Immersion silver plating (or IAg plating) is a surface plating process that creates a thin layer of silver over copper objects. It consists in dipping the object briefly into a solution containing silver ions.
Immersion silver plating is used by the electronics industry in manufacture of printed circuit boards (PCBs), to protect copper conductors from oxidation and improve solderability.[citation needed]
Advantages
Immersion silver coatings have excellent surface planarity, compared to more traditional coating processes such as hot air solder leveling (HASL). They also have low losses in high-frequency applications due to the skin effect.
Disadvantages
On the other hand, silver coatings will degrade over time due to oxidation or air contaminants such as sulfur compounds and chlorine. A problem peculiar to silver coatings is the formation of silver whiskers under electric fields, which may short out components.[1]
Specifications
IPC Standard: IPC-4553
See also
- Wave soldering
- Reflow soldering
- Electroless nickel immersion gold
- Hot air solder leveling (HASL)
- Organic solderability preservative
References
- ^ Slocum, Dan Jr. (2003-09-25). "Surface Finishes Utilized in the PCB Industry". Archived 2013-11-05 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2018-11-15.