Manhattan Project Report - Phase 2

The DoD continues to move forward on Pb-free with the release of Phase 2 of the Lead Free Electronics Manhattan Project. This report details the projects and costs believed to be necessary to characterize and mitigate the risk of Pb-free solder in severe environments. Anyone have $100 million lying around? For more information on successfully transitioning to Pb-free, please contact Cheryl Tulkoff, ctulkoff@dfrsolutions.com.

Touch-Screen Displays & the Robustness of Glass Panels

The soaring success of iPhone and iPad relies on the successful operation of the touch-screen display. The foundation of this success is the strength of the glass panel. In this white paper, DfR provides guidance on where weaknesses can occur and how to avoid them. For more information, please contact Nathan Blattau, nblattau@dfrsolutions.com.

Counterfeit Components - Understanding the Risk/Reward Tradeoff

Counterfeiting is increasingly a challenge to electronic OEMs. As even the military are finding themselves vulnerable, the electronics industry is developing initiatives and standards to combat this issue. The most important step is quantifying the risk/reward tradeoffs: What to do, when to do it, and is it worth the money? For more information on DfR's counterfeit detection and prevention services, including compliance to Honeywell's SPOC 419 requirements, please contact Ed Dodd, edodd@dfrsolutions.com.

Environmental Legislation: The Latest News

EU RoHS
The latest proposed modifications to RoHS include covering ALL electronic equipment (that means military and avionics), elimination of brominated and chlorinated flame retardants (BFR / CFR), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and nanomaterials, and requiring a CE mark to demonstrate compliance. At the same time, consumer electronic companies are actively supporting the elimination of BFRs and PVCs. Why? Maybe because Greenpeace is watching closely and aggressively weighing in on each exemption.

US RoHS
The American RoHS is expanding through IEEE Standards 1680.2 and 1680.3. These standards expand beyond the current RoHS by banning Tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBPA) and requiring inventorying of over 100 other substances. This will affect you because these standards drive the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) and all new government procurement must be compliant to EPEAT.

China RoHS
The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has released a new general requirements document for China RoHS. The biggest changes? The scope has broadened from Electronic
Information Products listed in a catalog to any Electronic and Electrical Products powered below 1500 VDC or 1000 VAC. In addition to the restricted six (Hg, Pb, Cd, Hex Cr, PBB, PBDE), there is the possibility of "State regulations of other harmful substances" and inspection will be performed at both entry AND exit and items will be subject to quarantine (say goodbye to the building of SnPb electronics in China).

Oh, and don't forget conflict metals and India RoHS.
Have a headache? Don't go for the aspirin. DfR helps hundreds of companies each year with the challenge of meeting environmental requirements, including Design for Environment (DfE). For more information, please contact Randy Schueller, rschueller@dfrsolutions.com.

How to Get 25 years to Life

Concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) installations must meet both reliability and long term life characteristics. DfR has worked with Indium Corporation to assess the combination of their Reactive NanoFoil and Heat Spring Solder preform technologies. The results of analysis and testing clearly demonstrate that a solder attachment approach is superior to epoxy bonding. For more information, please contact Greg Caswell, gcaswell@dfrsolutions.com.

Success of the Month: Rapid-Response Process Analysis

How can you save $2 million and six months? Use DfR Solutions. Through a comprehensive assessment, including construction analysis and Physics of Failure (PoF), DfR conclusively demonstrated reliability and robustness to an important end-customer, providing the OEM a shorter time-to-market and lower cost without accelerated life testing (ALT). If you would like more information on our unrivaled process analysis services, please contact Jim McLeish, jmcleish@dfrsolutions.com

LEDs - Next Generation Lighting

Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) are increasingly the next generation lighting solution for multiple applications. However, there are increasing concerns regarding their reliability characteristics, especially in regards to solder joints. To provide more guidance to designers, DfR has put together this insightful white paper on ensuring the reliability for LEDs. For more information on LEDs, please contact Randy Kong, rkong@dfrsolutions.com.