Monday, 30th October 2006 (5002 views)

A new hard gold plating solution, capable of minimising the amount of gold deposition on unwanted areas in electrical systems, has been unveiled.

Electrical technology engineer Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials has announced the development of its Ronovel CS100 plating process, which aims to reduce the amount of wasted gold used in the hard gold plating process.

Gold plating is used primarily in the production of electrical components and equipment, as a method of protecting against corrosion. Hard gold plating is preferred to alternative methods as it offers low contact resistance and the gold is not easily worn down.

However, gold plating is expensive, meaning production techniques constantly require a thinner layer of gold to be applied over smaller areas of deposition to reduce costs. The new technique devised by Rohm and Haas to suppress deposition will therefore ultimately benefit the industry.

According to the company, the Ronovel process uses a low gold metal content which minimizes "bleeding" under masked areas when plating, by using a special additive designed solely for this purpose.

As a result, manufacturers can use greater amounts of gold more extensively, reducing waste and production costs.

 

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