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. *************************************************************************** * TechNet mail list is provided as a service by IPC using SmartList v3.05 * *************************************************************************** * To subscribe/unsubscribe send a message <to: [log in to unmask]> * * with <subject: subscribe/unsubscribe> and no text in the body. * *************************************************************************** * If you are having a problem with the IPC TechNet forum please contact * * Dmitriy Sklyar at 847-509-9700 ext. 311 or email at [log in to unmask] * ***************************************************************************