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General Purpose Lead Free (GPLF) I

Idea/Definition Information
Background: 

 It took more than 50 years to develop the tin-lead assembly system currently used in the electronics industry. During this period of time we continuously improved the process and built in reliability in the process. Current legislative and market circumstances are driving the industry to make the transition to lead-free in a short time-frame.  

Pb-free is a relatively new technology for the electronics industry. Early Pb-free work was done in the 1990’s. Development of mainstream Pb-free materials and process began around the year 2000. In this early stage of development, several companies have developed company-specific requirements. The economic model of the electronics industry relies on industry standards, which permits high reliability and low cost when various components of a printed circuit board are assembled together. There is a need for converging these requirements to a smaller set of requirements. This will allow faster time-to-market and production-ramp of Pb-free products in manufacturing.
 
Problem: 

Waiting for the normal process evolution for this alignment will be slow and will not be very efficient. It requires an industry-wide well-coordinated effort, such as “General Purpose Lead-free Assembly System” (GPLF Assembly System) to make this happen in a cost-efficient and timely way.

 As a result of several independent industry technology development activities, multiple solder systems have been proposed and are in use in the industry. Many system integrators have developed company specific requirements. Consequently, the Supply chain is faced with a situation where they have to qualify their products to different and often conflicting end user specifications. 

Approach: 

This implementation guideline has considered industry-wide Pb-free development efforts and focused on presenting a common, compatible lead-free solder system that would facilitate the introduction of Pb-free products by system integrators and EMS providers.
 
 The supply chain companies will benefit from a compatible Pb-free solder system that allows flexibility to manage return on investment in the Pb-free technology.

 By sharing the knowledge and technology risks of system integrators, the risk, cost and time to market for making the transition to lead-free electronics should be reduced significantly.