In order to study the effect of interface oxides on the adhesion strength of the copper/epoxy system, copper foils were immersed in black oxide or brown oxide forming solutions before lamination with epoxy prepregs, and variation of peel strength with the treatment time were investigated. Results showed that peel strength decreased rapidly up to 1 minute of treatment lime and remained constant in the case of the black oxide treated specimens, which was accompanied by the thickening of $Cu_2O$ at the Copper/Epoxy interface during the period. In contrast, peel strength increased rapidly up to 1 minute of treatment time and remained constant in the case of the brown oxide treated specimens, which could be ascribed to the thickening of CuO. Subsequent heat treatments of the Copper/Epoxy laminations at $120^{circ}C$ in air showed that peel strength remained constant in the case of the black oxide treated specimens but decreased gradually in the case of the brown oxide treated specimens. Following XPS analyses revealed that the latter was possibly caused by the coalescence of CuO at the Copper/Epoxy interface into $Cu_2O$.
PDF