In a terminal material with a silver coating film including a silver layer on a surface, a terminal and a terminal material having high reliability are easily manufactured with low cost without a heat treatment. A base material formed of copper or a copper alloy; and nickel layer, an intermediate layer, and a silver layer laminated on the base material in this order are included, the nickel layer has a thickness of 0.05 μm to 5.00 μm and is formed of nickel or a nickel alloy, the intermediate layer has a thickness of 0.02 μm to 1.00 μm and is an alloy layer containing silver (Ag) and a substance X, and the substance X includes one or more kinds of tin, bismuth, gallium, indium, and germanium.

In a terminal material with a silver coating film including a silver layer on a surface, a terminal and a terminal material having high reliability are easily manufactured with low cost without a heat treatment. A base material formed of copper or a copper alloy; and nickel layer, an intermediate layer, and a silver layer laminated on the base material in this order are included, the nickel layer has a thickness of 0.05 μm to 5.00 μm and is formed of nickel or a nickel alloy, the intermediate layer has a thickness of 0.02 μm to 1.00 μm and is an alloy layer containing silver (Ag) and a substance X, and the substance X includes one or more kinds of tin, bismuth, gallium, indium, and germanium.

Disclosed herein are a surface-treated copper foil for a negative electrode current collector for secondary batteries, a method for producing the same, and a negative electrode for secondary batteries including the same. The surface-treated copper foil includes needle-shaped copper particles formed on at least one surface thereof, wherein the copper particles have an average major-axis length of about 0.6 μm to about 2.0 μm and are separated from one another by a distance of about 1 μm to about 5 μm.

Disclosed herein are a surface-treated copper foil for a negative electrode current collector for secondary batteries, a method for producing the same, and a negative electrode for secondary batteries including the same. The surface-treated copper foil includes needle-shaped copper particles formed on at least one surface thereof, wherein the copper particles have an average major-axis length of about 0.6 μm to about 2.0 μm and are separated from one another by a distance of about 1 μm to about 5 μm.

External electrical connectors and methods of forming such external electrical connectors are discussed. A method includes forming an external electrical connector structure on a substrate. The forming the external electrical connector structure includes plating a pillar on the substrate at a first agitation level affected at the substrate in a first solution. The method further includes plating solder on the external electrical connector structure at a second agitation level affected at the substrate in a second solution. The second agitation level affected at the substrate is greater than the first agitation level affected at the substrate. The plating the solder further forms a shell on a sidewall of the external electrical connector structure.

External electrical connectors and methods of forming such external electrical connectors are discussed. A method includes forming an external electrical connector structure on a substrate. The forming the external electrical connector structure includes plating a pillar on the substrate at a first agitation level affected at the substrate in a first solution. The method further includes plating solder on the external electrical connector structure at a second agitation level affected at the substrate in a second solution. The second agitation level affected at the substrate is greater than the first agitation level affected at the substrate. The plating the solder further forms a shell on a sidewall of the external electrical connector structure.

A pin terminal includes a bar-like base material and a plating layer covering a predetermined region of the base material. A constituent material of the base material is pure copper or a copper alloy. The plating layer includes a tin-based layer made of metal containing tin. One end side of the base material includes a tip covering portion covering an entire region in a circumferential direction of the base material. The tin-based layer includes the tip covering portion. The tip covering portion includes a thin film portion and a thick film portion at positions different in the circumferential direction of the base material. The thin film portion is provided in contact with the base material. The number of whiskers present on a surface of the thin film portion is 15 or less in a square visual field having one side length of 0.35 mm.

A chip component comprises: an insulating substrate on which a resistor serving as a functional element is formed; a pair of internal electrodes (front electrodes, end surface electrodes, and back electrodes) that is formed to cover both end portions of the insulating substrate and connected to the resistor; a barrier layer that is formed on a surface of each of the internal electrodes and mainly composed of nickel; and an external connection layer that is formed on a surface of the barrier layer and mainly composed of tin, and the barrier layer is composed of alloy plating (Ni—P) including nickel and phosphorus, which is formed by electrolytic plating, and a content ratio of phosphorus relative to nickel is set in a range of 0.5% to 5% so that the barrier layer has magnetism.

A surface-treated copper foil includes a treating surface, and a peak extreme height (Sxp) of the treating surface being in a range of 0.4-2.5 μm, where the hysteresis loop of the surface-treated copper foil includes a first magnetization and a second magnetization when the magnetic field strength of the hysteresis loop is zero, and the absolute difference between the value of the first magnetization and the value of the second magnetization is in a range of 20-1200 emu/m.sup.3.

A surface-treated copper foil includes a treating surface, and a peak extreme height (Sxp) of the treating surface being in a range of 0.4-2.5 μm, where the hysteresis loop of the surface-treated copper foil includes a first magnetization and a second magnetization when the magnetic field strength of the hysteresis loop is zero, and the absolute difference between the value of the first magnetization and the value of the second magnetization is in a range of 20-1200 emu/m.sup.3.