Lead-out Plating of Reed Switches

During the Reed Switch glass sealing process, Oxides are formed on the leads outside the glass seal area, which need to be removed. This is done using an electro-cleaning and etching process which dissolves the Oxides and also polishes the surface of the leads as a preparation for the Tin plating.

The reed switch leads are then taken for Lead-out plating with pure Tin. This whole process is RoHS compliant. The the reed switches undergo lead-out Tin plating in fixtures which are lowered into the baths. After Tin plating, the reed switch leads are inspected for patches or non-uniform coloring, solder-ability, weld-ability and uniformity of Tin plating thickness. For special purpose Reed Switches, the leads are plated with Gold.

The Tin plating of reed switch leads provides excellent solder-ability and also prevents the corrosion of the underlying Nickel-Iron alloy wire. If welding of reed switch leads is required, during non-standard lead formations, Tin plating is done after this to ensure that the minor oxidation formed during welding is also cleaned and polished first.