The RoHS directive issued by the European Commission (EC) came into effect on July 1, 2006, which makes a significant change in PCB assembly and manufacturing process. RoHS is the acronym for limiting hazardous substances, which aims to reduce the use of toxic substances in the manufacture and assembly of electronic and electrical products. RoHS directive specifically prohibits electrical and electronic products containing more than one of the following six hazardous substances: lead; mercury; cadmium; hexavalent chromium; flame retardant PBB; flame retardant PBDE.

RoHS has become law since July 1. In 2006, EU member states have been authorized to refuse electronic and electrical products containing any of the above-mentioned hazardous substances in quantities greater than the prescribed quantity.

According to RoHS directive, PCB assembly process is changed greatly. This is mainly because RoHS requires organizations to participate in the PCB assembly process to ensure that any hazardous substances specified in the directive will not be used in any assembly process, including circuit boards, soldering and components. For example, organizations providing PCB assembly services have been using lead-based solder for decades, and the new Directive requires them to transform their processes to include lead-free soldering in the design and assembly of printed circuit boards for use in the electrical and electronic industries. In addition, most circuit boards manufactured are coated with lead and tin containing surface treatments and need to be replaced with lead-free to ensure RoHS compliance.

Now it becomes more urgent to establish a PCB assembly process which is not only lead-free but also RoHS compliant. The reasons range from legislation to environment and finance. The following are some of the most important reasons why organizations should actively plan the assembly process of lead-free RoHS compatible PCB

If you are a PCB assembly service provider to the EU, you need to ensure RoHS compliance during the assembly process in order to conduct business in the EU. This is because any electronic or electrical product entering the EU requires a RoHS compliant BOM and RoHS compliant technology.

Even if you have no business in the EU, it is best to actively plan for the establishment of RoHS compliant lead-free PCB assembly processes, as almost all major countries and states have already enacted regulations to restrict the use of hazardous and environmentally hazardous substances in industrial processes.

The introduction of RoHS helps to reduce environmental waste, especially in the third world countries, and eventually becomes a dumping ground for most e-waste.

Health and liability risks associated with lead cooperation have become the main reason for legislation by limiting the use of lead in many industries. In the process of PCB assembly, the health risks of workers exposed to solder paste lead to the development of lead-free PCB assembly. Lead free PCB assembly environment can eliminate the health risk of workers and reduce the organization's responsibility in the assembly process.

By using lead-free soldering, PCB designers have been able to simplify the design of circuit boards, which in itself is the main reason for the breakthrough in PCB size. Simpler PCB layout enables PCB manufacturers to assemble and build smaller boards, something they have been trying to do before. The ability to assemble smaller printed circuit boards has led to the introduction of faster, smaller handheld devices, such as tablets and mobile phones.

Another important reason for using lead-free soldering is that when it can be used to assemble printed circuit boards, precision, tightly packed spacing elements, such as those required by the semiconductor industry, should be used.

One of the main problems with using lead-free assemblies is reliability because there is no common standard governing lead-free welding. But it turns out that these concerns are unfounded, as statistics show fewer errors and customer complaints in the EU since the introduction of the ROHS standard.

Lead free soldering allows large-scale assembly of smaller, tighter printed circuit boards faster and cheaper than ever before. This enables companies using RoHS compliant lead-free assembly processes to achieve significant cost savings.

In addition, companies that use lead-free, RoHS compliant PCB assembly processes can use it as a big selling point and put it into the

Lead free and RoHS compatibility also increases your ability to compete in a global environment.