stain&gold platingDavid,

There is no doubt an endless list of what would cause stains on gold. The two most frequent in my experience are contaminates in the gold bath and poor final cleaning after plating.

Contaminates in the gold bath usually leave the gold slightly discolored and not matter how much you attempt to clean it the stain will never come off.

Stains due to poor final clean are easily removed with an IPA solution, one quick way to tell if the stain is on the gold surface, take an ordinary pencil eraser and try to remove the stain, if it comes off you'll probably have good results with a solution clean.

Have fun

Franklin D Asbell


----- Original Message ----- 
  From: David Kim 
  To: [log in to unmask] 
  Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2000 11:16 AM
  Subject: [TN] stain&gold plating


   I am looking for suggestions on "How to remove a stain on gold surface and why does a stain happen on gold surface after plating?"

   In electroless Ni/immersion Au plating, I have found many stain problems after plating. Threre are varied shapes of stains such as a spot, a line, and an irregulare shpae. 

   Anyone who can suggest a better idea? 

   thank you!