Editorial Team
Oct 28, 2022
Selective Gold Plating in printed circuit boards refers to the deposition of gold layer on high-wear areas of PCB like connectors and switch contacts to improve abrasion resistance and durability. The copper surface of the PCB is not directly electroplated with gold. The copper surface is first electroplated with nickel and then a thin layer of gold is electroplated onto nickel. Usually, this thin layer of gold is between 0.25 and 5 microns thick (0.00001"-0.0002") and nickel thickness is between 3 and 6 microns.
Why is gold used in the selective plating process?
The selective gold plating makes the selected areas of PCB corrosion resistant, and durable and protects them from regular wear and tear. However Selective Gold plating is very expensive and the relatively poor solderability of gold makes it difficult to be applied in common solderable areas.
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