nickel on gold

My name is Andrea and I work in a university run research laboratory in the field of metal MEMS. Recently I have been depositing thin layers of chrome and then nickel atop a silicon oxide wafer via e-beam evaporator. After this step, the wafer is cleaned in an acid and then an oxygen plasma. A photoresist is spun on top of the chrome/gold and something is then patterned on this layer. I then have been putting the wafer through a nickel electroplating process. This is where I have been facing difficulty. Occasionally I have lost adhesion between the gold and nickel layer. I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how to prevent this from occurring.

Thank you very much! Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Andrea Ruggiero
- Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
2003

Hi,

Andrea have you tried polishing the surface before deposition? Is surface roughness an issue you think?

Regards,

Robin Pang Sui Ting
- Singapore
2004