THE INVESTIGATIONS OF LASER-ENHANCED COPPER PLATING ON A GOOD HEAT CONDUCTING COPPER FOIL

A focused argon laser beam (488 nm) was applied to an acid copper plating system to investigate the feasibility of laser-enhanced plating on a good heat conducting material. A thermal model which was developed to determine the contribution of factors influencing the heat transfer mechanism and to predict the surface temperature distribution is presented. It was found that the plating rate can reach as high as 25-mu-m/s. The effect of the laser irradiation on the copper deposition rates is photothermal rather than photolytic in nature. The charge-transfer mechanism of the copper deposition under laser irradiation is the same as that without laser irradiation.