The rush to RoHS compliance
Staff -- Purchasing, 3/16/2006 2:00:00 AM
Switch manufacturers and analysts agree that the European Union's Restriction on the Use of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) is a big issue for the switch industry.
The law, which goes into effect July 1, bans the use of lead and five other substances from being used in electronics equipment sold in Europe.
While the major issue is eliminating lead in the terminations, hexavalent chromium is found in hardware including lock washers, nuts, wire and brackets, and flame retardants are used in some plastics and housings. Plus, some products use cadmium and mercury.
Most switch manufacturers have already dealt with hazardous materials in plastics, although they still have to ensure that the plastics meet the higher temperature profiles of lead-free processing.
The real challenge is for companies that focus mainly on printed circuit board-mounted switches because a lot of those have tin/lead terminals, says Peter Brouillette, general manager for North America Region at Apem Components in Haverhill, Mass. Switch makers have to design new switches that can withstand the high temperature processing of lead-free boards.
Switch manufacturers also are running into due diligence problems with hardware manufacturers. ITT, for example, reports that in many cases hardware suppliers aren't up to speed on RoHS compliance, which means a lot of due diligence work needs to be done to ensure RoHS compliancy.
Kiyoka Toyama, president of NKK Switches in Scottsdale, Ariz., says that eliminating cadmium is currently the biggest challenge. While there is an exemption today for cadmium (which is used in high-power contacts), the issue is finding a substitute material. There hasn't been a comparable material without compromising the quality and integrity of the product, she says.
However, other suppliers still say the biggest technical challenge is tin whiskering, which can cause electrical shorts. To alleviate the problem, many suppliers have chosen to use matte tin vs. a bright tin as its plating material, which tends to reduce whiskering, says Brouillette.
Managing the transition is going to be the big project for most manufacturers, says David Webber, worldwide product line manager at ITT Electronic Components in Newton, Mass. To help, ITT has published its RoHS roadmap online to let its customers know which products are compliant or noncompliant.
"RoHS compliance is a two-part question," says Webber. "There is RoHS compliance and there is compatibility to RoHS temperature profiles. Customers need to know the answer to both of those questions because they aren't always the same," he says.
As for designating RoHS compliance, some switch makers have maintained the same part numbers, others have added a suffix to the number and some have changed the nomenclature of the termination style.
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