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Subject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Immersion Silver for Resist?

From: Adam Seychell <a_seychell@...>
Date: 2009-01-26

Definitely not. You only hope is gold plating or use an alkaline ammonia
type etchant like the many PCB professionals use.
http://www.chemcut.net/downloads/alkaline-etch-process.pdf
I'd be suspect about the quality of immersion tin coatings, since pin
holes act like seeds for etchant attack. Electro plated tin is normally
used, but that bath has problems of its own for a hobbyist's situation.

I'm not being silly, but how about hot dipping the PCB in pot of molten
solder. The toner should handle the temperature. The etchant can then be
common ammonium persulfate since that won't destroy the tin/lead alloys,
unlike pure tin.

The old pattern plate method was to tin/lead electroplate and etch in
ammonium persulfate or alkaline ammonia etchant. The board would then go
in hot oil to re-flow the solder and the remove oxides left over from
etching step.

thespeakerguy wrote:
> Hi Everyone -
>
> Can immersion silver be used as an etch resistant? I currently use
> Ferric Chloride.
>
> The reason I ask is that I flood my boards with copper, and the toner
> is a bit starved trying to print large blocks of solid black. If I used
> negative printing and a etch-resistant plating, this problem would go
> away (I hope)!
>
> Thanks
> John
> Staples Basic Glossy Photo Paper
> Ferric Chloride
> Mostly audio circuits
>
>