Equilibrium characteristics of tartrate and EDTA-based electroless copper deposition baths

Electroless deposition of copper is being used for a variety of applications, one of them being the development of seed metallic layers on non-metals, which are widely used in electronic circuitry. Solution equilibrium characteristics of two electroless copper baths containing EDTA and tartrate as the complexing agents were studied as functions of pH, chelating agent and metal ion concentrations. Equilibrium diagrams were constructed for both cu-tartrate and Cu-EDTA systems. It was determined that copper is chiefly complexed as Cu(OH){sub 2}L{sub 2}{sup {minus}4} in the tartrate bath, and as CuA{sup {minus}2} in the EDTA bath, where L and A are the complexing tartrate and EDTA ligands, respectively. The operating ranges for electroless copper deposition were identified for both baths. Dependence of Cu(OH){sub 2} precipitation on the pH and species concentrations was also studied for these systems