Trouble in Your Tank: Causes of Plating Voids, Pre-electroless Copper
Dan’s Biz Bookshelf: ‘Growth Hacker Marketing’
Happy’s Tech Talk #38: Novel Metallization for UHDI
RBP Chemical Technology Announces the Release of ONYX™ Direct Metallization System for PCBs
March 11, 2020 | RBP Chemical TechnologyEstimated reading time: 1 minute
RBP’s ONYX™ is a Direct Metallization System for high reliability and complex printed circuit boards.
The RBP ONYX™ Direct Metallization Process is an integrated system based on a highly conductive form of finely dispersed graphite. Extensively tested and validated, the ONYX™ Process has proven to be versatile and cost effective. Currently the customer base using ONYX™ processes flex, rigid-flex, HDI and high aspect ratio multilayer printed circuit boards with ease and cost effectiveness when compared to conventional electroless copper. The ONYX™ process easily surpasses industry reliability standards including IST (interconnection stress test) and ATC (accelerated thermal cycling).
ONYX™ Direct Metallization System Highlights
The ONYX™ Direct Metallization System is a versatile process and is used in horizontal conveyorized equipment or in vertical immersion mode. Fabricators are able to process a vast array of resin materials including PTFE, polyimide, BT, flex, and basically all epoxy-based resin systems on the market today.
This process is an alternative to electroless copper deposition and provides several significant benefits to the fabricator:
- Less expensive than conventional electroless copper
- Smaller equipment footprint compared to electroless copper
- Greatly reduced water consumption, 4?6 gallons/minute, compared to conventional electroless copper, 26?30 gallons per minute
- ONYX™ contains no chelator as opposed to electroless copper—simplifying waste treatment
About RBP
RBP Chemical Technology is a leading supplier of proprietary chemicals for printed circuit fabrication and semiconductor test applications. RBP’s chemical formulas are tailored to meet the precise needs and requirements for advanced circuit boards, primarily in aerospace, medical and military applications. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and expanding globally, RBP is certified to ISO 9001:2015 and is the Intelligent Choice for the electronics industry.
Share on:
Suggested Items
RF PCB Design Tips and Tricks
05/08/2025 | Cherie Litson, EPTAC MIT CID/CID+There are many great books, videos, and information online about designing PCBs for RF circuits. A few of my favorite RF sources are Hans Rosenberg, Stephen Chavez, and Rick Hartley, but there are many more. These PCB design engineers have a very good perspective on what it takes to take an RF design from schematic concept to PCB layout.
Trouble in Your Tank: Causes of Plating Voids, Pre-electroless Copper
05/09/2025 | Michael Carano -- Column: Trouble in Your TankIn the business of printed circuit fabrication, yield-reducing and costly defects can easily catch even the most seasoned engineers and production personnel off guard. In this month’s column, I’ll investigate copper plating voids with their genesis in the pre-plating process steps.
Elephantech: For a Greener Tomorrow
04/16/2025 | Marcy LaRont, PCB007 MagazineNobuhiko Okamoto is the global sales and marketing manager for Elephantech Inc., a Japanese startup with a vision to make electronics more sustainable. The company is developing a metal inkjet technology that can print directly on the substrate and then give it a copper thickness by plating. In this interview, he discusses this novel technology's environmental advantages, as well as its potential benefits for the PCB manufacturing and semiconductor packaging segments.
Trouble in Your Tank: Organic Addition Agents in Electrolytic Copper Plating
04/15/2025 | Michael Carano -- Column: Trouble in Your TankThere are numerous factors at play in the science of electroplating or, as most often called, electrolytic plating. One critical element is the use of organic addition agents and their role in copper plating. The function and use of these chemical compounds will be explored in more detail.
IDTechEx Highlights Recyclable Materials for PCBs
04/10/2025 | IDTechExConventional printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing is wasteful, harmful to the environment and energy intensive. This can be mitigated by the implementation of new recyclable materials and technologies, which have the potential to revolutionize electronics manufacturing.