Jersey City, NJ - To assist electronics assemblers in the transition to lead-free processing, Cookson Electronics Assembly Materials Group and Speedline Technologies have developed a Lead-Free Implementation Checklist. The list provides details that should be confirmed for assembly equipment, materials, shop floor segregation, training of personnel, process validation, process refinement and yield enhancement.
 
The list was compiled based on the process engineering and R&D experience gathered by Joe Belmonte, product manager of Speedline's Advanced Technology Group, and Chrys Shea, manager of R&D Applications Engineering at Cookson.
 
According to Shea, "Our informal discussion on the subject very quickly evolved into a formal process of collecting and cataloging all of the information required to run lead-free processes.  Our overriding goal was to help our customers plan and execute the lead-free transition by not only providing a methodical framework to follow, but also alerting them to some of the potential pitfalls they may not have previously envisioned."
 
The list is available at: alphametals.com/lead_free/tech_learning3.html and speedlinetech.com/lead_free/index.aspx.