Worldwide efforts to eliminate the perceived problem of toxic materials from electronic products has caught up with GaAs chip producers. However ironic it may seem, the attention is not directed at the Group V elements found in the chips but rather the lead in the solder interconnect. 'Lead-free' has become the watchword of the electronics manufacturing industry. It gained particular emphasis when Intel recently stated that it too was working on such processes. This was hardly news since it has been a preoccupation of the industry for around a decade. The III-Vs industry has also been busy dealing with the new regulations and the latest products likely have the first of the lead-free MMIC modules in them. Perhaps soon handsets and their like might display stickers proclaiming this. Such is the power of marketing that a cachet like this might get you ahead of the competition. In down-to-earth practical terms the upshot is that every single component in a handset must comply with the lead-free environmental directive. RF module makers too must now switch away from the lead-tin solders they have been using for years to exotic alloys containing bismuth and so on.
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