Electrochemical assembly and molecular dynamics simulation of SAM on copper for epoxy/copper adhesion improvement

Abstract

This work reports on adhesion enhancement effects of self-assembled organothiol treatment on copper (Cu)/epoxy interface, as well as a significant reduction in treatment time under the influence of electric potential. The interfacial adhesion has 20-fold enhancement through the treatment due to improved linkage between copper substrate and epoxy layer by chemisorbed organothiol molecules. The treatment time was greatly reduced by a factor 32 from 16 hours to 30 minutes thanks to the electrical field assisted method without compromising the maximum adhesion strength, which was shown to be in order of 97.2 Jm -2 . Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations were also carried out for studying the surface coverage effect of Self-assembly Monolayer (SAM) on Cu surface towards adhesion strength between Cu/epoxy interface. Simulation results together with experimental data were then used for explaining the adhesion promotion mechanism between Cu/epoxy interface.