Patent attributes
A coated electrically conductive substrate has particular utility where there are multiple closely spaced leads and tin whiskers constitute a potential short circuit. This electrically conductive substrate has a plurality of leads separated by a distance capable of bridging by a tin whisker, a silver or silver-base alloy layer coating at least one surface of at least one of the plurality of leads, and a fine grain tin or tin-base alloy layer directly coating said silver layer. An alternative coated electrically conductive substrate has utility where debris from fretting wear may increase electrical resistivity. This electrically conductive substrate has a barrier layer deposited on the substrate that is effective to inhibit diffusion of the substrate into a subsequently deposited layers, which include a sacrificial layer deposited on the barrier layer that is effective to form intermetallic compounds with tin, and a low resistivity oxide metal layer deposited on the sacrificial layer.
