Common high-frequency PCB surface treatment methods
Release time:
2022-06-13
When prototyping high-frequency PCBs, different surface treatment methods are used depending on the number of layers. For simple single-sided and double-sided boards, the surface treatment methods are mostly spray tin or OSP.
When sampling high-frequency PCBs, different surface treatment methods are used depending on the number of layers. For simple single-sided and double-sided boards, the surface treatment methods are mostly spray tin or OSP. For high-frequency boards with more than four layers, gold immersion surface treatment is more commonly used. Each PCB surface treatment method has its own characteristics, and today I will introduce several common surface treatment methods for high-frequency PCB sampling.
1. Spray Tin
Spray tin, also known as Hot Air Solder Leveling (HASL), was the most commonly used surface treatment method for high-frequency PCB sampling in the early days. With the development of PCBs, the spray tin process has matured and is cost-effective. There are now lead-free and leaded spray tin options. Spray tin is suitable for visual inspection and electrical testing, and is considered one of the high-quality surface treatment methods in high-frequency PCB sampling.
2. Nickel Gold
Nickel gold is also a widely used PCB surface treatment method in high-frequency PCB sampling. The nickel layer in nickel gold is a nickel-phosphorus alloy layer, which will not be explained in detail here. Nickel gold is suitable for lead-free soldering, SMT, switch contact design, aluminum wire bonding, thick boards, etc. It has a very smooth surface and strong resistance to environmental attacks.
3. Nickel Palladium Gold
Nickel palladium gold was previously used more in semiconductors, but with development, it is now gradually being applied in high-frequency PCB sampling. It is cheaper than ENIG and electroless nickel gold, suitable for various surface treatment processes and exists on the board.
4. Electroless Nickel
Gold electroless nickel has the distinction between hard gold and soft gold. Hard gold, such as gold-cobalt alloy, and soft gold belongs to pure gold. Electroless nickel gold is commonly used on IC substrates (such as PBGA), mainly for gold wire and copper wire bonding. However, when plating on C substrates, it is necessary to create additional conductive lines at the gold finger bonding locations for plating. In high-frequency PCB sampling, electroless nickel gold is suitable for contact switch design and gold wire bonding, and is suitable for electrical testing.
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