EverythingPCB : Lead Free, RoHS & Environmental Resources

Lead Free, RoHS & Environmental Resources

IPC Compliance Web Site
leadfree.ipc.org

Lead-Free Magazine
Publisher: Megan Wendling
E-MAIL: megan@leadfreemagazine.com
www.leadfreemagazine.com
Leadfreemagazine.com is brought to you by a consortium of leading companies in the industry: Aqueous Technologies, ASAT, Creative Automation, DEK, EPM-IBL, Kester, KIC, Kyzen, Metcal, MVP Inc., Polyonics and Tyco Electronics Automation.

Printed Wiring Board Resource Center
www.pwbrc.org
This web site has been established by the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) in partnership with the IPC, and is made possible by funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The PWBRC provides easy-to-use, in-depth technical information on pollution prevention and regulatory compliance. For more information concerning the PWBRC or assistance on compliance or other issues, contact Paul Chalmer at NCMS, (734) 995-4911 or paulc@ncms.org.

RoHS Home Page
PHONE: 020 8943 7227
www.rohs.gov.uk
ADDRESS: RoHS Enforcement Team, NWML, Stanton Avenue,
Teddington, Middlesex, TW11 0JZ UK

RoHS Information Guide
E-MAIL: info@rohsguide.com
www.rohsguide.com

RoHS - Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive
Taken from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) 2002/95/EC was adopted in February 2003 by the European Union. The RoHS directive took effect on July 1, 2006, but is not a law; it is simply a directive. This directive restricts the use of six hazardous materials in the manufacture of various types of electronic and electrical equipment. It is closely linked with the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) 2002/96/EC which sets collection, recycling and recovery targets for electrical goods and is part of a legislative initiative to solve the problem of huge amounts of toxic e-waste. In casual conversation, it is often pronounced "ROHS", "Rosh", or "Row Haws", except in Europe, where it is pronounced "Rose".

Details

Each European Union member state will adopt its own enforcement and implementation policies using the directive as a guide. Therefore, there could be as many different versions of the law as there are states in the EU.

RoHS is often referred to as the "lead-free" directive, but it restricts the use of the following 6 substances:

   1. Lead
   2. Mercury
   3. Cadmium
   4. Hexavalent chromium (Chromium VI or Cr6+)
   5. Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB)
   6. PBDE (polybrominated diphenyl ether)

PBB and PBDE are flame retardants used in some plastics.

The maximum concentrations are 0.1% or 1000ppm (except for Cadmium which is limited to 0.01% or 100ppm) by weight of homogeneous material. This means that the limits do not apply to the weight of the finished product, or even to a component, but to any single substance that could (theoretically) be separated mechanically — for example, the sheath on a cable or the tinning on a component lead.

As an example, a radio comprises a case, screws, washers, a circuit board, speakers etc. A circuit board comprises a bare PCB, ICs, resistors, switches etc. A switch comprises a case, a lever, a spring, contacts, pins etc. The contact might comprise a copper strip with a surface coating.

Everything that can be identified as a homogeneous material must meet the limit. So if it turns out that the case was made of plastic with 2300 ppm (0.23%) PBB used as a flame retardant, then the entire radio would fail the requirements of the directive.

Note that batteries are not included within the scope of RoHS, therefore NiCd, Lead-acid and Mercury batteries are permitted despite the use of restricted substances.

The directive applies to equipment as defined by a section of the WEEE directive. These are:

    * Large and small household appliances.
    * IT equipment.
    * Telecommunications equipment (although infrastructure equipment is exempt in some countries)
    * Consumer equipment.
    * Lighting equipment — including light bulbs.
    * Electronic and electrical tools.
    * Toys, leisure and sports equipment.
    * Automatic dispensers.

It does not apply to fixed industrial plant and tools. Compliance is the responsibility of the company which puts the product on the market, as defined in the Directive; components and sub-assemblies are not responsible for product compliance. Of course, given the fact that the regulation is applied at the homogeneous material level, data on substance concentrations needs to be transferred through the supply chain to the final producer. An IPC standard has recently been developed and published to facilitate this data exchange, IPC-1752 http://www.ipc.org/ipc-175x . It is enabled through two Adobe forms which are free to use.

RoHS applies to these products in the EU whether made within the EU or imported. Certain exemptions apply, and these are updated on occasion by the EU.

There is also a regulation in China (often referred to as "China RoHS") that has similar restrictions, but it in fact takes a very different approach. Unlike EU RoHS, where products are included unless specifically excluded, there will be a list of "included" products, known as the "catalogue" - see Article 18 of the regulation - which will be a subset of the total scope of "Electronic Information Products", or EIPs, to which the regulations apply. There are some products which are EIPs which are not in scope for EU RoHS - e.g. radar systems, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, photomasks, etc. The list of EIPs is available at http://www.chinarohs.com in Chinese and English. The marking and disclosure aspects of the regulation will take effect 1 March 2007. There is no timeline for the "catalogue" yet.

Japan does not have any direct legislation dealing with the RoHS substances, but its recycling laws have spurred Japanese manufacturers to move to a lead-free process. Officially starting from July 1, 2006, Japanese manufacturers have begun phasing out lead and other harmful materials in accordance with RoHS guidelines. Japan does have a marking requirement called "J-MOSS", effective July 1, 2006, on some electronic products.

In addition, California has passed "SB 20: Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003", or EWRA. This law prohibits the sale of electronic devices after January 1, 2007 which are prohibited from being sold under the EU RoHS directive, but across a much narrower scope that includes LCDs, CRTs, and the like and only covers the four heavy metals restricted by RoHS. EWRA also has a restricted material disclosure requirement. Other US states and cities are debating whether to adopt similar laws, but there are several states that have mercury and/or PBDE bans already. Federal RoHS-like regulation in the US is unlikely in the near to medium term.

Criticism

Negative impacts on product quality and reliability, plus high cost of compliance (especially to small business) are cited as criticisms of the directive. Restricting lead content in solders for electronics requires expensive retooling of assembly lines and different coatings for the leads of the electronic parts. Low-lead solders have a higher melting point (up to 260°C, instead of just 180°C), requiring different materials for chip packagings and for some circuitboards; the overheating also precludes the use of components that cannot survive the higher temperature. Low-lead solders are also harder, resulting in slow development of cracks (instead of plastic deformation, as the softer Sn-Pb solder does) because of thermal expansion and contraction as some parts heat up and cool down during operation, thus significantly impairing long-term reliability and device lifetime.[citation needed] Admission of reliability problems is found in Annex, item #7, of the RoHS directive itself, granting servers exemption from regulation until 2010. [1] Another problem that lead-free solders face is the growth of tin whiskers. These thin strands of tin can grow and make contact with an adjacent trace, developing a short circuit. Tin whiskers have already been responsible for at least one failure at a nuclear power plant. [2] Other documented failures include satellites in orbit, aircraft in flight, and implanted medical pacemakers. Reliability decay of low-lead materials may be economically desirable for some consumer product companies because it provides a mechanism to enforce planned obsolescence and replacement. Ironically, this is the opposite of the claimed intent of RoHS legislation. Some countries have exempted medical and telecommunication infrastructure products from the legislation. [3] There are no de minimus exemptions e.g. for micro-businesses, meaning that some small businesses have been forced to close down, citing the cost of compliance.[4]

The US EPA has published a life cycle analysis which compares lead-free and lead solder in terms of environmental impact.[5] While the lead-free alternatives are shown to have an approximately two orders of magnitude improvement over leaded solders with regards to occupational health impacts (non-cancerous), certain aspects of lead-free solders are slightly worse, environmentally, than leaded solders. Another life-cycle assessment [6] by IKP, University of Stuttgart, shows similar results to those of the EPA study.

Literature

    * Introduction to Implementing Lead-Free Electronics by Jennie S. Hwang. (2004) McGraw-Hill Professional, ISBN 0-07-144374-6.

See also

    * List of European Union directives

Links