High phosphorus electroless nickel

1. A method of providing a high phosphorus electroless nickel plating deposit on a substrate, the method comprising the steps of:

a) preparing the substrate to accept electroless nickel thereon;

b) immersing the substrate into an electroless nickel plating bath, wherein the electroless nickel plating bath is prepared by:

i) premixing a source of nickel ions with thiourea for a period of time to allow the source of nickel ions and the thiourea to react; and

ii) diluting the premixture with water; and thereafter

ii) adding the following ingredients to the reacted premixture:

(a) an effective amount of saccharin;

(b) a source of hypophosphite ions;

(c) one or more chelating agents; and

(d) optionally, other additives;

wherein the high phosphorus electroless nickel deposit is capable of passing an RCA nitric acid test in which the substrate with the high phosphorus nickel deposit thereon is immersed into concentrated nitric acid for 30 seconds and a deposit that does not turn black or grey is deemed to have passed the RCA nitric acid test.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the source of nickel ions is selected from the group consisting of nickel bromide, nickel fluorob orate, nickel sulfonate, nickel sulfamate, nickel alkyl sulfonate, nickel sulfate, nickel chloride, nickel acetate, nickel hypophosphite and combinations of one or more of the foregoing.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the source of nickel ions is nickel sulfate.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the source of hypophosphite ions is selected from the group consisting of hypophosphorus acid, sodium hypophosphite, potassium hypophosphite, ammonium hypophosphite and combinations of one or more of the foregoing.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the soluble source of nickel ions is present in the electroless nickel plating bath in an amount to provide a concentration of nickel metal in the bath in the range of about 1 to about 50 g/L.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the soluble source of nickel ions is present in the electroless nickel plating bath in an amount to provide a concentration of nickel metal in the bath in the range of about 5 to about 10 g/L.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the source of hypophosphite ions is present in the electroless nickel plating bath at a concentration in the range of about 0.01 to about 200 g/L.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the thiourea is present in the electroless nickel plating bath at a concentration in the range of about 0.5 to about 3.0 mg/L.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the thiourea is present in the electroless nickel plating bath at a concentration in the range of about 1.0 to about 2.0 mg/L.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the saccharin is present in the electroless nickel plating bath at a concentration in the range of about 0.1 mg/L to about 5.0 g/L.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the saccharin is present in the electroless nickel plating bath at a concentration in the range of about 100 mg/L to about 200 mg/L.

12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the electroless nickel plating bath comprises one or more additives, wherein the one or more additives are selected from the group consisting of buffers, wetting agents, accelerators, stabilizers and corrosion inhibitors.

13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the high phosphorus electroless nickel deposit contains between about 9 and about 13 percent by weight phosphorus in the deposit.

14. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the pH of electroless nickel plating bath is in the range of about 4 to about 10.