Hello,

I've heard about a need in the packaging industry for lead with low content 
of alpha-particle emitters.  Apparently, alpha particles may causes soft 
errors if the lead solder is located "near" the component.  From what I 
understood, old lead may be used for that application, but there would be a 
need to secure the long term supply through purification of contemporary 
source of lead. I had a quick look in the litterature but found very little 
on this subject.  Can you help me on the followings:

Is there a real need for "low-alpha lead" in the current industry or is it 
more a research subject ?

What are the specifications for this products ?  I saw anything from less 
then 1 to less then 0.001  count/cm2/hre.

Have you heard about process other then Laser Separation (see ref. on AVLIS 
below) that can be used for lead isotope separation ?


Any information regarding this product would be very welcome  (market, big 
players, supply, applications, ...).


Thanks !

Alain Roy
Noranda Advanced Materials
[log in to unmask]
Phone:  (514) 856-3202
Fax:        (514) 856-6925

Ref:  - A bizarre rumor;   http://www.onemind.com/lead.html
          - Scheibner, K  et al. , "Laser Isotope Purification of Lead for 
Use in
                    Semiconductor Chip  Interconnects", 1996 Electronic 
Components and
                    Technology Conference, pp.1074-1077.

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