Gold Wire

This shiny, yellow-coloured soft metal, gold, is one of the least reactive solid elements known. Chemically unaffected by air, moisture and most corrosive reagents, and retains its golden colour almost indefinitely in almost any environmental conditions. For these properties it has long been the precious metal of choice for coinage and jewellery. This metal is also very good at conducting electricity: gold wires, like this sample here, are primarily used for making interconnections between integrated circuits and a printed circuit board in the making of semiconductor devices. Though aluminium and copper are also used, gold is normally preferred because it does not oxidise during the welding process and therefore doesn’t require an inert atmosphere during the wire-bonding process. Gold is often alloyed with copper, silver, nickel or zinc to improve its hardness in making jewellery.