Copper Electroless Process Optimization to Modify Boron Doped Diamond at Different Boron Levels

The copper electroless deposition on semiconducting boron doped diamond (BDD) grown on Ti substrate was investigated. This study emphasizes the influence of the doping level on BDD in the Cu electroless process. In addition, the effect of some deposition parameters such as the pH solution and the deposition time, to obtain Cu/BDD composites were analyzed. Two kinds of BDD films were produced and named as lightly (E1) and highly (E2) BDD electrodes. For both Cu/BDD composites, the scanning electron microscopy showed the deposit morphologies composed by small grains distributed throughout the BDD surface when the electroless process was conducted at pH 12. On the other hand, no Cu deposit was verified at pH 8 and pH 10 for deposition times up to 180 s. However, in these conditions, low particle density was observed for deposition time of 2400 s. In general, the Cu deposit rate increased with increasing the deposition time, for both BDD films. The influence of doping level showed that for E2 electrode, the deposits presented higher density and better uniformity of Cu particle on its surface than those for E1 electrode. This behavior may be associated to the better conductivity of the E2 electrode due to its higher boron content enhancing the Cu deposition. According the X-ray diffraction data, the Cu metallic crystallographic form was obtained for all deposited particles.