Fairchild Semiconductor International (South Portland, ME) announced that the company has initiated conversion of all products to lead-free (Pb-free) finish packages. Conversion will continue through the remainder of this year and is expected to be completed by June 2004.
Fairchild launched its Pb-free initiative to provide its customers with lead-free package finishes, responding to concerns about the environmental impact of lead, and the packages meet or exceed the requirements of the joint IPC/JEDEC standard J-STD-020B, are compliant with the European Union requirements that will take effect in 2005, and meet additional conditions delineated by key customers.
The primary lead-free finish used by Fairchild is pure matte tin, providing stable plating highly compatible with widely used tin-lead solder processes. It is also compatible with Pb-free board assembly processes, such as those using tin-silver-copper solders.
