Q: What is the RoHS Directive?

A: The RoHS Directive is properly known as the Directive of the European Parliament on " The Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment ". It establishes limits for the content of six types of hazardous material in electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market in Europe after July 1, 2006.

Q: What are the six substances?

A: The substances are lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls , and polybrominated diphenyl ethers. This includes both metals and compounds of lead, cadmium and mercury. The RoHS Directive sets maximum concentration levels allowable of these substances in the "homogenous materials" of electrical and electronic equipment covered by the legislation. The proposed maximum concentration levels in homogenous materials for lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls , and polybrominated diphenyl ethers is 0.1 percent by weight, and 0.01 percent by weight for cadmium.

Q: What does "homogenous material" mean?

A: Homogenous material is defined as material that cannot be “mechanically disjointed” into different materials. ”Mechanically disjointed” means that the materials cannot in principal be separated into other materials by mechanical methods such as unscrewing, cutting, crushing, grinding or abrasive processes. A clean separation is not a requirement and this definition is intended only to indicate that materials such as plastics, metals, and coatings, etc., should not contain the restricted substances. Therefore, a semiconductor component is not homogenous, as it is made up of many other homogenous materials such as the case (plastic moulding), the leadframe alloy and the leadframe coatings, etc., each of which must separately comply with the RoHS restrictions.

Q: Why has lead received so much attention?

A: Lead-free solders have higher melting points than traditional tin/lead solder. This therefore requires a higher soldering temperature, which potentially will require significant changes to manufacturing processes. To many customers the elimination of lead is the most important of the changes that RoHS demands.

Lead has been used in solders for hundreds of years because tin/lead solders have a low melting point, are easy to use and give reliable solder joints. Despite extensive research, no lead-free solder has been found which has identical properties. The most useful alternative alloys have higher melting temperature, which can cause damage to laminate and to heat sensitive components. Solder wetting is slower and inferior to tin lead and lead-free solder joints appear dull. As there are no drop-in replacements for tin/lead, manufacturers have a lot of work to develop new lead-free products. Criteria that need to be considered include

• Are components able to withstand the higher temperature?
• Is equipment suitable?
• Will suitable components be available, otherwise a design change may be required
• Will lead-free products be reliable?

Most components were made using tin/lead termination coatings and this also is being changed. Most component manufacturers are switching to tin but wetting characteristics will not be identical to tin/lead and there is a small risk of tin whiskers from electroplated tin coatings.

Q: What does the RoHS Directive require affected companies to do?

A: RoHS requires companies who place electronic or electrical goods on the market after 1 July 2006 to ensure that they do not contain above permitted levels of the six specified hazardous substances.

Q: Are there any exceptions to RoHS?

A: There are a number of exceptions to RoHS. These include spares or parts for the repair or upgrade of products put on the market before July 1, 2006 Equipment solely for military and national security purposes is excluded as well as medical devices and monitoring and control instruments. The RoHS directive also allows a number of exemptions for specific applications. These exemptions are listed in the original RoHS directive (see the Annex) while others are still pending approval.

Q: What if I need to repair electronic equipment that was placed on the EU market before the RoHS effective date?

A: Repairs to electrical and electronic equipment that was placed on the market before the RoHS effective date of July 1, 2006 are allowable under the legislation. Since equipment that was originally produced with lead-bearing parts must be maintained and/or repaired with lead-bearing parts, spare components and parts for this equipment is exempt from the RoHS legislation In addition, replacement components that expand the capacity or otherwise upgrade electronic equipment placed on the market before the RoHS effective date are also exempt.

Q: Are other countries enacting legislation similar to RoHS?

A: Yes. China, South Korea and Japan have announced their intentions to introduce similar legislation and California has legislation for certain products which is based on the RoHS directive.

Q: What is WEEE?

A: The WEEE(Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Directive deals with the recovery, sorting, treatment and recycling of electrical and electronic waste products when they reach end of life. The aim is to reduce the very large quantity of electrical waste that goes to land-fill in Europe every year. It does this by making equipment producers responsible for financing the end of life costs.

Q: What does WEEE require affected companies to do?

A: By August 13, 2005, companies placing electric or electronic equipment onto the market in the European Union must mark new products with a durable standard marking or label to indicate separate collection of the device at the end of its useful life and also be prepared to take back and recycle these products. The WEEE Directive also sets target levels for recycling of electrical and electronic equipment that must be met by December 31, 2006. Equipment producers will be obliged to register with the authorities in the EU member States in which they operate and they will be obliged to collect and recycle waste equipment. Most producers will meet their obligations by joining compliance schemes which are being set up by waste companies and trade associations in all Member States.

Q: Are other countries enacting legislation similar to WEEE?

A: Yes. Many countries worldwide and some North American States have “WEEE” type legislation. Taiwan, South Korea and Japan were the first and China has announced its intention to introduce similar legislation. In North America, the state of California has passed SB 20 and SB 50, which has a number of requirements, such as the involvement of sellers of certain types of electronic equipment in the collection of recycling fees from purchasers at the time of sale.