Creating boards that comply with the RoHS Directives.

The RoHS Directive became effective in July 2006 as the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2005. The regulations place restrictions on the amount of lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers in printed circuit boards.

• Hypertech has obtained declarations from its suppliers and can state that all circuit boards, with the exception of tin-lead hot air solder leveled (HASL) boards, are RoHS compliant.

• Hypertech offers a number of lead-free board finishes. Electroless nickel/immersion gold, immersion tin and organic solderability preservative (OSP) immersion silver and a lead-free solder finishes.

• It is the customer’s responsibility to determine whether his product is exempt and to order an appropriate finish. Hypertech’s sales and technical staff are available to advise on this subject. All quotations and certificates of conformity now indicate whether the product is compliant with the Regulations.

• Some laminates may not be capable of withstanding the higher temperatures required for lead-free assembly. Hypertech recommends the use of high Tg filled FR4 systems or polyimide/glass laminates, although other laminates may meet the requirements. Unless these laminates are chosen, quotations and certificates of conformity now indicate that the product may be unsuitable for lead-free processing. Hypertech is continuing to test laminates and those found to be suitable will be added to the recommended list in due course.