As you know, gold dissolves extremely rapidly in molten solder compared with other metals. Some of you might have experienced the effect of solder splash or balls landing on gold plated surfaces which contaminate the gold surface finish. Typically, tape or sheath is used to protect the gold plated surface (gold fingers) from solder contamination. Recently, we found some gold plated assemblies that exhibited no contamination on the gold surface even when solder balls or splash landed on the surface. The strange thing is that no solderability problem has been reported on any gold plated SMT pads. Can someone comment on this phenomenon!! Thanks Blue Smurf Here is some additional info. Electroplated Ni thickness: ~ 100 micro inch Electroplated Gold thickness ~40 micro inch