Green manufacturing process — surface pre-treatment with micro bubble cavitation

In this paper, an innovative process, which utilizes micro-bubble cavitation in water for surface roughening pre-treatment prior to plating or laminating, is presented. No hazardous chemical is employed to comply with green process. In semiconductor industry, this surface damaging mechanism or surface roughening is a required process with chemicals. Massive amount of water were polluted and extra time was wasted on cleaning and rinsing the roughened surfaces in post-etching process. Cavitation is the bubble generation and collapsing process observed in common water. The most critical event is that shock wave is created during collapsing and attacks nearby object or surface to cause micro-scale erosion or etching. In real world, bubble cavitation, which damages the underwater hydraulic devices such as propeller, is the most unwanted phenomena but almost unavoidable. However, the proposed process is not only an ideal alternative without chemical release to satisfy green process requirements but also a cost-effective technology on TPT (throughput time) optimization and water consumption.