Advanced Materials for Electronics

Special Gold

PURE GOLD SG-10
Electroplates Pure Gold (99.99%) Up To 1 Mil Thick.

GOLD-ANTIMONY SG-20
Electroplates Gold Alloy Containing 0.5% Sb.

GOLD-GALLIUM SG-30
Electroplates Gold Alloy Containing 0.5% Ga.

GOLD – INDIUM SG-40
Electroplates Gold Alloy Containing 0.5% In.

GOLD – ZINC SG-50
Electroplates Gold Alloy Containing 0.5% Zn.

SPECIAL GOLD
Electrolytic Plating Solutions
DESCRIPTION:

PURE GOLD SG-10 is a highly efficient electroplating formulation processed from hyper-pure gold compounds and well buffered for trouble free operation. It deposits pure gold (99.99%) with excellent plate characteristics, even on stainless steel. The gold has center cubic structure and Rockwell hardness of 24 (15T scale).

SPECIAL GOLD SG-20 through SG-50 are gold alloy plating solutions with good plating characteristics. The minor alloy constituent, Sb, Ga, In, or Zn contained in the electroplate is on the order of 0.5%.

GENERAL OPERATING CONDITIONS

Temperature 60 °C.
Current Density 10 Amperes/ft2
Anode Composition Gold or Stainless Steel
Anode to Cathode Ratio 2:1
Still or Mechanical Agitation 90 to 100% efficiency
pH 11.0 to 11.8 (electrometric)
Tank Pyrex Glass, Fiberglass, or Stainless Steel
Plating Rate 0.5 mil/hr

The composition of gold alloy deposits may be altered by varying the current density. Gold content is 1 troy ounce per gallon plating solution.

APPLICATIONS:

PURE-GOLD SG-10 is intended for general purpose, heavy gold plating to comply with MIL specifications. A gold plate of 50 millionths protects against all acid etchants (aqua regia excepted) and insures corrosion resistance under all environments.

Electrical contacts plated with PURE-GOLD SG-10 afford very low contact resistance, in the milliohm range, and very low noise levels. Particular importance is placed upon SG-10 in low level signal circuitry to eliminate contact noise problems. In waveguide applications SG-10 can be relied upon to produce quality plating to prevent corrosion and to minimize RF attenuation losses. In addition, the optical properties of SG-10 afford high reflectivity, greater than 90%, in the infrared region. In general, SG-10 provides functional uses for electrical contacts and terminals, electronic tube base pins, switches, printed circuits, and waveguides.

SPECIAL GOLD alloy plating solutions serve as “doped” gold in a simple, convenient method in preparing low resistance electrical contacts for semiconductors. The gold alloy plate is heat-fused at approximately 500 °C to form p+ and n + ohmic contacts.

Semiconductor Material P-Type N-Type
Silicon, Germanium Gold-Gallium (SG-30) Gold-Antimony (SG-20)
Gold-Indium (SG-40)
Gallium arsenide,phosphide Gold-Zinc (SG-50)