Diffusion of copper into gold plating

The value of the room-temperature copper-gold interdiffusion coefficient derived by extrapolating from high-temperature measurements is an underestimate by several orders of magnitude. Plating copper with a gold film has several disadvantages. Two specimens were analyzed by using Auger electron spectroscopy. Once the full thickness of the gold film is penetrated, copper accumulates on the surface, and a layer of high concentration of copper exists immediately below the gold-air interface. Electrical resistivity of an alloy is much higher than the resistivity of either component. This high-resistivity layer may be localized within the skin depth of propagating electromagnetic waves; in cases where copper has reached the surface, it is permanently within the skin depth at any frequency. A nickel diffusion barrier, commonly applied between copper and gold, is unsuitable in many microwave and millimeter-wave applications because of ferromagnetism of nickel at room temperature. The compound that forms on the surface of untreated copper at room temperature in a reasonably clean atmosphere is cuprous oxide. Its properties make it a better alternative to gold in microwave and millimeter-wave engineering.<
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