The impact of lead-free legislation exemptions on the electronics industry

The European Union's Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment legislation requires manufacturers to reduce the disposal waste of electronic products by reuse, recycling, and other forms of recovery. To enhance the possibilities and economic profitability of recycling, elimination of hazardous materials from the electrical and electronic equipments was proposed under the supplementary directive, the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment. This directive bans lead and other hazardous substances in electronics products by July 2006. However, a number of exemptions indicated in these legislations could impact different industry sectors and product categories. In this paper, the underlying basis of the legislation and the various exemptions are presented. The relevance and significance of the exemptions to the electronics industry is then analyzed and recommendations are given.

[1]  M. Pecht,et al.  Risk Factors in Oil and Gas Well Electronics Compared to Other Electronic Industries , 2005 .

[2]  Abhijit Dasgupta,et al.  Creep and High-Temperature Isothermal Fatigue of Pb-Free Solders , 2003 .

[3]  Michael Pecht,et al.  Evaluation of selected Japanese lead-free consumer electronics , 2003 .

[4]  F. P. McCluskey,et al.  Packaging Reliability for High Temperature Electronics: A Materials Focus , 1996 .

[5]  David J. Marvin.  Practical use of AMLCDs in avionic applications , 2001, SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing.

[6]  D. C. Abbott.  Nickel/palladium finish for leadframes , 1999 .

[7]  Michael Osterman,et al.  Remaining life assessment of aging electronics in avionic applications , 2003, Annual Reliability and Maintainability Symposium, 2003..

[8]  Yong-Seog Kim,et al.  Physical Properties of Barrier Ribs of Plasma Display Panels: I, Formation of Pores during Sintering of Lead Borosilicate Glass Frits , 2004 .

[9]  Michael Pecht,et al.  The technical, social, and legal outlook for lead-free solders , 2002, Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Electronic Materials and Packaging, 2002..

[10]  David J. Marvin.  The practical use of AMLCD's in avionic applications , 2001 .

[11]  P. Sandborn,et al.  ELECTRONIC PART OBSOLESCENCE DRIVEN PRODUCT REDESIGN OPTIMIZATION , 2002 .

[12]  M. Pecht.  Integrated Circuit Hybrid, and Multichip Module Package Design Guidelines [Books and Reports] , 1995, IEEE Power Engineering Review.

[13]  D H MacQueen,et al.  Environmental Report 2000 , 2001 .

[15]  A. Monchamp,et al.  Cathode ray tube manufacturing and recycling: analysis of industry survey , 2001, Proceedings of the 2001 IEEE International Symposium on Electronics and the Environment. 2001 IEEE ISEE (Cat. No.01CH37190).

[16]  G. Whitten.  Lead-free solder implementation for automotive electronics , 2000, 2000 Proceedings. 50th Electronic Components and Technology Conference (Cat. No.00CH37070).

[17]  Hua-Sou Tong,et al.  Review of the current status of CRT technologies , 1995, Photonics West - Micro and Nano Fabricated Electromechanical and Optical Components.

[18]  Michael Pecht,et al.  Lead-free soldering in the Japanese electronics industry , 2003 .

[19]  Michael Pecht.  Integrated Circuit, Hybrid, and Multichip Module Package Design Guidelines: A Focus on Reliability , 1994 .

[20]  Jon Miller,et al.  Aerospace electronics weight reduction through the use of active mass damping , 2003, SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring.

[21]  Herbert Reichl,et al.  Lead free alloys for flip chip bumping , 2001, Proceedings International Symposium on Advanced Packaging Materials Processes, Properties and Interfaces (IEEE Cat. No.01TH8562).

[22]  Michael Pecht.  Issues Affecting Early Affordable Access to Leading Electronics Technologies by the US Military and Government , 1996 .

[23]  Richard D. Parker,et al.  Implementation of Lead-Free Solder for Automotive Electronics , 2000 .

[24]  A. Ballato,et al.  Piezoelectricity: history and new thrusts , 1996, 1996 IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium. Proceedings.

[25]  Bob Myers.  The end of the CRT? , 1997, COMG.

[26]  Alberto L. Sangiovanni-Vincentelli,et al.  Electronic-System Design in the Automobile Industry , 2003, IEEE Micro.

[27]  Rajiv Kumar,et al.  The Automotive Supply Chain: Global Trends and Asian Perspectives , 2002 .

[29]  R. H. Grace,et al.  Application Opportunities of MEMS/MST in the Automotive Market: The Great Migration from Electromechanical and Discrete Solutions , 2001 .

[30]  M. N. Nguyen,et al.  Low stress polymer die attach adhesive for plastic packages , 1994, 1994 Proceedings. 44th Electronic Components and Technology Conference.

[31]  D. Shangguan,et al.  Evaluation of lead-free eutectic Sn-Ag solder for automotive electronics packaging applications , 1994, Proceedings of 16th IEEE/CPMT International Electronic Manufacturing Technology Symposium.