1996 Electronics Industry Environmental Roadmap - Civil and ...

Emerging Technologies
6.4.4 Fully Additive Substrates for PWBs
One of the most important environmental accomplishment in PWB development would be the
establishment of a fully additive printed wiring board process. The traditional PWB process has
relied mainly on a subtractive print and etch process for forming copper conductors. Full build
additive approaches for double- and single-sided boards have been in use for over twenty years.
Processes that use full build to make multi-layer boards have more recently been developed.
Since, in the additive process, most, or all, of the etching steps are eliminated, the use of additive
processes would contribute significantly to reducing the waste stream.
6.4.5 Point-of-Use Generation
An important issue in any manufacturing environment where hazardous materials must be stored
and maintained is the safety and stability of the storage environment. In situations where
otherwise benign materials are combined through chemical or material formulations to become a
hazardous material, point-of-use generation systems would only create the required materials or
chemicals, at such time, and at the precise point, that they are to be applied in the production
process. These point-of-use generation systems would, therefore, eliminate the storage of
otherwise hazardous substances, and by doing so eliminate a significant concern in the fab
environment.
6.4.6 Integrated Design for Environment
At the heart of electronics processing are well-integrated and well-established tools and technologies
for design. In the course of new technology computer-aided design systems currently being
developed, it is essential that any clean electronics initiative would promote, support, and
facilitate the development of effective, robust, and easily-integrated design tools. Through the
establishment of a collaborative industry assessment program, in which DFE requirements and
tools could be identified and evaluated, subsequent activities could focus on the establishment of
frameworks for tool integration and linkages with other elements of the design system. DFE is
discussed in detail in Chapter 4 of this Roadmap.
6.4.7 Computer System End-Of-Life Management
A comprehensive “grand challenge” program would be the establishment of processes and technologies
to support improved end-of-life management. This would include design issues relating
to remanufacturing and recycling at end-of-life, materials identification technologies to support
automated sorting upon disassembly, dematable connectors and other approaches to improve the
ease of disassembly, and intelligent support systems to facilitate product tracking throughout
multiple life cycles. Effectively implemented, these kinds of approaches could greatly increase
the feasibility of successful end-of-life management/disposition systems and decrease potentially
valuable product being sent to the waste stream. Disposition is discussed in Chapter 5 of this
report.
6.5 Conclusion
The rapid advancement of electronics enables remarkable new capabilities in products and
systems. Conversely, those new capabilities can be applied to improve the process by which
electronic components are manufactured and produced. Particular emphasis should be placed on
the elimination of widely used and hazardous materials development, adoption of
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