Sound technical content, curated with aloha by
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ

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Process for plating aluminum with copper to achieve very low interfacial resistance

We wish to plate copper onto aluminum to allow us to solder it to other components, but the usual way using electroless nickel does not work for us. The reason is that the electroless nickel process uses phosphorous and the coating has a very high interfacial electrical resistance. I have seen postings and articles about zincating and other alternate processes, but none discuss the electrical resistance of the interfaces between the aluminum substrate and the layers being deposited. Does anyone know about this property and if so, what is the best process for getting a solderable copper layer on aluminum?

Robert Diller
- Irwindale, California, USA
2006

I can't give you the quantitative values you are looking for off hand, but it is very common to put solderable copper onto aluminum by zincating followed by cyanide copper plating. I think it can also be done with the proprietary Alstan process (contact Atotech for that one).

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2006

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