Design for environment

Publisher Summary This chapter presents various techniques based on process modeling and product optimization that can be applied to printed circuit board (PCB) assembly design to minimize the environmental impact. The process steps in PCB fabrication include laminate core fabrication, resist coating, exposure, development, copper etch, resist strip, oxide treatment, lamination, drilling, desmear and copper plating, and solder masking. The chapter introduces a waste-stream weighting scheme, which is extremely useful for comparing two or more dissimilar waste streams. Thereafter, it discusses an optimization algorithm that seeks a balance among the various board design parameters; such as board area, number of layers, and number of boards on a panel; to come up with the physical board design with minimal manufacturing waste per board. It also discusses specific issues such as the way one can incorporate various design constraints, the way this analysis can be extended to packaging and the semiconductor manufacturing level, and the way in which the presented analysis fits into the overall life-cycle analysis of a product.