Nick, You need to determine the source of the discoloration and eliminate it. Is it present right after immersion gold? Could be poor rinsing or drying or both. Do boards get soldermask before or after immersion gold? If after, it could be mask or developer residue. Are boards handled with bare hands or gloves after gold? Should always handle immersion gold product with clean gloves, rack only, do not lay flat and slipsheet. A dip in a soap cleaner such as Morton's LAC-91 does wonders for cleaning up fingerprints and water stains from soft gold. However, you must get a thorough rinse and sufficient drying or you just get more water stains after. Hope this helps...Andy ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: [TN] Pad Discoloration??? Author: Nick Liang <[log in to unmask]> at smtplink-hadco Date: 06/04/99 11:17 AM All: One question about the Pad Discoloration Spec. (Immersion Gold pcs...)!! I don't think the IPC has the Spec., right? Is it required to use acid rising after the E/Test and FQC inspection??? You know, right now we just use the water rinse and 120mins baking right after the Routing Process and then E/Test, FQC, OQC and Packing. A lot of Pad Discoloration Quality Issue Feedback recent time!!!! THKS. ################################################################ 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 ################################################################ ################################################################ 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 ################################################################