Testing for hard gold

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Does anyone know how to test for hard gold on a PCB? We are... - Jul 31, 2013 by anvil1021

You might consider to contact a lab to Run a microindenter a... - Jul 31, 2013 by

anvil1021

#70141

Testing for hard gold | 31 July, 2013

Does anyone know how to test for hard gold on a PCB? We are in a challenging situation with a PCB provider and we need some objective evidence other than wire bond failure to present to them.

Any comments could help ....Thank you Anvil

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Jeff Kennedy

#70146

Testing for hard gold | 31 July, 2013

You might consider to contact a lab to Run a microindenter against a know good soft gold sample. The knoop value for the soft gold will be much lower than for hard gold. This would be reflected in the diameter measurement of the indented samples.Smaller diamter= harder gold....

You could also look to see a surface line scan with SEM-EDX the metals found. Hard Gold would show some Nickel content....

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