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All that glitters... and why!
- by Matt Stevenson

Gold has been a long-sought-after metal.  Economies were built upon it; fortunes were made and lost in its pursuit.  Why is gold so important historically and worth dying for?  Is it because it makes a beautiful piece of jewelry, its luster makes a good crown?  The answer is yes but . . .

Gold became such an important element in many ancient civilizations due to its physical properties, its rarity, and its aesthetic qualities.  Over the years it has been used to show status and wealth, portray invincibility, coinage, jewelry, sculptures, and more.  

Gold is awarded in medal form to the top finisher in many high profile athletic competitions such as the Olympics and Paralympics that were scheduled for July of this year.  With the ongoing concerns for health and safety due to the Covid-19 virus, they were postponed.  One distinction for the medals to be awarded during the next Olympic games is that they were all created from recycled metal recovered from electronics. According to ABC News, approximately 79,000 tons of electronics were donated (~7 million cell phones, digital cameras, laptops, and other electronics) in order to recover the required 66 pounds of gold, 9,000 pounds of silver, and 5,900 pounds of bronze required.  

Technically speaking, gold is a remarkable substance. In addition to being a versatile and attractive metal, it also has a lot of applications in electronics, such as connectors, switches, and relay contacts, soldered joints, wires, and connection strips.  In a typical computer, gold has many applications in the RAM, motherboard, microprocessors, and logic cards.  These come about from some of the physical characteristics of gold, it is a great conductor of heat and electricity (able to carry very small currents).  Gold is also highly inert and will not react with many other elements, highly resistant to oxidation and corrosion. 

Gold is a very good option for a surface finish for PCBs.  In the form of ENIG, ENIPIG, soft gold, or hard gold there is generally an option to fit whatever needs that you might have, insertion connectors, contact switches, wire bonding, or just a planar surface for soldering surface mount components.