Letter 21048

Gold Plating Thickness [Alabama] 

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What must the minimum thickness of gold plating be over a Nickel layer(nominal thickness 200 u inches)to prevent Nickel oxide from forming beneath the gold?

Greg Yadacus
U.S. Army - Huntsville, Alabama, USA

Greg This is a difficult question to answer. Much depends upon the surface roughness of the nickel as well as the substrate. It also depends upon the porosity of the gold. My experience comes from gold wire bonding to gold plating. In that case we found that 30 microinches was needed to eliminate any nickel oxide forming on the surface of the gold. We also observerd that pulse plated gold was less porous than DC plated gold.

Pat Mentone
Mentone Component Technology Corporation - St Paul, MN, USA

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