The impact of pulsed reverse current on cobalt hard gold electrodeposition from a cyanide bath is presented. The reversed current results in a significant change in the morphology of electrodeposits, improvement of the overall current efficiency, and reduction of deposit porosity. With longer pulses, hemispherical surface features are generated, while larger grains result from shorter pulse widths. The porosity of the plated samples is found to decrease compared with results at the same time-average plating rate obtained from dc or on-off pulse plating. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.