Omega Micro Technologies, Inc is a semiconductor and engineering firm that has developed a proprietary electroless nickel gold plating process for fabrication of high-reliability, low-temperature co-fired ceramic substrates used in electronic devices and modules. The process utilizes a multilayer ceramic substrate constructed with silver conductors, which are then electrolessly plated with nickel, followed by a thin layer of gold. This is opposed to traditional high-reliability, low-temperature co-fired ceramic substrates for electronic modules, which utilize gold exclusively for all conductors within the substrate. The nickel gold plating process is able to provide a high-reliability substrate that allows for a cost savings of anywhere from 40 70% over a comparable substrate fabricated with all gold conductors. The cost of the nickel gold plated substrate is comparable with traditional commercial substrates fabricated with all silver conductors but is still able to produce reliability that approaches that of substrates fabricated with all gold conductors, allowing the process to be used widely throughout the military marketplace with considerable cost savings to the U.S. military and armed forces. The cost savings potential of the new process will allow low-temperature co-fired ceramic substrates and modules, with their superior performance and enhanced capabilities, to be directly cost competitive with lower performance, cheaper substrate technologies such as high temperature co-fired ceramic and potentially laminate and polymer material sets. Researchers for Omega Micro Technologies have been working with officials from various U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), as well as under a contract with the Indiana Radio Frequency Alliance and Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center in southern Indiana in order to evaluate and characterize the performance and reliability of Omega Micro Technologies' plating process under standard military environmental operating conditions.
