Green Products
On 27.01.2003 the European Parliament and the council adopted the directives:
- 2002/95/EC on the Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances in electrical and electronic equipment ("RoHS")
- 2002/96/EC on Waste Electrical and Electrical and Electronic Equipment ("WEEE")
Some of these restricted (lead) of recycling relevant (brominated flame retardants) are currently found in the terminations (e.g. lead finish, bumps, balls) and substrate materials or mould compounds.
The European Union has finalized the Directives. It's the member states' task, to convert these Directives into national laws. Most national laws are available, some member states have extended timelines for implementation. The laws arising from these Directives will come into force in 2006 or 2007 respectively.
The electro and electronic industry has to eliminate lead and other hazardous materials from their products. In addition, discussions are going on with regard to the separate recycling of ceratin materials, e.g. plastic containing brominated flame retardants.
For details please see our links to other WebPages.
Some of these restricted materials are currently found in the terminations (e.g. lead finish, bumps, balls) and substrate materials or mould compounds.
Infineon is fully committed to giving its customers maximum support in there efforts to convert to lead-free and halogen-free1) products. Hence,
Infineon's "Green Products" are ROHS compliant.
Since all the hazardous substances have been removed, Infineon calls its lead-free and halogen-free1) semiconductor packages "green product". Details on Infineon's definition and upper limits for the restricted materials can be found here.
The assembly process of our high-technology semiconductor chips is a integral part of our quality strategy. Accordingly we will truly evaluate and test the alternative materials in order to replace lead and halogen1) so that we end up with the same or higher quality standard of our products.
The use of lead-free solders for board assembly results in higher process temperatures and increased requirements for the heat resistivity of semiconductor packages. This issue is addressed by Infineon by a new classification of the Moisture Sensitivity Level (MSL). In a first step the existing products have been classified according to the new requirements. Please find detailed information under MSL classification.
1) Any material used by Infineon is PBB and PBDE-free. Plastic containing brominated flame retardants, as mentioned in the WEEE-directive, will be replaced if technical / economical beneficial.