Gold plating replacement for electronics receives a patent

The electronics industry uses gold for critical contact surfaces, e.g. for connectors, to a value well exceeding one billion euros annually. Gold is traditionally chosen for its good corrosion properties and low contact resistance.

But gold is an expensive noble metal and the price is unpredictable, strongly affecting manufacturing profit margins and, in the end, component prices. Plating of gold also involves environmental and health risks, due to highly toxic cyanide used in the plating process. In addition to the risks, costs to conform to environmental and health legislation are increasing.

Silver MaxPhase is a low-cost metal alloy with an inherent anti-tarnish behavior to prevent corrosion of the surface. This leads to contact properties similar to gold, even superior electrical conductivity, and allows replacement of the costly plating for many electrical contacts.

Impact Coatings initially developed the contact finish in cooperation with mobile phone manufacturers, but the material can be used for a wide range of applications. The Silver MaxPhase coating is applied using PVD (physical vapor deposition), a vacuum coating technology that is much more eco-friendly than plating, and that doesn’t pose any threat to people in and around manufacturing plants. PVD is already commonly used in electronics manufacturing, e.g. in the semiconductor industry.

Impact Coatings has developed a complete volume manufacturing solution for coating of Silver MaxPhase for connectors, including cost-efficient reel-to-reel PVD coating equipment.