Photolithography & Electroforming

Photolithographic Electroforming & Micro-Mesh Prepress Calculator

Calculate electroforming plating thickness via Faraday's Law, deposition time, lateral overplating mushrooming width, and micro-mesh open area %.

1. Input Parameters

Electrodeposition Metal Alloy

Cathode Current Density J (A/dm²)

Nominal electroplating bath current density (typically 2 - 6 A/dm²).

Electrodeposition Time (Minutes)

Total duration in electrolytic bath.

Mandrel Active Surface Area (dm²)

Total plated cathode surface area (1 dm² = 100 cm²).

Photoresist Stencil Thickness H (µm)

Dry film or liquid SU-8 photoresist stencil height.

Photoresist Hole / Opening Width (µm)

Nominal aperture dimension on 1-bit phototool mask.

Mesh Hole Center-to-Center Pitch P (µm)

Distance between adjacent aperture centers in array.

2. Calculation Results

Plated Thickness (T)

32.8 µm

Total Deposited Mass

11.68 g

Lateral Overgrowth (Δw)

12.5 µm

Final Aperture Width

52.5 µm

Mesh Open Area %

19.1%

Deposition Rate

0.73 µm/min

3. Dynamic Visualizer & CAM Preview

4. Engineering Notes & Physics Specifications

Photolithographic Electroforming is an additive micro-manufacturing process that grows high-precision metal parts (nickel, copper, gold) atom-by-atom from electrolytic solutions onto conductive mandrels through micro-patterned photoresist stencils (LIGA / UV-LIGA technology). Used to manufacture high-efficiency nebulizer micro-mesh plates, shaver foils, optical encoder disks, leadframes, and microfluidic sieves.

Faraday's Law of Electrolysis: $T_{ ext{plate}} = rac{J \cdot t \cdot M}{n \cdot F \cdot ho} \cdot \eta_{ ext{eff}}$, where $F = 96,485 ext{ C/mol}$, $J$ is current density ($ ext{A/dm}^2$), and $\eta_{ ext{eff}} pprox 98.5\%$.
Overplating Lateral Mushrooming: When plating thickness exceeds photoresist height ($T_{ ext{plate}} > H_{ ext{resist}}$), metal grows isotropically over the resist rim at rate $\Delta w pprox 1.6 \cdot (T - H)$. This controlled overgrowth creates rounded, aerodynamic aperture entrance funnels for medical nebulizers.
Current Density Thieving Rings: Edge current concentrations cause over-plating along perimeter edges. CAM layouts must incorporate auxiliary conductive "thief" borders spaced $3 - 5 ext{ mm}$ around active arrays.

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