Gents,

obviously I`m not an expert on this topic and I honestly need help. Talking
with
with a couple of PCB houses I got a bunch of answers - and still don`t know
what is best with respect to reliability. Differences as `electrolytic
plating needs conductive patterns` seem to be obvious, surface
coplanarity/roughness diffe-
rences are apparently slight. Is that true?

Furthermore I have been told when using electroless plating processes the
con-ductor patterns are etched prior to plating surface finishes (e.g.
electroless nickel,
electroless immersion gold), resulting in totally covered conductors (incl.
side
walls). When using electrolytic plating this will be done by panel plating
which
means you`ll finally end with conductors/lands with uncovered side walls.

Any comments/assistance on those statements?

Regards,

Christian