Hi Doug

You may need to look a bit deeper. 

Firstly concerning RoHS.
All PBDEs are banned by RoHS, with an exemption for Deca BDE. However, not
all brominated flame retardants are polybrominated diphenyl ethers. TBBPA
and HBCD are examples of brominated flame retardants that are not
polybrominated diphenyl ethers and are therefore not restricted by RoHS.

Secondly concerning Halogens.
All bromine based flame retardants are halogens, hence even if you use ones
outside the scope of RoHS, you will not be halogen free. 

Thirdly, your ASIC may be lead-free but not RoHS compliant. A component can
be rightly claimed "Lead-free" if it contains less than 1000ppm lead in any
homogeneous material, with lead in excess of 1000ppm in amy application in
that IC that is exempt - such as lead in high melting temperature solder as
used sometimes in the primary level interconnect between the bond wire and
the chip. However being lead-free does not make it RoHS compliant, as it may
still contain a banned PBDE. We have come across examples in the past of
companies advertising lead-free and customers assuming that the part is
RoHS-Compliant. 

You may want to go back and check with your supplier and find out what flame
retardant is being used.

Out of interest, Halogen free appears to be primarily a USA concern. We are
not seeing halogen-free concerns in any other areas. I am unsure as to where
this demand is coming from, as the environmental impact of halogens from our
industry is low. There is some concern cited on acid vapour causing
corrosion in a few instances, but I do not have a clear idea of the drivers
behind this Hologen free initiative. Does any one else out there know?


kind regards
Roland Sommer
Managing Director
RoHS-International
 
 
Cell +64 21 716 208
Fax +64 3 3255 031
Skype: rolandsommer (video enabled)
 
www.rohs-international.com
 
Have you downloaded our new REACH - Simplified Guidance Notes for Article
Producers yet? Condensing 3000 pages of information into 29 pages and took
400 hours in the making!
 
Disclaimer. The contents of this email are informational only.
RoHS-International is not a law firm and the contents of this email should
not be construed as legal advice. Please contact your attorney if you
require legal advice.


-----Original Message-----
From: Leadfree [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Gilbert, Doug
Sent: Friday, 7 March 2008 4:27 a.m.
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [LF] Question on Halogen Free Requirement


I should have added that the part uses Polybrominated flame retardant but
not the PBBs and PBDEs specified in RoHS.

________________________________

From: Gilbert, Doug 
Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2008 7:21 AM
To: 'Leadfree'
Subject: Question on Halogen Free Requirement

 

IPC Forum

 

 

One of our contract manufacturers is asking a question regarding an ASIC
device.  The ASIC is Pb-free but does contain halogen as a flame retardant.
I know that many IC manufacturers are going "green" and eliminating the
halogen but is it a requirement yet?  I don't recall anything actually
limiting halogen at the moment so I think our ASIC is OK for now.

 

Any comments appreciated.  Thanks.

 

Doug


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