Steve: It looks like it's actually the nickel coming off the copper. The short answer is, if the gold in on the fingers in the mating contact area your are OK. I would run some solder across the exposed copper and call it good. If the gold is missing in the mating contact area of the fingers you need to clean/prep/brush plate Ni followed by Au. The more critical issue is the plating integrity. You should do a tape test on all exposed Au. You may find additional peeling that is unacceptable. Get back to the board fabricator, this is coming from them. Usually an indication of problems in resist and/or Ni-Au plating processes. Reagrds Michael Barmuta Staff Engineer Fluke Corp. Everett WA 425-446-6076 -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Steve Gregory Sent: Friday, October 28, 2005 8:37 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [TN] Gold Plating Peeling... Well, I just got back from "Sin City", and as they say; "no rest for the wicked". I really wasn't that wicked, but I was confronted with a new problem this morning. We just built some assemblies and conformal coated them, but when they were being de-masked, the gold plating on the fingers started peeling up! Check out: http://www.stevezeva.homestead.com/files/Peeling_Plating.jpg http://www.stevezeva.homestead.com/files/Peeling_Plating_2.jpg I have a couple of questions: Can I repair this? If I repair this, should all fingers be stripped and repaired? Kind regards, -Steve Gregory- Senior Process Engineer LaBarge Incorporated Tulsa, Oklahoma (918) 459-2285 (918) 459-2350 FAX __________________________________________________________________ This message may contain information that is privileged and confidential to LaBarge, Inc. It is for use only by the individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient, you may not copy, use or deliver this message to anyone. In such event, you should destroy the message and kindly notify the sender by reply e-mail. --------------------------------------------------- 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 ----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- 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 -----------------------------------------------------