Lou, I can only think of problems associated with a black oxide coating on outer layers of a PWB. I have heard of a bronze oxide outer layer coating which would be a very thin oxide coating & there are major process control issues with this coating. It is obvious to me that your supplyer has adhesion problems with their soldermask and are looking at an A#1 kludge fix for this problem. I would say NO!. Dave Sullivan *************************************************************************** * TechNet mail list is provided as a service by IPC using SmartList v3.05 * *************************************************************************** * To unsubscribe from this list at any time, send a message to: * * [log in to unmask] with <subject: unsubscribe> and no text. * ***************************************************************************