The development of a lead-free solder replacement for commonly used eutectic tin-lead solder is an important issue recognized worldwide. As of yet, no “drop-in” replacement has been found. This research aims to characterize a lead-free solder joint which uses eutectic tin-gold solder on a gold plated microcircuit package. Solder characterization was performed by standard optical microscopy procedures as well as scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Care was taken to investigate possible Sn-Au intermetallic formation which could have detrimental results on the reliability of the solder joint. Eutectic tin-gold is proposed as a solution to the lead-free problem for gold plated substrates.