Coated wire

Abstract

A wire comprising a wire core with a surface, the wire core having a coating layer superimposed on its surface, wherein the wire core itself consists of: (a) pure silver consisting of (a1) silver in an amount in the range of from 99.99 to 100 wt.-% and (a2) further components in a total amount of from 0 to 100 wt.-ppm or (b) doped silver consisting of (b1) silver in an amount in the range of from >99.49 to 99.997 wt.-%, (b2) at least one doping element selected from the group consisting of calcium, nickel, platinum, palladium, gold, copper, rhodium and ruthenium in a total amount of from 30 to <5000 wt.-ppm and (b3) further components in a total amount of from 0 to 100 wt.-ppm, or (c) a silver alloy consisting of (c1) silver in an amount in the range of from 89.99 to 99.5 wt.-%, (c2) at least one alloying element selected from the group consisting of nickel, platinum, palladium, gold, copper, rhodium and ruthenium in a total amount in the range of from 0.5 to 10 wt.-% and (c3) further components in a total amount of from 0 to 100 wt.-ppm, or (d) a doped silver alloy consisting of (d1) silver in an amount in the range of from >89.49 to 99.497 wt.-%, (d2) at least one doping element selected from the group consisting of calcium, nickel, platinum, palladium, gold, copper, rhodium and ruthenium in a total amount of from 30 to <5000 wt.-ppm, (d3) at least one alloying element selected from the group consisting of nickel, platinum, palladium, gold, copper, rhodium and ruthenium in a total amount in the range of from 0.5 to 10 wt.-% and (d4) further components in a total amount of from 0 to 100 wt.-ppm, wherein the at least one doping element (d2) is other than the at least one alloying element (d3), wherein the individual amount of any further component is less than 30 wt.-ppm, wherein the individual amount of any doping element is at least 30 wt.-ppm, wherein all amounts in wt.-% and wt.-ppm are based on the total weight of the core, and wherein the coating layer is a double-layer comprised of a 1 to 1000 nm inner layer of gold and an adjacent 0.5 to 100 nm thick outer layer of palladium or a double-layer comprised of a 0.5 to 100 nm thick inner layer of palladium and an adjacent >200 to 1000 nm thick outer layer of gold.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.