Compliance of NovAtel's GPS-702L Antenna tothe European Union's new WEEE (WasteElectrical and Electronic Equipment) and RoHS(Restriction of the use of Certain HazardousSubstances) Directives

摘要

NovAtel's GPS-702L antenna is the company's first forayinto the use of lead-free electronic assembly methods.This effort is driven by the European Union's (EU)directives 2002/95/EC (RoHS) and 2002/96/EC (WEEE),which seek to remove certain environmentally hazardoussubstances, including lead, from the waste stream and toavoid final disposal in landfills. The RoHS legislationwas mandated to be passed by all national legislatures inthe EU by August 2005, and will be effective July 1,2006. After this date, all electronic equipment coveredunder Annex 1A of WEEE will be required to becompliant to the legislation when placed on the market inthe EU. Concentrations of the listed substances must beabsent from new equipment, or below the allowablethreshold, including lead, as well as several heavy metalssuch as mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium and brominated compounds (PBBs & PBDEs). Annex 1A ofWEEE is reproduced in the Appendix of this document.WEEE requires manufacturers to take back products forrecycling. Every country is implementing the WEEElegislation differently, so manufacturers must informthemselves about the waste recovery rules in place foreach country into which it sells its products.NovAtel makes high-precision GPS antennas andreceivers for survey and machine control applications.These cover a wide range of environments from jetaircraft to arctic survey to tractor/trailer tracking andunmanned air vehicles (UAVs). Since equipment failureis not an option in these environments, NovAtel hasembarked on an analysis of assemblies fabricated withlead-free SnAgCu alloy (commonly known as SAC) fromtwo manufacturers, and has incorporated a number ofdesign concepts into its testing, including HALT (HighlyAccelerated Life Test) to destruction. In addition toqualifying every component and material used in its 702Lantenna for RoHS compliance, NovAtel worked with itselectronics manufacturers to determine a proper solderpaste and application parameters for the GPS-702L. Thispaper will discuss the effectiveness of the lead-freeassembly techniques for industrial products such as GPSantennas and receivers, and their suitability forwidespread use in the industry. This legislation still has alow profile in the US. Users of GNSS equipment mustevaluate equipment purchases for the next 12-24 monthsbased on uncertain information in the marketplace.