- Introduction
Nickel plating plays a crucial role as a substrate coating for precious and base metals on Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs). It is also widely used as a surface layer for single-sided printed boards and offers enhanced wear resistance for heavily worn surfaces such as switch contacts and plug gold. Additionally, nickel effectively acts as a barrier to prevent diffusion between copper and other metals. It is commonly utilized as an etching-resistant metal coating and can meet the requirements of hot-press welding and brazing, especially in combination with gold. The plating thickness typically ranges from 2.5 to 5 microns, and low-stress nickel deposits are crucial for PCBs, usually achieved through modified Watts nickel baths and nickel sulfamate baths with stress-reducing additives. - Nickel Sulfamate (Ammonia Nickel)
Nickel sulfamate is extensively used as a substrate coating for metallized hole plating and printed plug contacts. The resulting deposited layer has low internal stress, high hardness, and excellent ductility, especially when a stress reliever is added to the bath. Despite its benefits, the stability of nickel sulfamate is relatively poor, and the cost is higher compared to other options due to the specific formulations required. - Modified Watt Nickel (Sulfur Nickel)
The modified Watts Nickel formulation typically involves the use of nickel sulfate along with the addition of nickel bromide or nickel chloride to address internal stress. Nickel bromide is predominantly used to produce a semi-bright, slightly internally stressed, and ductile coating at a relatively lower cost. This coating is also easy to activate for subsequent electroplating processes.
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Operating from China, WellCircuits stands as a top-tier manufacturer of premium PCBs & PCBAs.
Our expertise lies in crafting multilayer flexible circuits, rigid-flex PCBs, HDI PCBs, and Rogers PCBs.
We excel in rapid-turnaround PCB prototyping and thrive on handling challenging projects as our forte.