| | | Introduction The European Union's Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive (2002/95/EC), aimed at limiting pollution caused by electrical and electronic equipment, prohibits manufacturers from using homogeneous materials, parts and subassemblies that contain more than 1000 ppm each of mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), hexavalent chromium (CrVI), polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), or more than 100 ppm of cadmium (Cd). Since the regulations took effect on July 1, 2006, manufacturers in many countries have sought a cost-effective analytical sample testing solution that will ensure the materials they use are RoHS compliant. Similar regulations have been or are being promulgated in many countries outside of the EU. China's "Administrative Measure on the Control of Pollution Caused by Electronic Information Products" legislation, or "China RoHS," has a broader scope and provides fewer exemptions than the EU's regulations. As of March 1, 2007, all products sold in China or imported into China must meet new product labeling requirements detailed in the first phase of the directive. California's Proposition 65, which took effect on January 1, 2007, and is similar in restrictions and scope to the EU Directive, sets the stage for an ever-expanding trend toward laws promoting "green" manufacturing. | | The Challenges Ahead In order to ensure compliance, suppliers, fabricators, assemblers and enforcement agencies must perform verification testing on components. Industries have developed programs that involve heavy reliance on material declaration and certiication for compliant ("green") components. However, the only way to insure compliance is via testing. Manufacturers have developed QA/QC protocols to screen components and inished products at all phases of the production process in order to fulill the due diligence requirements of these directives; challenges include verifying supplier declarations and certiications, screening small components after they have been integrated into circuit boards or other complex heterogeneous materials, and providing legally defensible data to verify compliance. It has been increasingly critical for manufacturers to be able to test the individual components in inished goods and subassemblies quickly and nondestructively, with no disassembly. As the longtime leader in portable XRF (x-ray fluorescence) analysis, Thermo Scientific NITON analyzers have the unique capability to provide superior handheld XRF solutions for screening and analysis of plastics, metals and electronics equipment for substances prohibited under the RoHS Directive and similar legislation. The Thermo Scientific NITON Solution Thermo Fisher Scientiic is pleased to offer the Thermo Scientific NITON XL3t, the state-of-the-art in handheld XRF technology. NITON XL3t analyzers include the irst application of a 50 kV miniaturized x-ray tube - the most powerful x-ray tube ever used in a handheld XRF instrument. This tube, combined with a multi-position ilter wheel, provides dramatically lower detection limits, in some cases surpassing even those of competing benchtop analyzers. The NITON XL3t is the result of engineering lab-grade features into a handheld | | |