Electronics event sponsored by Rapra.

Polymers in Electronics 2007 Conference, an international event planned by Rapra Technology, will be held January 30-31 in Munich, Germany. The conference will have a practical focus on a number of key subject areas, including applications, the impact of legislation and markets.

Polymers are widely used in the electronics industry and they are fundamental components of both manufacturing processes and final products, according to Rapra. Material selection is said to be a vital skill, and keeping up to date with developments is said to be difficult. This conference will offer a practical approach to the use of polymers in a diverse range of applications, from semiconductor fabrication to final products.

With their widely varying electrical and mechanical properties, polymers have been traditionally employed as insulators and dielectrics, but increasingly the development of new materials is said to have broadened their utilization into areas where their semiconducting and conducting properties have encouraged use in many novel applications, such as in displays, corrosion resistant coatings, sensors, solar cells, textiles and capacitors.

This conference is said to have a pragmatic focus on the use of new and existing materials in a wide range of electronics applications, giving attendees the opportunity to learn more about just how essential polymers are for the future of the world's electronics industry.

In Europe, environmentally focused legislation is said to be increasingly impacting all parts of the electronics industry supply chain, from design to end-of-life. This in turn is said to be placing demands on manufacturers not only to choose materials that can be recovered and reused, but also to design for disassembly.

The restriction of Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS) Directive limits the use of lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls and two polybrominated diphenyl ethers. These prescribed materials are sometimes found in polymers used in electronics. The new REACH Directive will also have an impact. The conference will have a themed session that focuses on polymer research to address these issues and novel solutions for future electronic products.

Traditional markets for polymers used in the electronics industry are said to have largely developed around their excellent dielectric properties and their ability to provide insulating protective coatings to conductors ranging in size from those found on semiconductor devices up to those used in large area moldings. Other markets have developed for conductive polymers produced by compounding conductive fillers into thermoplastic materials. However, over the last 20 years, the move of intrinsically conducting polymers from the laboratory to mainstream applications has led to new markets, as more traditional materials have been replaced. Part of the conference will be dedicated to the changing nature of the markets for polymers in electronics and the opportunities for these new materials.

This conference aims to bring together presentations from all parts of the electronics industry's materials supply chain, from raw materials to finished products, and will offer delegates an opportunity to learn more about both traditional and new polymer materials, their markets, manufacturing processes and applications. It will also cover the impact of legislation, the need to recycle and other polymer related challenges and opportunities for the industry.

Further information on the conference is available from Sally Humphreys, tel.: [phone]; fax: [phone] l 118; www.rapra.net.