Robert,

> I am trying to electroless plate nickel onto a 4 to 5 angstrom thick layer
> of gold that was sputtered onto a silicon wafer covered with a layer of
> silicon dioxide.  The nickel begins to adhere to the gold alright, but then
> the gold layer curls up and peals off the silicon dioxide layer.

4-5 angstrom-that's only a few molecules thick?  I can't imagine being
able to see this peel off.

In any case, you need to have an adhesion layer between the Au and SiO2.
I have used Cr and Ti films of various thicknesses and ~25-100 angstroms
seems to work fine.  Don't break vacuum, however, between steps or the
gold will peel off the adhesion layer.  I am not sure if this is because
of contamination or slight oxidation of the Cr film (haven't tried with
Ti). But a 200 C bakeout doesn't seem to help.

YMMV--Have fun.

--Jonathan