Seedless electroplating on patterned silicon

Nickel thin films have been electrodeposited without the use of an additional seed layer, on highly doped silicon wafers. These substrates conduct sufficiently well to allow deposition using a peripherical electrical contact on the wafer. Films 2 μm thick have been deposited using a nickel sulfamate bath on both n+- and p+-type silicon wafers, where a series of trenches with different widths had been previously etched by plasma etching. A new, reliable and simple procedure based on the removal of the native oxide layer is presented which allows uniform plating of patterned substrates.