Green electronics through legislation and lead free soldering

Abstract

Management of used electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) is becoming a major issue as each year around 20 to 50 million tonnes of electronic waste (e-waste) is generated worldwide. EEE contains over 1000 materials of which lead (Pb) has been one of the targets of the regulators forcing manufacturers to adopt lead free products. Industry has come up with several lead free solders with preference given to alloys containing tin, silver, and copper but there is no ,drop-in' substitute to leaded solder. Issues with lead free solders such as temperature, intermetallics, tin whisker, tin pest, and reliability are yet to be resolved. The paper investigated the contribution of lead free soldering to green electronics in a holistic way. Global lead free movement has reached a point of no return. However, it is necessary to make sure that life span of EEE is not shortened thereby resulting in an unforeseen increase in e-waste or problem shifting does not occur by shifting a problem from one life cycle to another or from one category/media to another.