Tantalum electroplating

Bobst, J. (1971) Niobium and tantalum electroplating. German Patent 2,064,586. 

In Section 4.4, finally, troublesome aspects are shortly summarized. An important aspect is that the electrochemical window alone is not sufficient and one can be pretty surprised if the electroreduction of e.g. TaCls rather delivers non-stoichiometric halides instead of the desired tantalum metal. For an electroplating bath the solution chemistry also plays an important role and a new concept of additives seems to be necessary. 

Tantalum Tantalum has unique properties that make it useful for many applications, from electronics to mechanical and chemical systems. Many efforts have been made to develop an electroplating process for the electrodeposition of Ta. High-temperature molten salts were found to be efficient baths for the dectrodepo-sition of refractory metals. To the best of our knowledge, imtil now no successful attempts have been made for Ta electrodeposition at room temperature or even at low temperature in ionic liquids. We present here the first results of tantalum dec-trodeposition in the air and water stable ionic liquid 1-butyl-l-methyl-pyrrolidinium bis(tri-fiuoromethylsulfonyl)amide ([BMP][Tf2N]). 

The fastest growing major products of the electrochemical industry were tantalum capacitors, aluminum capacitors, electroplating, magnesium, and chlorine, in that order. 

Balikhin, V.S. (1974) Electroplating of protective tantalum coating. Zasch. Metal, 10,459-460. 

El-Sayed H, Greiner MT, Kruse P. (2007) Selective electroplating of copper lines on pre-patterned tantalum oxide thin films. Appl SurfSci 253 8962-8968. 

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