What is a gold-plated circuit board? The gold-plated circuit board is also called the electro-gold circuit board. It uses electroplating to plate a layer of gold on the surface of the pad of the PCB circuit board. The gold-plated board uses hard gold. The principle is to dissolve nickel and gold in chemical liquid, immerse the circuit board in the electroplating tank and turn on the current to form a nickel-gold plating layer on the copper foil surface of the circuit board. Gold plating uses real gold, and even a very thin layer accounts for nearly 10% of the cost of the board. Gold-plated circuit boards are relatively easy to distinguish, and the shiny surface makes people recognizable at aglance.

Why is the circuit board plated with gold? Gold-plated circuit boards have two functions, which are wear-resistant and corrosion-resistant. From these two functions, you can know when the circuit board is gold-plated. That is, the plug and gold finger parts need to be gold-plated; the place that is in contact with the conductive rubber needs to be gold-plated; the circuit board that works in a highly corrosive environment needs to use a gold-plated circuit board. The circuit board is gold-plated to prevent oxidation and protect the underlying Ni and copper. Gold is wear-resistant and reliable. For the gold finger circuit board, it mainly takes advantage of the good conductivity of gold.

The benefits of gold-plated circuit boards are strong conductivity, good oxidation resistance, and long life. The coating is dense and wear-resistant, and is generally used in bonding, welding and plugging. The gold plating process is widely used in component pads, gold fingers, connector shrapnel and other positions of circuit boards. Most of the motherboards of the most widely used mobile phone circuit boards are gold-plated boards. Of course, gold-plated circuit boards also have disadvantages, that is, higher cost and poor welding strength. Electronic nickel gold is widely used in electronic products because of its high hardness, wear resistance and non-oxidative advantages.