| |
An Increased Usage of Go ld and Silver Right Under our Noses
|
|
|
As a frequent browser of Kitco’s website, I have noticed that the greatly increased usage of gold in the electronics industry in the worldwide seems to have been overlooked by any of the commentators. I am a CEO of an electronics design firm in Carlsbad California. In our industry, it just has been common knowledge that the increased usage of gold and silver is just something that we have had to deal with.
This increased usage has been driven by the European Commission whereby European Union member nations are required to adhere to this “Restriction of Hazardous Substances” directive (RoHS). The RoHS directive is a legally binding document which was issued on January 27, 2003 and the requirements were to be actively implemented by July 1, 2006. This directive also affects nations doing any business with the EU member nations, thus, every iPod, cell phone, computer, laptop or any electronics equipment entering that EU nation must be RoHS compliant. The RoHS directive requires that six hazardous substances be removed from electrical and electronics equipment, namely Cadmium (Cd), hexavalent Chromium (CR VI), Lead (Pb), Mercury (Hg), polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE).
The removal of these substances has by default forced us to use other substances and materials. The removal of lead from printed circuit boards and other electronics substrates has actually forced us to use more gold and silver in place of the tin-lead plating that we have been using for the past decades. We typically design hundreds of electronics designs in one year and although we are here in the USA as well as the majority of our customers, every single one of our designs has incorporated the use of gold plating due to RoHS compliance. This is driven by the fact that most of these products are also sold to and used by European Union member nations. Although RoHS is an EU directive, we have been forced to comply with this directive and in our segment of the electronics industry this has meant a multi-fold increase in usage of gold and silver.
Ted Villaruel
Circuit Design Solutions Inc
****
This article courtesy of: Ted Villaruel, Circuit Design Solutions Inc,
2382 Faraday Ave, Carlsbad, CA 92008
|
