Electroless Ni-P deposition on flexible polyimide substrates with tin-palladium nucleation

Abstract The purpose of this study is to report a low-cost electroless deposition (ED) process of Ni-P thin film using wet technology on flexible polyimide substrate (Kapton® 300HN DuPont™), comprising functionalization with NaOH, nucleation with Sn and Pd and acceleration with HCl. The pretreatment performed on the polyimide surface was investigate using a contact angle system and attenuated total reflection Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Structural, morphological and electrical characterization of the Ni-P film were performed by X-ray diffraction spectroscopy, stylus scan profiler, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and four-point probe measurements. The characterization showed that the treatment of the flexible polyimide enables a high performance in ED, delivering a very compact spherical nano-structured film without holes, scratches and flaws, with particle size ranging from 380 to 780 nm.