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February 4, 2011 - 12:51pm
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RoHs Compliance and Longevity, an insider's view
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You won't get a hateful response from me. I have been an electronics manufacturing engineer for many decades and have never seen anything so misguided as RoHS, specifically the lead-free solder portion. This is what you get when politicians and tree-huggers trump scientists. In addition to the reliability issues, many of the lead-free alloys are worse for the environment (also well documented in the industry.) Even though I work in a (for now) exempt industry (military and avionics) we are still impacted because of component availability. The tin whiskers threat makes me sweat at night. Recycling is the key, not throwing away a hundred years of soldering technology seemingly overnight. Have you seen the REACH regulations? Oy vey.
Agree with Bob B ... It's same old story with politicians . There more concerned that they LOOK like there doing something , rather than actually doing it , in this case making an environmental improvement . What do they care , in a few years they'll be retired with a fat pension and house in a tropical location .
Time to go put on a CD . Tim
I left the medical electronics segment before RoHs came about. I wonder how it has affected that field? THAT could keep me awake at night thinking about it. Oh, and if people knew the classs of mentally challenged people building this stuff (myself excluded. Of couse:) they would be afraid to ever BE in a hospital!
....the RoHs eliminated Germanium Transistors. For example: the NKT 275 germanium transistor that was spec'd in an original Dallas Arbiter Fuzzface was replaced with the cheap chinese transistor to comply with RoHs requirements.
You can absolutely hear the difference between an original Dallas Arbiter and the one with the cheap chinese NKT 275 transistor. Conclusion: it sucks.
Mark Evans
I wrote about this in 2005, including the problem with lead-free solder "whiskers," in our eNewsletter: www.stereophile.com/images/newsletter/805Bstph.html.
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
In the medical and aeronautical electronics the leaded solder is allowed.