An accurate determination of the electrolyte bath characteristics will enhance the reliability and accuracy of simulation results as obtained with the Elsyca software tools. For this reason, Elsyca offers consulting services on a customer base for measuring these characterisatics and pre-processing them for use as input data in the software tools.

Electrolyte bath characterisation includes measurement of polarisation behavior of different electrode types in contact with the electrolyte solution (e.g. by linear voltammetry), and determination of physico-chemical quantities as electrical conductivity, density and viscosity. For plating baths, also the efficiency of the deposition process is to be determined. In analogy, for electro-dissolution processes (ECM, etching, polishing), the dissolution efficiency has to be measured.

Elsyca has available all required skills and laboratorium equipment (potentiostats, Rotating Disc and Rotating Cylinder set-ups, …) to measure these characteristics for industrial process conditions. In addition, Elsyca collaborates with the metallurgical department of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (http://wwwtw.vub.ac.be/meta) for surface analysis of electrochemically treated electrodes (e.g. metal layer deposit). Available techniques include optical microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES).