US Patent 8102063 - Pad structure with nanostructured coating film

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8102063.html

This patent from Advance Materials Corporation uses nanostructured films to improve the corrosion and scratch resistance of electrical contact pads. Claim 1 reads:

1. A pad structure, comprising:

a copper trace pattern on a substrate;

a nickel layer stacked on the copper trace pattern;

a gold layer stacked on the nickel layer; and

a nano-structured coating film stacked on the gold layer, wherein the nano-structured coating film infiltrates surface grain boundary of the gold layer.