How are the contact pads finished today? ENIG or hard (electrolytic) gold? Are these high-wear contacts or one-time/limited cycle points? Where are the contact pads located on the board? We have some older products that have hard gold finger edge contacts; I believe some of these boards (originally HASL) were converted to OSP and thus were selectively plated. I wouldn't expect the cost delta for OSP/hard gold to be significantly different from ENIG/hard gold (another opportunity to engage with purchasing!). My assumption is your application uses hard gold for contact surfaces. Ellsworth D. Berkowitz, P.E. --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 -----------------------------------------------------