Palladium sintered films

Arrhenius parameters and selected values of M are given in Table 6.2 in conjunction with Figure 6.3, the following comments can be made, (i) Sintered films of palladium and platinum again have low activities and show high activation energies this appears to be the only bimetallic system looked at. (ii) Certain... 

For ill-designed composite membranes, for example, formed by depositing palladium onto substrates which it does not wet, surface tension will force the thin film to contract and ball up if the palladium atoms acquire sufficient surface mobility. Pinholes may form as a prelude to complete de-wetting, or pinholes may remain from the initial fabrication if the palladium did not fully wet its substrate. Kinetics of de-wetting is accelerated at elevated temperature and in the presence of adsorbates such as CO, which increase surface mobility of Pd. If molten metals do not wet ceramics, they will be expelled from ceramic pores. During sintering of cermets, Pd and other metals will not adhere to the ceramic phase, if the metal and ceramic do not wet. 

Palladium cermets have a number of advantages over thin films of Pd supported by porous ceramics. For systems which wet, sintering cermets at very high temperatures (well above membrane operating temperatures) produces dense, pinhole-free composites (see Fig. 8.5). Because Pd is closely confined within a matrix of ceramic and because small, individual, micron-size Pd crystallites already possess a small surface-to-volume ratio of low surface energy, the Pd has relatively low driving... 

Complex substrate modifications involving intermediate layers and palladium alloy deposition methods are often required for superior membrane performance. Modification of a membrane support surface before palladium deposition by sintering on smaller particles can create a smoother surface with smaller pores, facilitating the deposition of a defect-free palladium layer. Nickel microparticles have been sintered together to form a porous support that was sputter-coated with palladium and then copper [118]. Thermal treatment at 700 °C for 1 h promoted reflow to create a durable, pinhole-free membrane with a Pd-Cu-Ni alloy film. In another case, starting with commercially available PSS with a 0.5 pm particle filtration cut-ofF, submicron nickel particles were dispersed on the surface, vacnium sintered for 5 h at 800 °C, and then sputtered with UN [159]. The nickel particles created a smoother surface with smaller pores, so a thinner palladium alloy layer... 

S. S. Cole, The Sintering Mechanism in a Silver-Palladium Film, Proc. Inti. Symp. Microelec., Washington, paper 2A1, 1972. 

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