Hello, All of the board houses that I have talked to and that are capable of both processes always recommend silver immersion. Any board house can describe both of these processes, pros and cons, more efficient than I can.
Here is what I can recall. 1) Silver is natural to the solder process of assembly, gold is not. Gold plating requires another metal. I seem to recall the nickel lowers the temperature to an acceptable level required to solder a component to, but I could be way off on that last statement. 2) All plating tarnishes. HASL, Silver and even Gold. ALL metal oxidizes. 3) A PCB will oxidize if exposed to air. 4) A silver immersed board can repeat the plating process up to five times. Cheers! Drew ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wayne Bickers" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Protel EDA Forum" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, April 22, 2002 6:50 PM Subject: [PEDA] Gold or silver plating > Sorry this is a little off topic but you guys are the ones who will know. > > I have 3 issues, > > 1) I require a smooth finish, hence gold or silver plating/ flashing > 2) I need the PCB's to last in stores for a period of time, for arguements > sake call it 1 year without oxidising > 3) I need to have some pads hand soldered and require a good wetting effect > (spreading of the solder when applied) > > I would appreciate it if anyone out there has tried both and could indicate > which may be the better finishing material to use. > > > thanks > > Wayne Bickers > Electronics Engineer > Tru-Test Ltd > * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * To post a message: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * To leave this list visit: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/leave.html * * Contact the list manager: * mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Forum Guidelines Rules: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/forumrules.html * * Browse or Search previous postings: * http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
