Kinetics of electroless Ni-P-B alloy deposition

Using kinetics data, an empirical deposition rate was derived for electroless deposition of ternary alloys nickel-phosphorus-boron on pretreated aluminum substrate: r = 463.33 (H 2 PO 2 ) 0.46 (BH 4 ) 0.3 (HCOOH) 0.35 (H + ) 0.15 exp (18.15[T-353]/T) where r is the rate of deposition (mg/cm 2 /hr) and T is the absolute temperature, from baths containing nickel ions, hypophosphite ions, borohydride ions and formic acid. This equation can be applied only in limited ranges of concentration of the bath components at 80 °C. The correlation coefficient between the experimental plating rates and those computed using the developed empirical rate equation is 96 percent.