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ELFNET Launches European Roadmap
March 14, 2007 |Estimated reading time: 1 minute
HERTFORDSHIRE, U.K. The European lead-free soldering network (ELFNET) released "The Future of European Electronics Interconnection," a roadmap based on member contributions and data from existing industry roadmaps. It describes the effect that lead-free soldering, sustainability, and miniaturization have on the interconnection supply chain, materials, and processes.
ELFNET members collaborated over the course of three years to develop the roadmap, determining 50 high-priority challenges that must be resolved over the next decade. The report suggests future R&D directions as methods to meet these challenges, and includes information on 34 topics related to interconnect. Fragmented, disjointed funding mechanisms and poor communication threaten to stagnate the European interconnection industry, said Jeremy Pearce, Ph.D., ELFNET coordinator, adding that the project will focus research and investment into high-priority areas.
Economic and business drivers, environmental restrictions, and consumer pressures will all affect lead-free manufacturing. Lead-free soldering presents many unresolved issues and insufficient data, particularly in high-reliability industries such as aerospace and defense, noted Pearce. Pearce urges continued pan-European coordination and research after publishing the roadmap, but acknowledges that the EU will no longer fund the project beyond March 2007. ELFNET, funded in part by the EU, encompasses academics, research centers, and industry partners in Europe. New networking groups are expected to form out of the ELFNET umbrella, such as a lead-free-reliability task group for European interconnect companies. For more information, visit the ELFNET Website.