Medical Device Gold Plating

Gold earns its place in medical devices through biocompatibility, radiopacity and corrosion immunity in body fluids and sterilization cycles. Our lab plates surgical instruments, device contacts and implant-adjacent components for medical manufacturers across the San Diego medtech corridor.

Challenges Gold Plating Solves in Medical Devices

Sterilization cycles that destroy lesser finishes

Autoclave steam, EtO and chemical sterilants attack marginal plating fast. Dense, well-adhered gold deposits over an engineered underplate withstand repeated sterilization without blistering or discoloration.

Biocompatibility risk from base-metal exposure

Nickel sensitivity and metal-ion release are documented clinical concerns. A continuous gold surface isolates tissue and fluid paths from reactive substrate metals — but only if porosity is controlled, which is a process discipline, not an accident.

Design iterations that need plating this month

Device development runs on design-freeze deadlines. We plate prototype lots in days from a photo-based quote, so plating stops being the long pole in your verification build.

What We Plate

Surgical instrument components and accents
Device connector contacts and terminals
Electrode and sensor elements
Marker bands and radiopaque features
Battery and charging contacts for wearables
Dental instrument components
Fixtures and trays for device assembly

Standards & Compliance

We plate to the deposit specifications medical drawings typically cite — ASTM B488 classes and MIL-G-45204-derived thickness language — and we are familiar with the documentation expectations of suppliers operating under ISO 13485 quality systems and FDA design controls. We state plainly what we are: a spec-driven plating lab that documents thickness and process for your device history file, not a certified sterile-goods manufacturer; validation of the finished device remains with your quality team.

Key Benefits

Proven biocompatibility

Gold has decades of clinical history in dental, implant and electrode applications.

Corrosion immunity in vivo

Saline, blood and tissue environments do not oxidize gold surfaces.

Reliable micro-scale conductivity

Device-scale contacts and electrodes keep stable impedance where signal integrity is clinical performance.

Prototype-to-production continuity

The process that plated your verification units scales to your production lots at the same lab.

An Example Scenario

An example scenario: a Sorrento Valley device startup needs the stainless contact ring on a wearable diagnostic plated for both skin-contact biocompatibility and charging reliability. They send photos and the spec, we quote nickel-barrier plus soft gold at their called thickness, and verification units ship the same month — with the same process ready for their pilot production run.

Why Our Lab for Your Medical Devices Work

San Diego is a top-tier medtech cluster, and its device engineers should not be air-freighting prototypes to platers three time zones away. We offer local drop-off in Vista, engineering conversations rather than ticket queues, documented thickness on every lot, and capacity that scales from five verification units to recurring production. Call (760) 458-3299 with your drawing.