We report an extensive study of electrochemical deposition of copper with growth under galvanostatic conditions and parallel geometry. In such conditions a clear understanding of the origin of the ramified deposit and of its growth speed is possible, at least in the case of dense morphology. We confirm that this morphology belongs to a steady-state regime where growth can be modeled as the displacement of a flat strip of nearly equipotential copper. The growth velocity is exactly the drift velocity of the anions, which is proportional to the current density. We also show that the mass of the deposit does not depend on the speed at which it was grown but only on the concentration of salt in the bulk of the electrolyte. We compute the modifications in concentration profiles and in the electric field due to pH changes during growth.

• Received 29 April 1991

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.44.6693