Immersion gold is the result of a displacement reaction where the nickel substrate acts as the reducing agent. As soon as the nickel is coated by the gold deposit the reaction stops and accordingly is self limiting. I do not beive that you can sucessfully exceed a thickness of 5 microinches. An electroless process involves an external chemical reducing agent that can sustain the deposition to any desired thickness. Electroless nickel immersion gold has excellent solderability characteristics and the thin gold does not have any adverse effects on the solder joint. George Milad Atotech USA Inc *************************************************************************** * 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. * ***************************************************************************