Electrodeposition of lead and lead-tin alloy on copper using an eco-friendly methanesulfonate plating bath

Lead coatings were deposited from an electroplating bath contained mainly a lead salt and free methane sulfonic acid (MSA). Electroplating copper samples with a lead-tin alloy was carried out from a plating bath contained a lead salt, a tin salt and free MSA. An organic additive was added to enhance the surface morphology and therefore the appearance of the coated samples. The parameters affected the coating quality like the plating time, current density, temperature and bath composition are optimized. Surface characterization (FE-SEM & EDX) of the formed coating shows a compact dense layer of Pb or Pb–Sn alloy. XRD of Pb–Sn coating shows clear peaks of each lead and tin. The electrochemical properties of the coated samples was investigated using the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The obtained coatings were compared with those obtained using the fluoroborate bath. It is worthy to mention that the presence of the organic additives markedly improved the quality of the lead coating obtained from the methanesulfonate bath so as to have the same quality of the coating obtained from the fluoroborate bath.