A surface-treated copper foil including a treating surface, where the root mean square height (Sq) of the treating surface is in a range of 0.20 to 1.50 μm and the texture aspect ratio (Str) of the treating surface is not greater than 0.65. When the surface-treated copper foil is heated at a temperature of 200° C. for 1 hour, the ratio of the integrated intensity of (111) peak to the sum of the integrated intensities of (111) peak, (200) peak, and (220) peak of the treating surface is at least 60%.

The water outlet of a subsystem that includes an ultraviolet oxidation device and the water inlet of each substrate treatment device are connected to each other via a main pipe. A hydrogen peroxide removal device is installed between the ultraviolet oxidation device of the subsystem and a non-regenerative ion-exchange device. In addition, a carbon dioxide supply device is installed at the middle of a pipe that branches from the water outlet of the subsystem to reach the substrate treatment device. According to an aspect, the hydrogen peroxide removal device is filled with a platinum-group metal catalyst. Thus, ultrapure water passed through the ultraviolet oxidation device is used as a base to produce carbonated water in which the concentration of hydrogen peroxide dissolved therein is limited to 2 μg/L or less and to which carbon dioxide is added to adjust resistivity to be within the range of 0.03 to 5.0 MΩ.Math.cm.

A silver-plated product having a higher hardness and more excellent wear resistance than those of conventional silver-plated products, and a method for producing the same. In a method for producing a silver-plated product by forming a surface layer of silver on a base material by electroplating at a current density in a silver-plating solution which is an aqueous solution containing silver potassium cyanide or silver cyanide, potassium cyanide or sodium cyanide, and a benzimidazole (such as 2-mercaptobenzmimidazole or 2-mercaptobenzimidazole sulfonic acid sodium salt dihydrate), the ratios of the concentrations of silver potassium cyanide or silver cyanide, potassium cyanide or sodium cyanide, and the imidazole to the current density during the silver-plating (or the ratios of the concentrations of silver potassium cyanide or silver cyanide and the imidazole to the current density during the silver plating, and the concentration of potassium cyanide or sodium cyanide) are set to be predetermined ranges, respectively.

A silver-plated product which has more excellent minute sliding abrasion resistance property than that of conventional silver-plated products, and a method for producing the same. The silver-plated product is produced by electroplating a base material 10 of copper or a copper alloy to form an underlying plating layer 12 of nickel or a nickel alloy, a first silver-plating layer of silver (lower silver-plating layer) 14, a zinc-plating layer 16 of zinc serving as an intermediate plating layer, and a second silver-plating layer of silver (upper silver-plating layer) 18 serving as a surface layer, in this order from the base material 10.

A surface treatment agent capable of forming a hexavalent chromium-free chemical conversion coating that can provide an excellent corrosion-resistant coating on various metallic materials; a metallic material having a surface treatment coating obtained therefrom; and a method of producing the same. A free fluorine ion-containing surface treatment agent for surface-treating a metallic material, which is obtained by mixing at least one supply source (A) of trivalent chromium-containing ions A; a supply source (B) of ions B that are at least one selected from titanium-containing ions and zirconium-containing ions; a water-soluble or water-dispersible compound (C) containing an alkoxysilyl group, an aromatic ring, a hydroxy group directly bonded to the aromatic ring, and at least one of primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary amino groups, wherein the alkoxysilyl group is bonded to the nitrogen atom of the amino group directly or via an alkylene group; and a fluorine-containing compound (D) providing fluorine-containing ions.

Cleaning solution for cleaning and/or wetting metal surfaces, comprising at least one acid, a first surfactant, which is an alkyl-poly(ethyleneglycol-co-propyleneglycol)-ether having a cloud point of ≤25° C., a second surfactant, which is selected from the group consisting of i) an alkyl-poly(ethyleneglycol-co-propyleneglycol)-ether having a cloud point of ≥30° C., ii) an alkyl-polyethyleneglycol-ether having a cloud point of ≥45° C.
wherein the cloud points are determined according to European Standard EN 1890:2006, item 8.2 of German Version, with the modification that 10 wt % H.sub.2SO.sub.4 is used as solvent and that the concentration of the surfactant is 1000 mg/L.

A silver-plated product having a higher hardness and more excellent wear resistance than those of conventional silver-plated products, and a method for producing the same. In a method for producing a silver-plated product by forming a surface layer of silver on a base material by electroplating at a current density in a silver-plating solution which is an aqueous solution containing silver potassium cyanide or silver cyanide, potassium cyanide or sodium cyanide, and a benzimidazole (such as 2-mercaptobenzmimidazole or 2-mercaptobenzimidazole sulfonic acid sodium salt dihydrate), the ratios of the concentrations of silver potassium cyanide or silver cyanide, potassium cyanide or sodium cyanide, and the imidazole to the current density during the silver-plating (or the ratios of the concentrations of silver potassium cyanide or silver cyanide and the imidazole to the current density during the silver plating, and the concentration of potassium cyanide or sodium cyanide) are set to be predetermined ranges, respectively.

A manufacturing method of an antibacterial surface treated copper material includes: etching a metal base material including copper; primary heat-treating the metal base material; coating the metal base material with a composition for a coating; and secondary heat-treating the metal base material. The composition for the coating includes an acryl resin at 40 wt % to 50 wt % and CuO at 1 wt % to 5 wt % for an entire weight of the composition for the coating.

A method for passivating substrate surfaces by removing surface contaminants. The method can remove impurities and components from the surface of a substrate to prevent corrosion and undesirable chemical activity. The method further provides an optimized surface for the application of protective barrier coatings. The method provides significant cost savings due to increased life of substrate, reduced maintenance, and superior barrier coating performance.

The present invention is related to a composition for micro etching of a copper or a copper alloy surface, wherein the composition comprises i) at least a source of Fe.sup.3+ ions, ii) at least a source of Br.sup.− ions, iii) at least an inorganic acid, and iv) at least one etch refiner according to formula I

##STR00001## wherein R1 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, C.sub.1-C.sub.5-alkyl or a substituted aryl or alkaryl group; R2 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, C.sub.1-C.sub.5-alkyl or C.sub.1-C.sub.5-alkoxy; R3, R4 are selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and C.sub.1-C.sub.5-alkyl; and X.sup.− is a suitable anion. Further, the present invention is directed to a method for micro etching of copper or copper alloy surfaces using such a composition.