Gold is very solderable, and just as important, very coplanar. It is increasingly becoming a popular choice for SMD fine pitch board assemblies. With gold, there is always a concern for embrittlement. However, if the thickness remains thin, this is not a great concern. When using electroless or electrolytic nickel, you have a reasonable thickness for a barrier plate over the copper. Immersion gold will only leave a thickness on top of the nickel of 2 to 8 micro inches. This is ideal for SMD attachment. When using electrolytic gold, the thickness is greater and much more difficult to keep on the very thin side. Therefore, if your vendor uses electrolytic gold, you must have a note that controls the maximum thickness to 15 micro inches. Over this thickness, you must be concerned about embrittlement. With immersion gold, you don't have to worry as it is very difficult to reach a thickness greater than 8 micro inches. Though the cost of gold is very expensive, there are manufacturing process differences that may make the cost of a gold coated board attractive. If your vendor uses the nickel/gold as an etch resist, then there is no solder plate and solder strip process required. There is also no HASL process required. When removing these process steps, you may find the cost of a gold surface coating very close the cost of a HASL finish. It is easy to find the differential in price, simply by asking your vendor to quote both ways. One ounce of gold will cover a considerable number of boards. Ask your vendor for the name and phone number of their gold supplier. The gold supplier will tell you how many square inches of material can be covered with 100 micro inches of gold. You know the square inches of circuitry on your board from your CAD data. You know that gold cost $400.00/ounce. When reducing these numbers down to a requirement of 5 micro inches on your board surface, I think you may be pleasantly surprised at the cost relative to what you will achieve for assembly colplanarity requirements. Hope this has helped Norm Einarson PRINTED CIRCUIT TECHNOLOGY