On the ion etching of contact materials plated with noble metals

Contact materials containing noble metals are applied together with intermediate layers to base metal carrier materials by roll cladding, electroplating, high vacuum vapour deposition, and cathodic sputtering. Optimum structure development of all layers can often only be achieved with the help of ion etching because of the different chemical behaviour. The successful application of this process is demonstrated by five examples. Two further examples demonstrate that a combination of chemical and ion etching produces, in many cases, still better results. (orig.)