Abstract

We investigate the effects of denatonium benzoate (Bitrex) on the electrodeposition of copper films from a boric acid bath using scanning electron microscopy, cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical quartz microbalance (EQCM) measurements and corrosion studies. In the absence of Bitrex, pure copper films grown by this method are optically black owing to the appearance of complex surface nanostructures. The addition of Bitrex acts as a levelling agent preventing the formation of these nanostructures even for concentrations as low as 0.02mM producing a lustrous film with low surface roughness. Bitrex is also found to improve the corrosion resistance by up to a factor of 20 and increase the current efficiency by over a factor of two. Bitrex is hypothesised to act directly on the cathode, partially inhibiting the growth or lowering the deposition current.