Effects of catalyst accelerator on electromagnetic shielding in nonelectrolytic Cu-plated fabrics

The effects of etching and catalyst accelerating conditions on microstructures of copper films and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding effectiveness (SE) of nonelectrolytic copper-plated fabrics were investigated. Copper films were coated onto polyester fabrics by a conventional nonelectrolytic copper plating process. Comparison of two etchants had the result where uniform deposition of Cu particles in the smaller size was observed using acidic etchant, which provided the better EMI SE than alkaline etchant. We found that KCl was the better catalyst accelerator than commonly used SnCl2. EMI SEs and conductivities of copper-plated fabrics increased as the concentration of KCl increased up to 0.1 mole/l and then decreased with further addition. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(00)53608-1].