Donna, Plate the gold over the nickel. The nickel deposit serves two purposes. First, it acts as a barrier, preventing diffusion of the copper into the gold. A second but not often recognized advantage of gold over nickel is the "brinelling effect" whereby a thin layer takes on the physical characteristics of the substrate, In your application, the harder nickel makes the softer gold more durable. Regards, Dan Brandler. Donna Perry wrote: > If we want a board to be gold plated .00003 to > .00005 thick, can it be done over electro-plated > copper or must nickel be applied first? > > DPerry