M
Martin Riddle
- Jan 1, 1970
- 0
With the price of Gold close to $1k/oz has anyone looked for alternatives?
Cheers
Cheers
Don't worry, it is not really going up, it's the dollar going downWith the price of Gold close to $1k/oz has anyone looked for alternatives?
Cheers
Martin said:Don't worry, it is not really going up, it's the dollar going down
With the price of Gold close to $1k/oz has anyone looked for alternatives?
Cheers
With the price of Gold close to $1k/oz has anyone looked for alternatives?
Cheers
LOL !
What alternative anyway ? I vaguely recall something from the 80s. Some alloy
IIRC.
Graham
The alternatives generally cost more and work less well. Gold can be
put on very thin and still do its job so you don't end up using enough
to really matter.
Lately, I've been looking again at gold plating the entire PCB. It
makes a nice chemically stable layer on top of the copper. With the
price of copper these days, changes are the copper on the PCB will
cost more than the small amount of gold involved.
Are there any alternatives to copper on PCBs?
Aluminum was tried for a while for house wiring. I think it would
work but there seems to be a long tail on the learning curve.
Ever try to solder to aluminum?
Nowadays the standard "gold plating" on pcb pads, called "immersion
gold", is a roughly 100 micro-inch electroless nickel plating finished
with 8-10 uin of gold. It looks good, doesn't tarnish easily, and
solders beautifully. It's very flat, so is good for fine-pitch and BGA
parts. The tiny amount of gold dissolves in the solder when the board
is reflowed, so the joint is basically solder onto nickel.
Ever try to solder to aluminum?
With the price of Gold close to $1k/oz has anyone looked for alternatives?
Cheers