There's a spec for Gold Plating, IPC-4552

I don't think it relates thickness to cycles.
and I'm pretty sure its because the studies
that were done "way back when" showed
that as long as the process was controlled,
you would get more cycles than you would
ever need.
I think it was Bell Labs that wanted to start
gold plating contacts on phones, and after
a million or so cycles they couldn't see
ANY damage, and abandoned the rest of
the test. (That's the way I heard it, anyway)

The point was, its NOT a situation like "if you
double the gold you get twice as many cycles".
It doesn't work that way....

Let us know if you hear differently, ok?

Jack



On 6/8/07, Eric Bonatti <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Hello group,
> I have a question regarding the gold plating specs for some contacts.
>
> Is there an IPC spec that relates the thickness of gold plating to the
> number of cycles that the plated contact can withstand?  (i.e. for an
> edge connector card or the contacts on a rechargeable battery that is
> taken out and re-installed in the unit a few times daily)
>
> Thanks in advance for your time.
>
> Eric Bonatti, C.I.D.
> EDA Group Leader
> Phone: +1 905 812 6200 xt.3412
> Fax: +1 905 812 6301
> E-mail: [log in to unmask]
>
> Psion Teklogix Inc.
> 2100 Meadowvale Boulevard,
> Mississauga, ON, L5N 7J9, Canada
>
>
>

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