Pete:
I come in late to this discussion, and may have missed salient points.
Do you suspect the deposit is immersion gold over Copper, with the EN missing, or do you suspect electrolytic gold over electrolytic Nickel?

If you suspect immersion Gold over Copper (no EN) simple baking should tell the tale, causing the intermetallic to form.

Rudy Sedlak


--- On Mon, 7/21/08, Pete Houwen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> From: Pete Houwen <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: [TN] looking for ENiG photos
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Monday, July 21, 2008, 12:54 PM
> Inge,
> 
> Very good point!
> 
> background: The purchasing agent who is driving this has a
> bonus riding on 
> reducing PCB fabrication costs by $125K this year - with no
> adjustment for oil 
> or copper costs.  So if she saves $125K and manufacturing
> costs go up $500K, 
> she gets a bonus.  Not to mention their longstanding
> tradition of being penny 
> wise and pound foolish.
> 
> Wit that, what are my chances of getting time or funding
> for a "really good 
> qualification"?  Supposedly the D&B was done - I
> don't get that info.  Someone 
> from our Shanghai R&D group visited the plant - but
> he's not a PCB guy.  I 
> already know that their stated abilities don't meet our
> specs.  Manufacturing 
> doesn't want this.  We've just spent months getting
> our processes somewhat 
> reliable, adding junk plating to it isn't going to
> help.
> 
> But there's that bonus.  So I've got these
> pictures.... I don't want to lie, or 
> exaggerate (much), but if I could find something
> comparative to scare the 
> bean counters...... they just don't get the value of
> paying for quality up front.
> 
> I keep a curled up tie and round glasses in my office to
> wear during projects 
> like this.......
> 
> Pete
> 
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