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

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 97.2Jm-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 Cuiepoxy interface. Simulation results together with experimental data were then used for explaining the adhesion promotion mechanism between Cu/epoxy interface.