As long as your gold thickness does not exceed approximatley 35
     microinch you should be safe from gold embrittlement problems. Gold
     does not add to solder joint strength it is only used for pad
     solderability preservation and connection contact integrity. For good
     solderability preservation a good rule of thumb is to not have the
     gold thickness any less than 3 microinch.

     Steve O'Hara   HP


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: [TN] Gold  plating thicknes
Author:  Non-HP-bogdan ([log in to unmask]) at HP-Vancouver,mimegw10