On Wed, Nov 30, 2005 at 10:23:37AM -0800, joeft wrote: > > I have found similar info as what Steve has noted. Many vendors are letting > their parts automatically "roll over" to lead free compliant versions. This > means that if you manufacture something now (during the transition) you will > have a mix > of RoHS and non-RoHS compliant parts. Some will solder better than others > depending on your assembly shop's process. And you might find this leads to > extra documentation overhead should someone want to know what your compliance > status is down the road. > > Lead free solders will be mostly tin with a small amount of other metals > (usually bot not always silver), and they will indeed require higher > soldering temperatures. > > Board materials and plating will have to change if you were using HAL, > as Steve points out. Many shops will not have gold available as a > plating option however and will use matte tin instead. This brings > into play the "tin whisker" problem which it seems not everyone has > solved yet. Gold does not always solder as well as you might like > since it can actually diffuse out into your solder. Unless your shop > uses some really bizarre fire-retardant, the plating should be the > only board material problem.
Do the whiskers form even if you solder under molten colophonium? CL<
