Abstract: The present invention provides a method of manufacturing an inductor element 46 using an electroless Au plating solution. The invention has three embodiments for forming the inductor. In the first embodiment, a first insulating layer 30 is formed over a semiconductor structure 10 20. An adhesion layer 34 composed of polysilicon is formed over the first insulating layer 30. A first barrier layer 36 comprised of Ni is selectively formed using an Ni electroless plating process over the adhesion layer 34. In an important step, a gold layer 40 is electroless plated over the first barrier layer 36 using an Au electroless plating process. A second barrier layer 44 is formed over the gold layer 40 using an electroless Ni deposition technique. A planarization layer is formed over the second barrier layer. A novel core metal layer composed of a Fe--Co alloy is electroless plated over the planarization layer.