Intel Looks to a Lead-free Future
Intel Looks to a Lead-free Future
May 22, 2007: Intel Corporation is going green through a promise to make it future processors 100 percent lead-free.
Starting with its entire family of 45 nanometre (nm) high-k metal gate (Hi-K) processors, Intel is working to transform the next-generation Intel Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad and Eon range of processors in the second half of this year. In 2008, Intel says it will also transition its 65nm chipset products to also be 100 percent lead-free.
Nasser Grayeli, Intel VP and director of assembly test technology development, says the lead removal move will be undertaken as an aggressive stance toward environmental sustainability. “From the elimination of lead and a focus on greater energy efficiency of our products, to fewer air emission and more water and materials recycling,” he says.
Intel says lead is currently used in a variety of micro-electronic ‘packages’ and the ‘bumps’ that attach an Intel chip to these packages – which wrap around the chip, connecting it to the motherboard.
With Hi-k silicon technology included with its 45nm processors, Intel says it can also reduce transistor leakage, enabling more energy efficient, high-performance processors.
Intel reminds customers that lead has been used for decades in electronics due to its electrical and mechanical properties. Vendors have faced significant challenges in finding replacement materials that can meet the performance and reliability of lead properties but significant progress has been made in recent years.