Preparation and characterization of electroplated amorphous gold-nickel alloy film for electrical contact applications

A process for electroplating amorphous gold-nickel alloy with the atomic ratio of unity was developed. The plating bath was prepared by adding potassium cyanoaurate(I) into a known plating bath which produces amorphous nickel-tungsten alloy. At a sufficiently high gold concentration, the alloy deposit did not contain any tungsten. The amorphous nature of the Au-Ni alloy produced in the new bath was confirmed by using TEM and THEED. Hardness, resistivity, and contact resistance of this new alloy were determined, and the results are discussed for applications as an electrical contact material.