Intel, national semiconductor to get the lead out.

Intel Corp., Santa Clara, Calif., has announced that it will begin eliminating approximately 95 percent of the lead it uses in its processors and chipsets later this year. Additionally, National Semiconductor, also headquartered in Santa Clara, has announced that it will offer lead-free packages for its line of integrated circuit products by the end of the year.

Intel will begin shipping the lead-free technology with select microprocessors and chipsets in Q3, 2004, and with embedded IA processors in Q2, 2004. Additional products will be transitioned as manufacturers are able to handle them. The company shipped its first lead-free memory chips last year.

Intel's new packages use lead-free solder balls, about the size of salt crystals, that will replace the majority of lead formerly used in Intel microprocessor packaging.

In addition to reducing lead in its integrated circuit products, National will also significantly reduce bromine-and antimony-based flame retardants in and effort to make more environmentally neutral electronic components.

"With our lead-free packaging program, National is extending its effort to make innovative, high-performance products that are environmentally friendly and easier to recycle," Kamal Aggarwal, executive vice president, Central Technology Manufacturing Group at National, says. "As soon as our customers require lead-free packages, we will provide them."

Today, approximately 90 percent of National's portfolio of 15,000 analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits is available in lead-free package types. Lead was formerly used in the plating finish of copper leadframe-based packages. It was also used in the solder balls of an array of packages. National will replace the lead in leadframe packages with a matte tin finish and in the solder balls with a tin-silver-copper alloy. Once this program is fully implemented, National expects to replace approximately 5 tons of lead yearly.

The lead-free transition is an industry-wide effort with many technological, logistical and economic challenges, according to Intel. Since 2000, the company has been working with industry consortia and the European Union's Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) legislation committee to come up with a solution that can be used worldwide.

"Intel shipped millions of lead-free Flash Memory components in 2003," Nasser Grayeli, Intel vice president and director of assembly technology development, Technology and Manufacturing Group, says. He says the company's announcement is the "next major step on the road to a lead-free productline for Intel's high volume CPU and chipset product lines. By doing this, our customers will be able to launch platforms with the new lead-free technology in the second half of 2004."

Intel qualified its first lead-free Plastic Ball Grid Array package in 2001 for use with its Flash memory and shipped its first lead-free product in 2002. The lead/tin solder previously used for connecting this package to the motherboard was replaced with a tin/ silver/copper alloy.

Inters new Flip Chip Ball Grid Array package also uses a tin/silver/copper alloy to connect the chip package to the motherboard. However, until Intel and the industry can certify a replacement that meets performance and reliability requirements, a tiny amount of lead/tin (about .02 grams) is still used inside the sealed package to attach the silicon core to the package.

In 2000, National began an intensive multi-step program to reduce and eliminate lead in its semiconductor packages.

"Electronic products are typically recycled to recover precious metals such as gold and silver used in the printed circuit board," Aggarwal says. "Eliminating lead from components will dramatically improve efficiency in the separation and disposal steps of the recycling operation."