APPLICATION OF THE MIXED POTENTIAL THEORY AND THE INTERDEPENDENCE OF PARTIAL REACTIONS IN ELECTROLESS COPPER DEPOSITION.

Recently, electroless metal plating processes have been identified as mixed potential systems, and it has been suggested that the electroless plating mechanisms can be predicted from the polarization curves for the partial processes. However, the interdependence of the partial reactions from each other in these plating systems has never been demonstrated. To establish the applicability or otherwise of the mixed potential theory to electroless plating processes kinetic and mechanistic parameters for the partial reactions were obtained in the complete electroless copper plating solution as well as in the catholyte and in the anolyte separately. The data obtained by several techniques is summarized.