Golden opportunity for electronics

Scientist at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne have created a new gold nitride material which could save the electronics industry millions each year.

Gold is used extensively in the electronics industry, as a conductor of electricity in products such as computers, mobile phones and smart cards. This is because it is relatively stable when exposed to the atmosphere.

However, gold is also one of the most expensive metals on the market and is therefore combined with other cheaper substances such as nickel, iron and cobalt salt before it is used in order to save costs and improve hardness.

The university's Dr Lidija Siller, has created a gold nitride, and she believes it could be harder and more durable than current gold alloys - which could mean a much thinner gold plating layer could be applied to products, thus reducing manufacturing costs.

Dr Siller, used a technique called ion implantation to create the material.

She placed the gold in an experimental chamber under ultra high vacuum, cleaned it with argon and then heated up the gold crystal. This was then irradiated with nitrogen ions using a spattering gun. As it is invisible to the naked eye she then checked whether gold nitride had been formed by looking at it using x-ray techniques.

Further tests need to be carried out, however, to fully assess its potential.