Bravo,
The quality of electroplated gold depends very much on the quality of
the  technique applied. I believe that to be true for any process including
evaporated or sputtered gold. A reasonably well prepared
electroplated gold can be of superior quality including mirror finish
(e.g. mirror finish gold plated jewelry), high purity, 99.9% and higher,
and nearly 100% density. Thickness uniformity and stress can also be
controlled by adopting an adequate chemistry and technique.

If the e-beam technique is conveniently at hand and the physical properties
of  a thin deposit are not restrictive, you should utilize the available
process. However, if you need high grade non-porous gold with nearly bulk
characteristics in density, conductivity and stress range, you should
apply electroplated gold.

For an efficient and dependable MEMS
application gold electroplating can not be performed with just a beaker and
power supply. Specialized MEMS electroplating equipment offered
on the market is quite costly. In order to meet the needs and affordability
of limited budget R&D and academic institutions we have designed an
efficient bench-top electroplater for MEMS, currently in use at several
universities and research institutions. Should you need additional
information feel free to contact me directly at 201/670-8397 or by e-mail.

Igor Kadija
ECSI
www.fibrotools.com


----- Original Message -----
From: "Bravo Han" 
To: 
Sent: Thursday, September 02, 2004 9:14 PM
Subject: [mems-talk] Electroplating Gold vs. E-Beam Evaporation Gold


> Hi folks,
>
> To obtain a layer of Au that is not too thick, for example, just
> around 2 microns, are there any significant differences in the final
> metal film deposited by electroplating vs. the one by e-beam
> evaporation?
>
> Thanks for your attentions and inputs.
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