One of my pcb vendors (oversea) wants to fabricate boards
using  electrolytically deposited gold (1um of Au over 5um of Ni)
over entire board surface.  That includes hole walls, soldering
pads, conductive traces and ground planes.  SMOBC is out the
window and silkscreen/LPISM are last steps in board fabration
process.

This is first time that I was informed that a board vendor
fabricates boards by depositing gold/nickel over entire board
surface.   My questions are:

What negative effects will it have for smt and th board assembly
manufacturing?
Are smt/th process parameters  req to be readjusted such as
reflow profile?
Will it increase diffusion of gold in solderpot?
Will it increase solder joint brittleness?
Are there long-term reliability issues?
Is there any other negative issue that need to be addressed?

There's no qualm about price.  It is better than SMOBC boards
with electroless Au/Ni immersion on soldering pads.

regards
Matthew Park
NII Norsat International Inc.

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