Palladium alloy plating process

Claim 2

A process for electroplating a metallic substance, said metallic substance comprising palladium, comprising the step of passing current through a cathode, an electroplating bath and an anode with cathode potential great enough to electroplate palladium, said electroplating bath having a conductivity greater than 10⁻³ mho - cm and a pH greater than 5 CHARACTERIZED IN THAT the electroplating bath comprises palladium complex ion in which the complexing agent comprises alkylhydroxy amines with up to 50 carbon atoms.

Claim 3

The process of claim 1 in which the metallic substance consists essentially of palladium.

Claim 4

The process of claim 1 in which the metallic substance comprises, in addition to palladium, at least one metal selected from the group consisting of silver, copper, nickel, cobalt, gold, chromium, manganese, ruthenium, rhodium, platinum and iridium.

Claim 5

The process of claim 3 in which the metallic substance comprises, in addition to palladium, at least one metal selected from the group consisting of copper, nickel, cobalt and silver.

Claim 6

The process of claim 4 in which the metallic substance comprises, in addition to palladium, at least one metal selected from the group consisting of nickel and cobalt.

Claim 7

The process of claim 1 in which the complexing agent has between 3 and 25 carbon atoms.

Claim 8

The process of claim 6 in which the complexing agent has between 3 and 10 carbon atoms.

Claim 9

The process of claim 7 in which the complexing agent is selected from the group consisting of bis-(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane, tris-(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane, bis-(hydroxyethyl)aminomethane and tris-(hydroxyethyl)aminomethane.

Claim 10

The process of claim 8 in which the complexing agent comprises tris-­(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane.

Claim 11

The process of claim 1, in which the palladium concentration in the bath solution in terms of palladium is from 0.0001 M to saturation.

Claim 12

The process of claim 10 in which the concentration of palladium varies from 0.01 M to 1.0M.

Claim 13

The process of claim 1 in which the mole percent of palladium replaced by alloying metal is from 10 to 90 mole percent.

Claim 14

The process of claim 12 in which the mole percent of palladium replaced by alloying metal is from 20 to 50 mole percent.

Claim 15

The process of claim 1 in which the concentration of complexing agent is from 0.01 to 10 times the mole amount of palladium plus alloy metal in the bath.

Claim 16

An article comprising layer of metallic substance, said metallic substance comprising palladium in which the metallic substance is deposited by an electroplating process comprising the process of passing current through a cathode, an electroplating bath and an anode with cathode potential great enough to electroplate palladium, said electroplating bath having a conductivity greater than 10⁻³ mho - cm and a pH greater than 5 CHARACTERIZED IN THAT the electroplating bath comprises palladium complex ion in which the complexing agent comprises alkylhydroxyamine with up to 50 carbon atoms.

Claim 17

An article comprising layer of metallic substance, said metallic substance comprising palladium in which the metallic substance is deposited by an electroplating process comprising the process of passing current through a cathode, an electroplating bath and an anode with cathode potential great enough to electroplate palladium, said electroplating bath having a conductivity greater than 10⁻³ mho - cm and a pH greater than 5 CHARACTERIZED IN THAT the electroplating bath comprises palladium complex ion in which the complexing agent comprises alkylhydroxyamine with up to 50 carbon atoms.

Claim 18

The article of claim 15 in which said article comprises an electrical contact surface.

Claim 19

The article of claim 16 in which the article comprises an electrical connector.

Claim 20

The article of claim 16 in which the article comprises contact fingers on a circuit board.