With the enactment of the European Union (EU) ROHS Directive 2002/95/EC (Ref.1), certain electrical and electronic products that are manufactured in or exported to the European Union have restrictions on the use of Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, Hexavalent Chromium, Polybrominated Biphenyl (PBB) and Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDE). EDXRF (Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence) is one of the methods that can be used for screening of RoHS materials. EDXRF has the advantage of simple or no sample preparation as well as being non-destructive with a relatively short testing time. However, it has disadvantages such as matrix interference combined with the fact that for most electronic devices, it is difficult or impossible to perform the analysis on homogeneous areas without overlapping other materials on the device. Thus the 'screening' results need to be carefully analyzed or verified. This paper describes the work done on the testing of European Union ROHS 5 of 6 (lead in solder exemption) and ROHS 6 of 6 components and solders with EDXRF equipment (both desktop and handheld). It identifies the various uses and constraints of EDXRF equipment.
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