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Some Recent Topics in Gold Plating for

Electronics Applications
Yutaka Okinaka
Advanced Research Center for Science and Engineering
Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan

and Masao Hoshino

Sanno Company, Ltd., Yokohama, Japan

A review is presented of selected recent topics in electrolytic and electroless gold plating for electronics
applications. The topics covered include developments of non-cyanide electroplating baths for plating soft
gold suitable for fabricating microbumps on silicon wafers, electroplating of hard gold and alternative
materials with thermally stable electrical contact resistance and wear resistance for use on connectors
exposed to elevated temperatures, and neutral, non-cyanide electroless processes for plating pure, soft gold
on isolated areas of circuit boards. The development of the new electroless processes has been a subject of
great interest and activity, and therefore an extensive survey of the progress in this field is included.

The electroplated gold being used in the electronics cyanoaurate(I), KAu(CN)2, as the source of gold and a
industry can be broadly classified into soft gold and salt of cobalt, nickel, or iron as the hardening agent.
hard gold. Soft gold is used as a surface finish for With the recent trend of miniaturization and
bonding gold or aluminum wire in the conventional densification of electronic parts and components,
method of mounting semiconductor devices on a connectors also tend to become smaller in size with a
circuit board. In more recent years, with the advent of larger number of individual connector pins or sockets.
the so-called surface mount technology, the wire As a result of this trend, the magnitude of current
bonding has been replaced by the direct bonding of passing through an individual pin/socket pair is
microbumps fabricated on silicon wafers by the increased in some applications, resulting in a rise in
electroplating of soft gold. Since the bonding of a large temperature at the mating surfaces. Exposure to
number of bumps is involved for each chip, uniformity elevated temperature is also encountered during the
in the bump geometry is important. The gold must be soldering operations performed to attach cable wires to
sufficiently soft so that the bumps are easily connectors. The extent of the temperature rise at the
deformable to accommodate small variations in contact surface is greater for connectors with smaller
thickness. Photolithography is employed to delineate pins because of the proximity to the area to be
patterns for the formation of bumps. Conventional soldered. Under these circumstances, it is important
photoresists are attacked by the cyanide which is that the electrical resistance of the contact material
present in ordinary soft gold plating baths. remains low and stable at elevated temperatures.
Consequently, non-cyanide baths must be used for this Thermal stability is also critical in applications for the
purpose. electronic equipment used in automobiles.
Hard gold is used on electrical connectors and Electroless gold plating is unique in that it requires
contacts requiring resistance to mechanical wear as well no external source of electrical current, and hence it is
as low electrical contact resistance. The gold is suitable for plating gold on electrically isolated areas,
electroplated from a bath containing potassium for example, on a circuit board. It should be noted that

Gold Bulletin, 1998, 31(1) 3

the term ‘electroless plating’ is often used to describe complex tends to decompose spontaneously to form a
three fundamentally different processses: galvanic precipitate of metallic gold via the following
displacement, substrate-catalysed, and autocatalytic disproportionation reaction:
processes. In the first two procceses, the plating
reaction should cease when the substrate is covered 2Au+ Au(0) + Au3+ (1)
completely with gold. In the autocatalytic process, the
plating should continue indefinitely, and hence this To suppress the bath instability resulting from this
technique is more suitable for obtaining a thick, non- reaction, all commercially available sulfite baths
porous layer of gold. Classical autocatalytic gold contain proprietary stabilizing additives. The addition
plating baths contain excess cyanide, and they are of an amine such as ethylenediamine is well known to
operated at a high pH; and they are not therefore stabilize the bath through the formation of a mixed
compatible with conventional positive photoresists. gold complex (2, 3). More recently, Honma and
Non-cyanide baths operated at a neutral pH have, Kagaya (7) found that the addition of 2,2’-dipyridine
however, been developed in recent years, and they are suppresses the disproportionation reaction to a large
now commercially available. extent, presumably through the formation of its
In the sections which follow, the topics briefly complex with Au+. No adverse effect was observed on
mentioned above are reviewed, and areas requiring hardness or surface morphology.
further improvements discussed. It should be noted that many Au(I) sulfite baths
This review is intended to supplement the recent described in the literature are operated at a pH equal to
article by Christie and Cameron (1), which covers or higher than 8.0 (2, 3, 7). Since conventional
more general aspects of gold plating technologies and positive photoresists are unstable in the alkaline pH
their applications. range, it is desirable to use a bath that can be operated
at a neutral or acidic pH. The addition of
ethylenediamine makes it possible to operate the bath
SOFT GOLD in the pH range of 5 to 8 (3). Furthermore, as
described by Morrissey (8), simultaneous addition of
The conventional cyanide bath for electroplating soft both a polyamine such as ethylenediamine and an
gold has been extensively studied in the past, and a aromatic nitro compound such as nitrobenzene
considerable amount of information on various aspects stabilizes the Au(I)-sulfite complex to such an extent
of the process, deposit properties, and microstructure is that the bath can be operated at a pH as low as 4.0 to 6.5.
available in the literature (2-4). The knowledge The addition of As3+ improves the brightness of
acquired for the cyanide system has been applied to a the gold deposit, but it is known to increase its
great extent to the recent development of non-cyanide hardness if the bath is operated at an alkaline pH (7,
systems. In this section, only the non-cyanide systems 8). With the acidic bath of Morrissey, the addition of
will be described. As3+ improves the brightness without increasing the
hardness.
Sulfite Baths
The use of a gold sulfite complex for gold plating has Thiosulfate Bath
been known since 1842 (2), and it is still the gold The electrodeposition of gold from an Au(I)-
complex most commonly used to prepare non-cyanide thiosulfate complex has been known since as early as
baths. Gold sulfite baths traditionally attracted 1913 (3), but it has never been used for making a
attention because of their ability to produce smooth, practical plating bath. The stability constant of the
bright, and ductile pure gold deposits with good [Au(S2O3)2]3- complex is equal to 1026 (9), which is
microthrowing power. Gold alloy deposits of low or substantially greater than that of the sulfite complex, ie
high carat with high ductility can also be produced 1010. Thus, the thiosulfate complex might be expected
more readily with sulfite baths than with cyanide baths to be a viable alternative to the sulfite complex. The
(2, 3). reason why the thiosulfate complex has not been
In the sulfite baths, gold exists in the form successfully used for making a practical gold plating
[Au(SO3)2]3-. The stability constant of this complex is bath seems to be the instability of thiosulfate ion itself
approximately equal to 1010 (5), which is orders of with respect to Reaction (2):
magnitude smaller than that of the cyanide complex,
[Au(CN)2]-, ie 1039 (6). For this reason, the sulfite S2O32- S + SO32- (2)

4 Gold Bulletin, 1998, 31(1)

The forward reaction liberates elemental sulfur. The of the gold deposit. It has been established that the
mixed ligand system containing both sulfite and hardness and the sulfur content are directly related to
thiosulfate, which is described in the following section, each other. These relationships are illustrated in Figures
was investigated as a consequence of the stabilizing 1 and 2. On the other hand, a microstructural study
effect of SO32- anticipated from the above equilibrium. showed that the size of individual crystals of gold is
larger for the softer gold containing less sulfur. All of
Thiosulfate-Sulfite Mixed Ligand Bath these findings are reminiscent of the effects of various
Osaka and coworkers (10) recently investigated the factors on the hardness of soft gold plated in the
possibility of electroplating soft gold from a conventional cyanide bath, where the impurity content,
thiosulfate-sulfite mixed ligand bath, specifically for as represented by carbon, is directly related to the
application to the formation of microbumps on silicon hardness (11).
wafers. Optimized bath compositions and operating
conditions are listed in Table 1 together with the 120
hardness values of the gold deposits obtained. This

Sulfur content of gold deposit/ppm

bath is operated at a slightly acidic pH of 6.0 and at a 160

Vickers hardness/kg mm-2

mildly elevated temperature of 60°C. It is highly
stable, and there is no need to add any stabilizer to
suppress spontaneous decomposition. The gold plated 1
120
under optimal conditions has a Vickers hardness of 100
approximately 80 kg mm-2 in the as-deposited state,
2
which decreases to 50 kg mm-2 upon annealing at
350°C for only 30 min. 80
As mentioned already, the gold to be used as
bumps should be as soft as possible. The addition of
thallium ions has been shown to be an effective means 80 40
0.8 1.4 2 2.6
of decreasing the hardness as well as improving the
Total concentration of Na2S2O3 and Na2SO3/M
appearance of the gold deposit. Furthermore, it has
been shown that increasing the concentrations of Figure 1 Effect of total ligand concentration
thiosulfate and sulfite also decreases the hardness (Na2S2O3+Na2SO3) on hardness (curve 1)and sulfur
significantly. Results of analyses of impurity elements content (curve 2) of electroplated soft gold deposit.
included in the gold revealed that both the addition of ([Na2S2O3] : [Na2SO3] = 1 : 1 ; no Tl + ; for
concentrations of other bath constituents and
thallium ions and the use of a high ligand operating conditions, see Table 1) (from reference 10)
concentration significantly decrease the sulfur content
120
Table 1 Compositions and operating conditions of gold(I)
thiosulfate-sulfite mixed ligand bath and Vickers
Sulfur content in deposit/ppm
Vickers hardness/kg mm-2

hardness of electroplated soft gold 200

With Tl+ Without Tl+ 100

NaAuCl4·2H2O 0.06 M 0.06 M 1

Na2SO3 0.42 1.1 - 1.4*
Na2S2O3·5H2O 0.42 1.1 - 1.4* 100
Na2HPO4 0.30 0.30 80
2
Tl+(added as Tl2SO4) 5 ppm -
pH 6.0
Temperature 60°C
Current density 5 mA cm-2 60 0
0 10 20 30
Agitation mild
+
TI concentration/ppm
Deposit hardness (kg mm-2)
As deposited 88 87-88 Figure 2 Effect of thallium ion concentration on hardness (curve
After annealing at 350°C 52 45-60 1) and sulfur content (curve 2) of electroplated soft
gold. (For concentrations of other bath constituents and
* [Na2SO3] : [Na2S2O3] = 1 : 1 operating conditions, see Table 1) (from reference 10)

Gold Bulletin, 1998, 31(1) 5

 Figures 3(A) and 3(B) are SEM photographs of 20 Hardness and Wear Resistance
micrometer thick bumps plated in the mixed ligand The hard gold contains less than 0.4% by weight of Co
bath before and after removal of photoresist, or Ni, and yet the deposit hardness (170-200 kg mm-2
respectively. It is seen that the bump walls are straight, in Knoop hardness) is more than twice as high as that
indicating that no deterioration of the photoresist took of soft gold deposits (70-80 kg mm-2). Gold-cobalt or
place during the plating. gold-nickel alloys with such high hardness values
cannot be produced by incorporating such small
HARD GOLD AND ALTERNATIVES amounts of the base metals using traditional
metallurgical methods. The study of the hardening
Hard gold plating baths containing KAu(CN)2, citrate mechanism performed by Lo, Augis, and Pinnel (13)
buffer, and a small amount of Co2+ or Ni2+ ions, which shows that the major factor determining the hardness
are operated at an acidic pH of about 4, were described is the grain size. The hard gold deposits consist of
in the late 1950’s (2). They are still being used extremely small grains measuring 20-30 nm, compared
extensively by the connector manufacturing industry. to 1-2 ␮m for soft gold. It has been shown that hard
A majority of connector contacts are plated with Co- gold can be plated even without any hardening
hardened gold (CoHG). The plating process and additives (14, 15) if the bath is operated under a
deposit properties of this type of gold have been suitable set of current density and temperature
thoroughly investigated over a period of many years, conditions. The grain size of the additive-free hard
and they have been reviewed in great detail (2-4, 12). gold (AFHG) is comparable to that of CoHG or Ni-
The compositions and operating conditions of the hardened gold (NiHG) (16).
baths can be found in commonly available books and The decreased grain size of the hard gold is
review articles, and they will not be reproduced here. believed to be due to the inhibition of crystal growth
brought about by incorporated impurities or
inclusions. The classical work by Raub and coworkers
(17-19), describing the effects of plating variables on
the inclusion of various elements is well known.
Examples of impurity contents of CoHG, AFHG, and
soft gold are listed in Table 2 in terms of ppm by
weight for various elements. Considerable efforts were
made in the past to establish the chemical identity of
included compounds, but the identification has so far
been incomplete. Two compounds, AuCN and
K3Co(CN)6, have been identified, but they do not
account for the presence of a large excess of carbon
over nitrogen. It is not known in what form the
hydrogen exists in the gold. Nevertheless, it seems clear
that the inclusions play a highly significant role in
determining critical physical properties of hard gold:

Table 2 Examples of impurity contents of cobalt-hardened gold

(CoHG), additive-free hard gold (AFHG), and soft
gold (SG) (ppm by weight)
Impurity elements CoHG AFHG SG

C 2800 550 ~10

H 405 95 –
O 927 – –
Figure 3 SEM photographs of gold bumps on silicon wafer
produced from thiosulfate-sulfite mixed ligand bath N 1720 300 –
with a total ligand concentration of 2.28M and no K 2750 2200 _
Tl +. (A) before, and (B) after photoresist removal
(from reference 10) (The dash sign (–) indicates data not available)

6 Gold Bulletin, 1998, 31(1)

ie, wear resistance and electrical contact resistance. The and NiHG. The significance of this finding is not clear
CoHG, which contains much greater amounts of at present. The thickness of the segregated surface films
impurity elements than AFHG, has a considerably has been reported to be less than 0.01 ␮m. The
better wear resistance than the latter (14, 15), in spite investigation performed by Huck clearly demonstrates
of the fact that both types of gold have a similar that NiHG is superior to CoHG as far as the thermal
hardness. Obviously, hardness is not the only factor stability of contact resistance is concerned.
controlling wear resistance. The CoHG contains cobalt
in two different forms: complexed Co in the form of Alternative Materials
K3Co(CN)6 and metallic Co. It has been shown that Alternative contact finishes to replace or save gold
good wear resistance is obtained only with a sufficient began to be evaluated in the late 1970’s when the cost
amount of complexed Co (>0.08 wt%) present in the of gold escalated to an excessive level. Palladium and its
gold together with 0.06-0.2 wt% of metallic Co (20). alloy with nickel capped with a thin layer of CoHG
Various proposals have been made to explain why (0.1␮m) have been investigated extensively for this
CoHG has good wear resistance. Its low ductility (21) purpose, and they now have a history of successful use
and high internal stress (22) were thought to be
relevant. However, the reason for the good wear
resistance of CoHG is not yet fully understood. 40
(A)
Contact Resistance 35
Low and stable electrical contact resistance is another Contact Resistance/m⍀
125$C
30
important property required of the contact material
used on connectors and switches. It is recognized that 25
CoHG
the contact resistance of CoHG can increase to an
unacceptable level at elevated temperatures, depending 20
on the cobalt content of the gold. A study performed 15
by Thomas and Sharma (23) shows that cobaltous
oxide, CoO, is formed on the surface of CoHG. The 10 NiHG
work reported by DeDoncker and Vanhumbeeck (20) 5
indicates that the contact resistance is determined by
0
the content of metallic Co rather than that of 0 1000 2000 3000
complexed Co. Obviously, the CoO forms as a result Time/hr
of the oxidation of metallic Co, not complexed Co.
More recently, Huck (24) compared the contact 50
resistance stability of CoHG and NiHG at elevated (B)
45
temperatures. With 1.5 to 2.0 ␮m thick films the 40
300$C
Contact Resistance/m⍀

contact resistance of both CoHG and NiHG was low

and stable at <10 milliohms for 1500 hr at 125°C; 35
whereas after 1500 hr, the contact resistance of CoHG 30
began to increase much more rapidly than that of 25 CoHG
NiHG. At 300°C, the contact resistance of CoHG 20
began to increase, after only one minute, much more
15 NiHG
quickly than that of NiHG. These results are reproduced
in Figure 4. Auger spectroscopic analyses of the surfaces 10
of CoHG and NiHG heat-treated at both 125 and 5
300°C showed that Co and Ni are both segregated on 0
0 1 60
the surfaces to a similar extent. The reason why CoHG
Time/min
has a higher contact resistance than NiHG after the heat
treatment may be that the cobalt oxide is less
conducting than nickel oxide. In Table 2 it is seen that Figure 4 Schematic comparison of contact resistance stability of
both CoHG and AFHG contain a significant amount of cobalt-hardened gold (CoHG) and nickel-hardened
potassium. Huck found that at 300°C, the potassium is gold (NiHG) at (A) 125°C and (B) 300°C (data
segregated considerably on the surface of both CoHG points represent average values reported by Huck (24))

Gold Bulletin, 1998, 31(1) 7

for more than 15 years. These materials were showing such small pins and connectors is presented in
considered initially only for economic reasons, but Figure 5. For applications of these connectors on
their technical advantages over hard gold are now surface-mount boards, the contacts are required to
clearly recognized. One advantage results from the withstand temperature excursions up to 240°C, which
high hardness of electroplated palladium (300-325 kg is a solder reflow temperature.
mm-2 in Knoop hardness) compared to that of hard Exposure to elevated temperatures is also
gold (130-200 kg mm-2), implying a greater wear encountered in connectors used in automobiles. Gold-
resistance of palladium. This aspect was evaluated flashed pure Pd and gold-flashed Pd-Ni alloy are
quantitatively by Kudrak et al (25) by comparing increasingly being used as contact finishes for this
results of wear tests performed on connector contacts, application because of their superior contact resistance
which were plated with hard gold and gold-flashed stability at elevated temperatures as compared to
palladium, respectively. Their results of surface analysis CoHG or NiHG. Kudrak et al (26) compared
carried out after different numbers of insertion- performances of various contact finishes specifically for
withdrawal cycles demonstrate that the wear resistance automobile applications. It was noted that in those
of gold-flashed palladium is superior to that of the applications, contact finishes must withstand exposure
conventional CoHG. to 150 to 200°C, and in some cases up to 350°C. The
As mentioned already, thermal stability of contact CoHG is generally recognized to be unsuitable for this
resistance is an increasingly important attribute for type of application. Even NiHG exhibited an
contact materials in recent years. Small connectors unacceptably high contact resistance after 2000 hr at
with a large number of contact pins are frequently 200°C. Gold-flashed Pd-Ni alloy contacts showed a
required. Connectors with pin widths and intervals as significant increase in contact resistance within 500 hr
small as 0.5 to 0.8 mm are now in use. A photograph at the same temperature, whereas gold-flashed pure Pd

A A’

B B’

Figure 5 Photographs of (A, B) high density connector pins selectively plated with CoHG and (A’,B’) assembled connectors. (A,A’: 13
pins/cm, B,B’ : 20 pins/cm. B’ shows a connector for a surface-mount circuit board)

8 Gold Bulletin, 1998, 31(1)

showed little increase within 1000 hr, but a less common reducing compounds such as thiourea,
noteworthy increase after 2000 hr. The most superior methyl thiourea, and acetyl thiourea (35). These
finish was found to be a gold-flashed multilayer finish systems require the addition of a stabilizer for practical
(proprietary), which exhibited no changes in contact use. The following stabilizing agents are reported to be
resistance in up to 2000 hr. These results indicate that effective: 1,2-diaminoethane with KBr (30-33),
the conventional CoHG and NiHG do not meet ethylenediamine (34, 35), ethylenediamine tetraacetic
recent requirements for thermal stability of connector acid (EDTA) (30-33), triethanolamine (36),
contacts which are to be exposed to temperatures above nitrilotriacetic acid (36), and sodium thiosulfate (36).
200°C for any extended period of time. Palladium- Using ascorbic acid as the reducing agent, Kato et al
based contacts are expected to find an increasing (37, 38) showed that the Au(I) sulfite complex can be
number of applications in this area. It should be reduced to gold autocatalytically, but the deposition
remembered that the presence of a thin (0.1␮m ) top rate was very low. They found that the deposition rate
layer of CoHG is critical for low contact resistance and can be increased greatly by adding thiosulfate as the
high wear resistance. Soft gold is not suitable for this second complexing agent. The mixed ligand system
purpose because it wears off quickly. will be described in the section after the next below.
Thiosulfate Bath
ELECTROLESS GOLD The use of an Au(I)-thiosulfate complex for electroless
gold plating is only a recent development. Sullivan,
In many instances where a process of electroless gold Patel and Kohl (39) made an extensive electrochemical
plating is desired, a capability is required of producing study of the cathodic reduction of [Au(S2O3)2]3- and
a pure, pore-free soft gold to a thickness much greater the anodic oxidation of various reducing agents at a
than that which can be achieved by a simple galvanic gold electrode. They showed that, among a number of
displacement process. The process must also be reducing agents investigated, ascorbic acid is the only
compatible with the photoresist present on the compound that is electrocatalytically oxidized at a
substrate. The classical baths containing borohydride reasonable rate within the potential range of the
or dimethylamineborane (DMAB) as the reducing reduction of the Au(I)-thiosulfate complex at a pH
agent (2, 27, 28) are autocatalytic and meet the first between 6.4 and 9.2 at room temperature. They thus
requirement, but commonly used positive photoresists formulated the electroless gold bath with the
are not stable in those baths because of the presence of composition listed in Table 3. In this system the
cyanide and high alkalinity. For these reasons, recent accumulation of free S2O32- ions from the reduction of
efforts have been focused on the development of non- [Au(S2O3)2]3- decreases the plating rate. Sullivan and
cyanide baths which can be operated at a near-neutral Kohl (40) found that hydrogen peroxide reacts with
or acidic pH. In this section we only review the current free S2O32- to form trithionate (S3O62-) and sulfate
status of development of such non-cyanide baths. For a (SO42-) ions, and this reaction can be utilized to
more comprehensive review of various electroless gold maintain a constant plating rate through periodic
processes, the reader is referred to the book chapters addition of H2O2 into the bath. This bath has only a
written by one of the present authors (2, 27, 28, 29). short life (<2 hr), which needs to be improved for
Gold salts other than the Au(I)-cyanide complex practical purposes.
used to formulate electroless gold baths include Au(I)-
sulfite, Au(I)-thiosulfate, Au(I)-thiomalate, Au(III)-
chloride, and Au(III)-phosphate complexes. Among
them, the baths containing one or both of the first two Table 3 Electroless gold plating bath with Au(I) thiosulfate
complexes have been investigated most extensively, and and ascorbic acid (39)
they will be reviewed briefly below.
Na3Au(S2O3)2 0.03 M
Sulfite Baths Na L-ascorbate 0.05
The gold(I) sulfite complex, which has been in use for Citric acid 0.4
electroplating soft gold, has also been used to pH (KOH) 6.4
formulate electroless gold baths. Reducing agents Temperature 30°C
investigated include hypophosphite, formaldehyde, Plating rate 0.76 ␮m hr-1
hydrazine, borohydride and DMAB (30-34) as well as

Gold Bulletin, 1998, 31(1) 9

Table 4 Thiosulfate-sulfite mixed ligand baths with various reducing agents
Reducing agent
Bath Thiourea Ascorbic acid Hypophosphite Hydrazine
constituent (42) (38) (47) (45)** (46)
NaAuCl4 0.005-0.025 M 0.01 M 0.0025 M
Na3Au(SO3)2 0.006 M
(NH4)3Au(SO3)2 0.01M
Na2EDTA 0.25
Na2SO3 0.04-0.2 0.08-0.32 0.1 0.05
Na2S2O3 0.2-0.6 0.08-0.32 0.1 0.05 0.063
Na2B4O7 0.066-0.13
Na2HPO4 0.05-0.2
NH4Cl 0.05
Boric acid 0.16
K tartrate 0.13
Hydroquinone 0.0018-0.018
Mercaptobenzothiazole Trace
Stabilizer 0.1-100ppm*
Dimethylamine 0.067
2-Chloromethylquinoline 10ppm
Tl2SO4 3ppm
Reducing agent 0.0013-0.013 0.05-0.2 0.25 0.075 0.36
pH 7.5-8.5 7.5 6.0 7.5 6.5
Temperature 60-90°C 60°C 60°C 70°C 60°C

* See text for compounds.

** Bath made up by mixing equal parts of two solutions followed by adding reducing agent. For details, see the original reference (45).

Thiosulfate-Sulfite Mixed Ligand Bath hydroquinone acts as a stabilizer as well as a recycling

The non-cyanide baths described above containing agent for thiourea. This bath is now commercially
either sulfite or thiosulfate as a sole complexing agent available.
appear to have insufficient stability. Baths containing The ascorbic acid bath was developed at Kanto
both thiosulfate and sulfite are more stable, and those Chemical Co of Japan. This bath contains a minute
containing thiourea (41-43), ascorbic acid (37, 38, amount of stabilizer, 2-mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT),
44), hypophosphite (45), or hydrazine (46) as the which increases the bath life from only three hours to
reducing agent have been developed. Examples of bath more than 35 hours without affecting the plating rate,
compositions and operating conditions are which is of the order of 1 ␮m hr-1. This plating rate can
summarized in Table 4. be increased by using certain additives. For example, the
The thiourea bath was developed and addition of 0.005M of ethylenediamine increases it by a
subsequently improved by a group of investigators at factor of three. The Tl+ ion is also an effective
Hitachi Ltd. In this system, thiourea undergoes accelerator. The addition of only 1 ppm of Tl+ doubles
complex chemical reactions through the formation of a the rate. The acceleration effect of Tl+ has been shown
radical intermediate, (NH)(NH2)CS·, to form final to be due to its depolarization effect on the partial
products including urea (a major product) and cathodic reaction brought about by the so-called
dicyandiamine. This radical intermediate reacts with underpotential deposition (UPD) of Tl on gold. The
dissolved oxygen in the bath to form formamidine effect is similar to what is known for the classical
sulfinic acid, (NH2)2CSO2, which is believed to be cyanide system. This bath is also commercially available.
responsible for bath instability. Hydroquinone, listed More recently, Honma and coworkers (47, 48)
in Table 4, reacts with the radical intermediate before it made an extensive investigation of the ascorbic acid
produces the undesirable compound. It is also of bath. They found that the addition of nitrilotriacetic
interest that the reaction between hydroquinone and acid improves the stability of the Au(I)-sulfite complex
the radical intermediate regenerates thiourea. Thus, through the formation of a complex which is more

10 Gold Bulletin, 1998, 31(1)

stable with respect to the disproportionation reaction inventors believe that the sulfite-thiosulfate mixture
of Au+. To improve the stability further, other itself is a reducing agent system, and that especially
compounds such as K4Fe(CN)6, K2Ni(CN)4, 2,2’- sulfite functions as the main reducing agent in this
dipyridyl, and cupferron can be added at a bath. The bath is completely stable for more than ten
concentration between 0.1 and 100 ppm. It is reported replenishment cycles over the period of many months.
that the bond strength between gold wire and the The inventors also describe (50) that the plating rate
deposit was much greater when the bath contained can be increased by adding an amino acid such as
K2Ni(CN)4 or cupferron rather than 2,2’-dipyridyl. glycine. They obtained 0.4 to 1.0␮m of gold in 10
This difference was attributed, not to impurity or min using such a bath.
surface morphology, but to crystal orientation. The
deposits with good bondability had (220) and (311) Sulfite-Thiocyanate Mixed Ligand Bath
preferred orientations. Another significant finding Kawashima and Nakao (51) developed a bath
reported by these authors is that the addition of containing sulfite and thiocyanate in place of
hydrazine as a second reducing agent increases the thiosulfate as mixed ligands. They also used ascorbic
plating rate by a factor of up to two. A plating rate of acid as the reducing agent. The bath contained 0.01M
1.7␮m hr-1 was achieved at pH 6 and 60°C. HAuCl4, 0.1M Na2SO3, 0.1M KSCN, and 0.1M
A hypophosphite bath containing both sulfite ascorbic acid, and it was operated at pH 6.0 and 60°C.
and thiosulfate was developed by Paunovic and The plating rate was 0.5 ␮m hr-1. It decreased with
Sambucetti (45) as a result of an extensive increasing concentration of Na2SO3 and increased
electrochemical investigation of various baths with increasing KSCN concentration. The bath
containing different reducing agents. It was concluded exhibited good stability during two to three
that the mixed ligand system combined with temperature cycles consisting of heating at 60°C for 6
hypophosphite gives the most satisfactory performance hr and standing at room temperature for 18 hr,
in terms of bath stability and plating rate. Their bath is including the period of natural cooling. Good wire
prepared by mixing equal parts of two solutions, and bondability is reported for a 0.5␮m thick gold film
the composition of the bath after makeup is listed in obtained from this bath.
Table 4. The plating rate achieved at pH 7.5 and 70°C
was 0.9␮m hr-1. The bath is stable for about 10 hr, but
it can be extended by the addition of a stabilizer such CONCLUDING REMARKS
as SCN-. (See also the next section below) No sulfur
was detected in the gold; and good bondability of gold The unique physical properties of gold have made it an
wire to the deposit was confirmed. indispensable material in the electronics manufacturing
Shiokawa et al (46) used hydrazine as the industry. Both electroplated soft and hard golds have
reducing agent in their sulfite-thiosulfate bath. An been in extensive use for more than 30 years. Soft gold
example of the bath composition is given in Table 4. will continue to be used, with non-cyanide baths
The bath contains many different additives for a finding an increasing share in the future. Hard gold
variety of reasons. They include a strong complexing can be plated only with traditional cyanide-based baths
agent such as EDTA to mask metallic impurities, eg, at present. Palladium-based alternative finishes for
Cu2+ and Ni2+, an amine such as triethanolamine or connector contacts with a thin top layer of hard gold
ethylenediamine to suppress the formation of gas pits, will find an increasing market share in the future as
a quinoline derivative such as 2-chloroquinoline to their technical advantages become more widely
prevent extraneous gold deposition on photoresist, a recognized. Autocatalytic electroless gold plating has
salt of citrate or tartrate to stabilize the bath, and As3+, also been known for more than 25 years. With the
Tl+, or Pb2+ to improve plating uniformity. The bath recent introduction into the market of non-cyanide,
given as an example in Table 4 plates 0.93␮m in one neutral pH baths, electroless gold will find an
hour when operated at pH 6.5 and 60°C. increasing number of applications where its advantages
Recently, Krulick and Mandich (49) discovered over electroplating are recognized with proper
that the Au(I) sulfite-thiosulfate mixed ligand system understanding of its limitations. However, it appears
functions as an autocatalytic bath without adding any necessary to continue to study the cause of the
conventional reducing agent. Such bath was found to limitations and to improve currently available processes
plate 0.03 to 0.3␮m of gold in 15 min at pH 6.5 to in order for electroless gold to be accepted with greater
9.0 and 55 to 75°C directly on electroless nickel. The confidence by the electronics industry.

Gold Bulletin, 1998, 31(1) 11

 It is hoped that this short review will be helpful 11 H.A. Reinheimer, J. Electrochem. Soc., 1974, 121,
in obtaining an overall picture of the current status of 490
various gold plating processes used in the electronics 12 Y. Okinaka, in ‘Proceedings of the Symposium
industry. on Electrodeposition Technology, Theory and
Practice’, ed. L. Romankiw and D.R. Turner,
PV87-17, The Electrochemical Society, Inc.,
ABOUT THE AUTHORS 1987, pp. 147-163
13 C.C. Lo, J.A. Augis and M.R. Pinnel, J. Appl.
Yutaka Okinaka, a Fellow of the Electrochemical Phys., 1979, 50, 6887
Society, is a former Distinguished Member of 14 F.B. Koch, Y. Okinaka, C. Wolowodiuk and
Technical Staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories, now D.R. Blessington, Plating, 1980, 67 (6),50;
Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill, New Jersey, USA. 1980, 67 (7), 43
After retirement from Bell Labs in 1990, Dr Okinaka 15 Y. Okinaka and F.B. Koch, in ‘Proceedings of the
was a Visiting Professor at Waseda University, Tokyo, 10th World Congress on Metal Finishing
Japan until 1996, where he still actively directs research (Interfinish 80)’, 1980, pp.48-52
in the field of gold plating for electronics as a Visiting 16 S.Nakahara and Y. Okinaka, J. Electrochem. Soc.,
Research Fellow 1981, 128, 284
Masao Hoshino is Director of Production 17 Ch.J. Raub, A. Knödler and J. Lendvey, Plating,
Engineering, Sanno Co Ltd, Yokohama, Japan. As a 1976, 63, 35
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used in electronic products, the company is involved 10, 38
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Hoshino is responsible for the production operation as Finish., 1978, 65 (9), 32
well as for research and development in this area. 20 R. De Doncker and J.Vanhumbeeck, Trans. Inst.
Metal Finish., 1985, 62 (2), 59
21 M. Antler, IEEE Transactions on Components,
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Gold Bulletin, 1998, 31(1) 13