scientifically impracticable. average; therefore substitutes should be tested not only for meeting reliability requirements but also for long term performance, going substantially beyond the one of consumer goods applications. 3. Please indicate if the negative The exemption is critical to high reliability connectors. Since the environmental, health and/or consumer alternatives are new it has not yet been possible to put them safety impacts caused by substitution are through environment aging tests to ascertain long term likely to outweigh the environmental, reliability in all our applications. health and/or consumer safety benefits. The environmental impacts of any substitutes can only be If existing, please refer to relevant studies on negative impacts caused by established once a technical substitute has been proven. substitution. 4. Please indicate if feasible substitutes Several potential substitutes are under investigation; however currently exist in an industrial and/or the research and tests performed so far do not conclude that commercial (please provide reference for these are viable alternatives for Category 9 applications. the substitutes). If substitutes exist on the market, please Tin indicate why they are not used. Please Although in 2004 several compliant pin connector indicate in which applications they are manufacturers claimed that tin can replace tin/lead coatings, used. the tests performed did not come to a conclusive result, despite Please indicate what efforts are being intensive research. made by your company to develop The main concern with tin is the growth of tin whiskers which alternative techniques. occur on electroplated tin coatings. Tin whiskers have been shown to cause short circuits in electrical equipment leading to Please indicate if the alternative techniques will be available by 1 July 2006 or at a either intermittent faults or complete, catastrophic failures. later stage. If not by that date, please To date, there is no single compliant pin system manufacturer indicate when you expect an alternative to able to supply lead-free product. Despite intensive research, no be available? alternatives were found so far for Category 9 specific applications which can guarantee high reliability. Gold Gold coatings are resistant against whisker growth, however the tests performed so far indicate that gold could not be a viable option for compliant pin connectors. The main reason is the required insertion force of gold press-fits which often results in unacceptable damage to the plated through holes (PTH). Potential design changes to decrease the insertion force Tests have been performed to reduce the insertion force by increasing the PTH diameter or decreasing the pin thickness. The results however were not positive as these changes resulted in compromising the reliability of the connector.
scientifically impracticable. average; therefore substitutes should be tested not only for meeting reliability requirements but also for long term performance, going substantially beyond the one of consumer goods applications. 3. Please indicate if the negative environmental, health and/or consumer safety impacts caused by substitution are likely to outweigh the environmental, health and/or consumer safety benefits. If existing, please refer to relevant studies on negative impacts caused by substitution. The exemption is critical to high reliability connectors. Since the alternatives are new it has not yet been possible to put them through environment aging tests to ascertain long term reliability in all our applications. The environmental impacts of any substitutes can only be established once a technical substitute has been proven. 4. Please indicate if feasible substitutes currently exist in an industrial and/or commercial (please provide reference for the substitutes). If substitutes exist on the market, please indicate why they are not used. Please indicate in which applications they are used. Please indicate what efforts are being made by your company to develop alternative techniques. Please indicate if the alternative techniques will be available by 1 July 2006 or at a later stage. If not by that date, please indicate when you expect an alternative to be available? Several potential substitutes are under investigation; however the research and tests performed so far do not conclude that these are viable alternatives for Category 9 applications. Tin Although in 2004 several compliant pin connector manufacturers claimed that tin can replace tin/lead coatings, the tests performed did not come to a conclusive result, despite intensive research. The main concern with tin is the growth of tin whiskers which occur on electroplated tin coatings. Tin whiskers have been shown to cause short circuits in electrical equipment leading to either intermittent faults or complete, catastrophic failures. To date, there is no single compliant pin system manufacturer able to supply lead-free product. Despite intensive research, no alternatives were found so far for Category 9 specific applications which can guarantee high reliability. Gold Gold coatings are resistant against whisker growth, however the tests performed so far indicate that gold could not be a viable option for compliant pin connectors. The main reason is the required insertion force of gold press-fits which often results in unacceptable damage to the plated through holes (PTH). Potential design changes to decrease the insertion force Tests have been performed to reduce the insertion force by increasing the PTH diameter or decreasing the pin thickness. The results however were not positive as these changes resulted in compromising the reliability of the connector.