ELECTROPLATING AID BOARD AND ELECTROPLATING DEVICE USING SAME
An electroplating device includes a plating solution, at least one anode basket located in the plating solution, and a workpiece to be plated. An electroplating aid board is arranged between the anode basket and the workpiece to be plated. The electroplating aid board has at least one side that has a length exceeding the workpiece to be plated. The electroplating aid board is made of a plastic material that is not electrically conductive and includes a plurality of holes formed therein. In an electroplating operation, the holes provide an effect of tunnel that guides positive ions (such as copper ions) of the plating solution to flow from the anode basket (namely anode) straightforward to the nearest surface portion of the workpiece to be plated.
The present invention generally relates to an electroplating aid board and an electroplating device using the electroplating aid board, wherein the electroplating aid board is arrange between anode and cathode of the electroplating device and comprises a plurality of holes so that an electroplated product can be manufactured with excellent and homogeneous thickness of plated layers without using a conventionally used shielding plate.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ARTFor electroplating devices that are commonly used in the electroplating industry, such as vertical continuous electroplating machine, the primary requirement for an electroplating operation, such as plating copper on a circuit board, is to provide homogenous and excellent thickness of plated layers on the electroplated product.
The traditional electroplating operation uses a copper-made anode. The copper-made anode, however, will get increasingly thinner. A late developed anode comprises an iridium alloy made anode screen (which is an insoluble anode), which is characterized by large current flow for fast plating.
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Since there may be a large number of workpieces 92 that are to be plated, these workpieces 92 are generally of different sizes, so that the anode baskets 91 (anode) may be greater in size than the workpiece 92 to be plated (cathode) and thus the anode baskets 91 (anode) and the workpiece 92 to be plated (cathode) do not match each other. Consequently, a central portion of the workpiece 92 to be plated (cathode), which is not affected by the size of the anode baskets 91 (anode), may have a normal plated layer (the thick black line segments on the workpiece 92 of
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The arrangement of V-shaped shielding plate 94 effectively prevents the occurrence of non-homogeneous thickness of plated layers on the workpiece 92 to be plated. However, the V-shaped shielding plate 94 must be properly moved up and down to correspond to peripheral sites of the workpiece 92 to be plated. To move the V-shaped shielding plate 94 up and down, a driving mechanism and associated controller must be additionally provided. This makes the components of the electroplating facility complicated and numerous. Further, errors may occur in the up and down movement of the V-shaped shielding plate 94.
So far, in the electroplating industry, a perfect electroplating device that provides an excellent electroplated product having a homogeneous thickness of plated layers is yet available.
Thus, the present invention aims to provide a solution to overcome such problems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAn object of the present invention is to provide an electroplating aid board that is applicable to electroplating facility to make electroplated product having excellent plated layers of homogeneous thickness.
To achieve the object, the present invention provides an electroplating aid board, which is made of a plastic material that is not electrically conductive and comprises a plurality of holes formed therein. The holes function to guide positive ions contained in the plating solution in such a way that excessive positive ions induced by the portion of an anode basket (which is the anode) that exceeds a workpiece to be plated are prohibited from moving obliquely into these holes and thus cannot reach the workpiece to be plated, thereby achieving an effect of shielding to prevent inhomogeneous thickness of plated layers on the workpiece.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an electroplating device that makes an electroplated product having excellent plated layers of homogeneous thickness.
To achieve the object, the present invention provides an electroplating device that comprises a plating solution, at least one anode basket, and a workpiece to be plated, wherein the anode baskets are located in the plating solution and are connected to an anode of a power supply. The workpiece to be plated is placed in the plating solution and connected to a cathode of the power supply. The invention is characterized in that an electroplating aid board is arranged between the anode basket and the workpiece to be plated. The electroplating aid board has at least one side that has a length exceeds the workpiece to be plated. The electroplating aid board is made of a plastic material that is not electrically conductive and comprises a plurality of holes formed therein, whereby in an electroplating operation, with an effect of tunnel provided by the holes, positive ions of the plating solution are guided to flow from the anode baskets (namely anode) straightforward to the nearest surface portion of the workpiece to be plated and also guide the positive ions to move straightforward to fully occupy the corresponding holes. Further, for those anode baskets (namely anode) that are located at portions exceeding the workpiece to be plated, the positive ions generated thereby are not allowed to move obliquely into the holes and cannot reach the workpiece to be plated, whereby an effect of shielding is realized to prevent inhomogeneous thickness of plated layers formed on the workpiece to be plated without applying the conventionally used shielding board.
The foregoing objectives and summary provide only a brief introduction to the present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects of the present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which will become apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detailed description of the invention and the claims should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specification and drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similar parts.
Many other advantages and features of the present invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to the detailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which a preferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of the present invention is shown by way of illustrative example.
The following descriptions are exemplary embodiments only, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of the invention in any way. Rather, the following description provides a convenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of the invention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made in the function and arrangement of the elements described without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.
Referring to
The holes 11 are arranged in multiple rows and the holes 11 are arranged alternating with respect to each other.
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Practical tests and experiments show that the electroplating aid board 10 of the present invention is preferably of a thickness of 6-10 mm. The holes 11 of the electroplating aid board 10 according to the present invention are preferably of a hole diameter of 2-5 mm. Distance between the holes 11 formed in the electroplating aid board 10 of the present invention is preferably 0.3-0.5 mm. It is preferred that the number of holes 11 formed in a unit area of the electroplating aid board 10 is as many as possible.
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In summary, through using the electroplating aid board and the electroplating device according to the present invention, an electroplated product may be manufactured with excellent plated layers that have homogeneous thickness without using the conventionally used shielding plate.
It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together may also find a useful application in other types of methods differing from the type described above.
While certain novel features of this invention have been shown and described and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intended to be limited to the details above, since it will be understood that various omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.
Claims
1. An electroplating aid board, which is adapted to be used in electroplating facility, is made of a plastic material that is not electrically conductive, and comprises a plurality of holes formed therein, the holes guiding positive ions contained in a plating solution.
2. The electroplating aid board according to claim 1, wherein the holes are arranged in rows and the holes are set to alternate each other.
3. An electroplating device, comprising:
- a plating solution;
- at least one anode basket, which is located in the plating solution and is connected to an anode of a power supply; and
- a workpiece to be plated, which is placed in the plating solution and is connected to a cathode of the power supply; and
- characterized in that an electroplating aid board is arranged between the anode basket and the workpiece to be plated, the electroplating aid board having at least one side that has a length exceeding the workpiece to be plated, the electroplating aid board being made of a plastic material that is not electrically conductive and comprising a plurality of holes formed therein.
4. The electroplating device according to claim 3, wherein the holes are arranged in rows and the holes are set to alternate each other.
5. The electroplating device according to claim 3, wherein the electroplating aid board is secured to a fastener provided on a spray tube.
Type: Application
Filed: Jan 11, 2013
Publication Date: Jul 17, 2014
Inventor: MING-HONG KUO (Taipei City)
Application Number: 13/739,001
International Classification: C25D 17/00 (20060101);