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iNEMI Roadmap Highlights Environmental Challenges
November 9, 2009 |Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
The electronics industry continues to be subjected to a proliferation of laws and regulations that seek to restrict the use of certain materials in electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) due to environmental concerns. In addition to regulations that ban or restrict specific materials used in EEE, the industry is also facing new market-driven initiatives that seek to encourage EEE producers to phase out or reduce certain materials due to actual or perceived environmental risk. These trends pose challenges as well as opportunities for members of the electronics industry.This article highlights information from the Environmentally Conscious Electronics chapter of the 2009 iNEMI Roadmap, focusing on material-related issues.
Legislative Mandates
The European Union's RoHS Directive is the best-known of the "environmental legislation" and triggered similar action in other countries and even some individual states in the U.S. China has the "Management Methods for Controlling Pollution Caused by Electronic Information Products Regulation" (also known as "China RoHS"). In Korea, there is the Act for Resource Recycling of Electrical/Electronic Products and Automobiles ("Korean RoHS"). Argentina, Australia, Thailand and other countries, as well states in the U.S., such as California, are actively considering the enactment of RoHS-type laws for a broad set of EEE. The industry trade associations are working to ensure that any new substance restrictions "mirror" those contained in the EU RoHS Directive to avoid disruptions in global markets. This is a complicated undertaking, as each jurisdiction seeks to impose its own cultural imprint on substance restriction laws and we are already seeing divergence among regulations. China RoHS, for example, does not accept the EU's "self certification" process for RoHS compliance and will mandate use of a third-party certification system, using Chinese testing laboratories. Despite strong attempts to derail California RoHS legislation, the state is likely to establish its own RoHS law that will follow EU RoHS, but there is concern that it might contain stronger compliance and enforcement measures. Several U.S. trade associations (AeA/Tech America, CEA, ITI AEEMA and AHAM) have developed a white paper entitled, "Guiding Principles for International Substance Restrictions Policies," which they hope will help guide consistency as countries consider substance restriction legislation. REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals) is the newest legislation that seeks to control "dangerous substances." Entered into force on June 1, 2007, it establishes a regulatory framework for chemical substances, providing requirements for the classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous substances and establishing a European Chemicals Agency. REACH will be phased in over an 11-year period (through 2018). Although the main impact of REACH will be on the chemicals industry, it imposes several requirements on "downstream" users, including EEE producers and their suppliers.REACH requirements typically impact EEE producers as producers of "articles" (e.g., personal computers, mobile phones, TVs, spare parts, consumables, packaging and manuals). Article producers must register chemical substances contained in articles if (1) the substances are intended to be released from the produced or imported article(s) during normal and reasonable foreseeable conditions of use (e.g., fragrant eraser); and (2) the total amount of the substance present in the articles with intended releases produced and/or imported by that actor exceeds one tonne per year per producer or importer. An article could also be classified as a container or preparation, such as ink and toner cartridges, and then full registration requirements may apply.Lead (Pb)
Internationally, electronics manufacturers have already eliminated, or are eliminating lead in products as a result of EU RoHS and other proposed laws. The European Union's End of Life Vehicle (ELV) Directive originally granted an exemption for lead-based solder in automotive electronics. However, an EU Commission decision on August 1, 2008, amended the directive to ban the use of lead in solder for electronic circuit boards and other electrical applications for vehicles and spare parts that are type approved after December 31, 2010.Since 1999, numerous iNEMI initiatives have focused on improving or developing plans to address supply chain issues surrounding the electronics industry's transition to lead-free assembly. During the last two years, iNEMI's primary focus has been on reducing knowledge gaps related to the use of lead-free assembly for mission-critical applications. While a number of these high-reliability product categories are either out of scope of RoHS or are exempt at the current time, industry now realizes that the transition to lead-free will eventually take place for the overwhelming majority of applications. The major driving force for this transition is the increasing scarcity of SnPb-compatible components (with BGAs being the biggest challenge). Another factor encouraging this effort is the expectation that the EU will, over time, reduce lead exemptions and bring additional product categories into RoHS scope.
The challenges remaining for full transition to lead-free are significant and will require continued investment to reduce the risks. A number of industry initiatives are underway (within iNEMI, as well as other groups) to address these gaps. Topics include:
- Effects of aging on solder joint reliability;
- Better understanding of lead-free failure distributions and failure modes;
- Characterization of alternative lead-free alloys to assess reliability and manage complexity;
- Surface finish compatibility and performance;
- Greater understanding of tin whisker phenomenon and risk assessment;
- Survivability of temperature sensitive components (a perennial problem exacerbated by higher lead-free processing temperatures);
- Wave solder hole fill;
- Rework of lead-free surface mount components;
- Copper dissolution for PTH rework; and
- Exploration of the use of nanoparticles to suppress lead-free processing temperatures.
Halogenated Flame Retardants (HFRs)
Halogenated materials have been used in the electronics industry for several decades as flame retardants in electronic components and PCBs. Brominated and chlorinated flame retardants (BFRs and CFRs) have proven very effective in preventing fires from electronic equipment. Each year, human lives are saved because of their existence. However, BFR/CFR materials and PVC can produce a toxic gas when incinerated if not properly managed. These materials are also a concern for recycling. Recycling is more difficult and, therefore, more expensive if an electronic product contains a BFR or CFR.These concerns have motivated several leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to replace BFRs, CFRs and PVC in their electronic products. Since this action is not legislatively mandated, there is not the same motivation or urgency to eliminate HFRs as there was for industry to eliminate lead. Furthermore, there are companies that do not believe it is necessary to do so, making it more difficult to accomplish an industry-wide conversion.Conversion to lead-free solders has demonstrated the need to develop a conversion timeline for each class of products. The voluntary adoption of HFR-free technology will require manufacturers for each class of products work with their supply chains to ensure successful planning and execution of the conversion.Significant research is needed before halogen substitution can occur on a broad basis. Industry will need to address whether substitutes can meet the same technical and functionality requirements, whether they will decrease product safety or reliability and determine what the trade-offs are. Additionally, it is necessary to evaluate the life cycle impacts (design, use and end-of-life) of the alternative materials, as compared to the HFRs currently in use. For many of the potential substitutes, it is not currently clear whether the alternatives are truly better for the environment or human health.Key Recommendations and Issues
It is important that industry develop and implement good scientific methodologies to assess true environmental impacts of materials and potential trade-offs of alternatives. The viability of alternative materials should be evaluated prior to implementation, using life cycle assessments and technical evaluations of alternatives. Industry must also be more involved in policy making on material restrictions so that the policy-makers understand trade-offs inherent in material substitution.
New iNEMI Initiatives
iNEMI has launched several proactive projects to address environmental issues. One such project is the Eco-Impact Evaluator for ICT* Equipment Project. This project is working to develop a simplified estimator tool to more easily derive key eco-environmental information for an ICT equipment/asset. This tool will categorize targeted products/assets and provide a standardized format for requesting life cycle assessment (LCA) information from suppliers.
Another effort currently being organized is the PVC Alternatives Project. Seven of the top 10 PC manufacturers have set goals to phase out the use of PVC where possible. This project will evaluate potential alternatives to PVC. It will focus on a cradle-to-grave LCA comparing PVC with PVC-free cables, and will also provide a technical evaluation of PVC alternatives, evaluating electrical, mechanical and safety.
Another area of activity for iNEMI is the halogen-free effort. We have new projects forming to address issues associated with conversion to HFR-free. The next article in this series will discuss HFR-free in more detail, including information about iNEMI projects.*ICT = information and communication technology.