With regards to the reference of less than 100 microinches of gold, not posing any embrittlement problems, the accepted maximum thickness for soldering onto gold is 10 microinches, of gold. Thicker gold plate will produce gold embrittlement issues. Why would you want more than 10 microinches of gold, if you are going to solder bond, 6-10 microinches affords good enough nickel antitarnish protection. Regards, Lenny Kurup EMX Enterprises Ltd. Markham, Ontario, Canada ################################################################ TechNet E-Mail Forum provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c ################################################################ To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TechNet <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TechNet ################################################################ Please visit IPC's web site (http://www.ipc.org) "On-Line Services" section for additional information. For technical support contact Hugo Scaramuzza at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.312 ################################################################