We have been asked by a couple of our PWB Suppliers to approve a replacement
for electroless copper.  One Supplier is using a palladium process from Shipley
and the other is using the SHADOW process from Electrochemicals, Inc.

Our concerns with these process are:

1) Lack of reliability data.  It seems that most data is based on standard
military qualification of 100 cycles.  We have a tempature range of -65 to +125
and we need boards to survive a lot more than 100 cycles.

2) With the carbon or graphite systems, what happens to the residual carbon at
the interface over time?  Will a circuit see a change in resistance over time
at the interconnection?

These are just a couple of concerns that came up in our first discussions of
changing the process.  I am sure there are other items to consider.  I would
appreciate hearing about your experiences with any of these new processes. 
Also, any leads on tracking down reliability data would be very helpful.

Thanks.

Lew Burnett
Honeywell
602-436-4744
e-mail:  [log in to unmask]