2000. [clarification needed The contamination of plating solutions, including dissolution of the solder resist (SR), side reaction products, and impurities (Cu, Ni, drag-in), can be a cause of the black pad phenomenon. Gold (Au) plating peels off of nickel plating. With the right approach, you can plate metals such as gold, nickel and copper onto plastics such as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), Teflon, polycarbonate, polysulfone, phenolic and polyoxymethylene (Polyacetal). The failure caused by poor plating or by misunderstanding your project's application can be a mere inconvenience or it could be catastrophic - a total system failure causing loss of life. Gold plating is a method of depositing a thin layer of gold onto the surface of another metal, most often copper or silver (to make silver-gilt), by chemical or electrochemical plating.This article covers plating methods used in the modern electronics industry; for more traditional methods, often used for much larger objects, see gilding. Common Electroplating Problems… Plating is a very precise science, working with metals on the molecular level, and for the companies that we work with, absolute perfection is a necessity. Plating onto plastics can be advantageous, but it requires specialized plating techniques and careful attention to detail. Q. I have faced Au peeling problem. after first charge showing locally high utilization (gold color) caused by the defect and no observable plating, (d) discharged defect-containing cell after cycling showing local plating in a ring shape around the defect. Simply put, the plating and tinning company you choose has the power to make or break your project. The defect percentage is about 1 out of 25. When things don’t go as expected, we have to take a step back and examine every aspect of the plating process to eliminate any number of variables. This month, he tackles additional annoyances that lead to scrap and reduce the confidence in the ENIG process. The colors of the photographs have been enhanced to emphasize the spatial color variations. These are the least probable causes of defects especially if extremely common plating baths are used like, for example, those for gold and rhodium plating. The Ni layer is very thin, just as a barrier for Cu diffusion. The base substrate is Cu and then Ni and finally Au. Electroplated copper is the most widely used preplating layer for improving the bond strength of the coating. Know your process and requirements for durable, high conductivity, corrosion resistant plating. 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