All of the board houses I have done business with will do 6/6 with no
premium.  One even goes to 4/4, though I haven't tested them at this.  I
have designed boards using both immersion gold and fully bondable gold.  I
had always assumed that these terms translated into hard and soft gold,
respectively, though I just realized I have never been told this implicitly.
 Can someone confirm the meaning of soft gold vs. fully bondable gold?  If
they are the same, you can try Martex Circuits Inc. or the Tyco Printed
Circuit Group in Logan Utah, or West Coast Circuits in Watsonville Ca.  I
have done business with all these, and they've done a good job.  I have a
line card from SAS Circuits in Co. that states "soft gold", though I've
never sent them a job, so I can't vouch for anything.  I think there's an
online database for PCW manufacturers somewhere.  Good luck.
Richard Hatano
EMS Inc.

 ----------
From: joanna
To: DesignerCouncil
Subject: [DC] Need suggestions
Date: Thursday, March 26, 1998 8:12AM

My boss and I were talking yesterday about what our board fabricators
can and cannot do.  We're being asked to use 12mil traces as a
minimum because anything smaller is an increase in price.  I assumed
8mil was the "standard", unless otherwise called for due to current
load, board size, etc.  What are you, in the real world, using for
your "plain Jane" signal traces?  And also, he keeps telling me we
use a foreign board fabricator for the boards that use soft gold.
Something about it uses arsenic in the process and domestic vendors
don't want the hassle or expense.  I know that Hadco does soft gold
and I think it's done in New York.  Does anyone have any info on
other companies located in the US who can do soft gold?

JoAnn L. Amerson
Design Librarian
Red Lion Controls, Inc.
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Voice: (717) 767-6961 ext 6308

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