Influence of ultrasonic in low thermal expansion Fe-Ni electrodeposition process for micro-electroforming

The electrochemical mechanism of Fe-Ni electrodeposition under ultrasonic was investigated by electrochemistry methods. Linear scanning voltammetry and cyclic voltammetry were used to show that the deposition process changed from the diffusion control under static conditions to an electrochemical control under ultrasonic conditions. Chronoamperometry curves showed that the Fe-Ni deposit occurred by a mechanism that instantaneous nucleation is followed by three-dimensional growth under charge transfer control. Chronopotentiogram indicated that because of the intensity of the ultrasound stripping effect, high ultrasonic power is unsuitable for electroforming Fe-Ni alloy, and a high current density is also not appropriate. Thus, the optimum parameters for Fe-Ni electrodeposition under ultrasonic conditions are ultrasonic power between 80 and 100 W (power density 0.28–0.35 W/cm2), and a current density lower than 10 mA/cm2 with temperature 323 K and pH 3. Experiments were performed to verify that the Fe-Ni masks prepared by ultrasonic-assisted electroforming had a good surface quality. The increase in ultrasonic power can obtain a larger grain size, thus got a low thermal expansion coefficient and a high hardness. Therefore, ultrasonic-assisted electrodeposition technology provides an effective and practically feasible manufacturing method for OLED Fe-Ni mask preparation.