Scanning Electron Microscope Studies of Porosity in Gold Electrodeposits

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Abstract
Scanning electron microscope (SEM) studies of gold electrodeposits on copper revealed two types of pore. Small pores of irregular shape were very numerous in coatings 0·1–0·2 μm thick but disappeared as the thickness increased. Others, roughly triangular in shape, were fewer but larger and were found, covered but not filled by the gold, even in coatings 2 μm thick. The larger pores were frequently associated with foreign particles shown, by use of a SEM with spectrometer attachment, to contain silicon as a principal constituent and believed, therefore, to be particles of residual buffing compound on the substrate. Others were associated with pits or similar defects in the substrate. The effectiveness of gold deposits, plated at normal and low current densities, in covering such defects has been studied.

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