Surface metallization of Cu/Ni/Au coatings on diamond/Cu composite materials for heat sink application

Electroless-plating and electro-plating have been used to deposit Cu-Ni-Au coating on diamond/Cu composites. Before electroless copper plating, pretreatment should be applied to the surface of composites by means of boiled HNO3 etching, sensitization with SnCl2 and activation with PdCl2. The influence of pre-treatment on the electroless copper plating and electroplating Ni/Au is studied in this paper. Scanning electronic microscope, energy dispersive spectroscopy and optical microscope are used to examine microstructure and morphologies of coatings. Results indicated that the uniform and tight bonded Cu/Ni/Au coating have been successfully deposited on the diamond/Cu composites. Meanwhile, high temperature baking, solder wetting and the polarization curve tests are used to evaluate the adhesion strength, solderability and corrosion resistance of Cu/Ni/Au coatings in detail. Investigated results indicated that diamond/Cu covered with Cu-Ni-Au coatings exhibited excellent solderability and mechanical properties.