Bannockburn, Ill. — IPC’s technical conference will address a host of unintended consequences as a result of the lead ban in electronics devices, implemented as part of the European Union’s Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive about four years. Some of those issues include new defects, reliability concerns, processing issues and challenges for high-reliability sectors, says IPC.
“Lead-free soldering is raising the bar on the engineer trying to produce reliable products. Decreased board/component stability during reflow from higher temperatures, smaller component pads, decreased wetting behavior of lead-free solder — these are problems that people are facing every day in our industry. This conference will alert them to new innovations to help them solve these problems and catch up with new findings,” said Greg Munie, IPC Technical Conference director, in a statement.
Munie also said sessions will cover defects such as pad cratering, head-on-pillow, tin whiskers as well as a new class of low-silver alloys that can better handle shock and vibration and reliability and rework for high-reliability assemblies,
The IPC APEX EXPO Technical Conference, to be held on April 6-8, 2010, in Las Vegas, includes 35 technical sessions featuring 99 technical papers by experts in printed-board manufacturing, electronics assembly, environmental regulations, materials and test.
As examples, one session of interest for EMS companies tackles solar panel assembly, while another looks at getting more functionality in a smaller space in embedded applications.
Industry professionals can save 20 percent off any fee-based activity by registering by March 5. They can also save an additional $200 by entering the special promo code, APEX10, during registration.