Why gold contacts for pins?

 

Gold is a premium metal. Most of us know that Gold is used in ICs at the contact level. We even see number of Electronics recycling companies outside which extract gold out of old components. Keeping this stuff aside, let us look at some of the reasons why Gold is used for contacts.

• Gold is less susceptible to corrosion. Electronics need to be used in harsh environments and this where Gold contacts are helpful.
• Gold provides better conductivity. The conductivity of silver and copper are only better than Gold
• When we say better conductivity, the contact resistance is lesser
• Higher mating and removal cycles can be achieved with Gold and hence better endurance

Considering above advantages, connectors with gold mating perform better. It is recommended to use RAM chips with Gold contacts. Relays, connection strips, switches also use gold contacts.