Due to environmental concerns, The European Union (EU) adopted the RoHS (Restrictions on the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances) and the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Directives on January 27, 2003. Some of these restricted (lead) or recycling relevant (certain brominated flame retardants) substances are currently used in the termination processes (e.g. lead finish, bumps, balls) and substrate materials or mould compounds. The need for environmentally benign solutions in electronic components and products is receiving increasing attention within the semiconductor and electronics industries. Specially, effective July 1, 2006, RoHS bans the use of certain materials, such as lead, mercury and cadmium, in electronics sold in Europe. For more detailed information refer to the legislation section.

Pb-Free : SAMSUNG Electronics terms "Lead-Free" or "Pb-Free" mean semiconductor products that does not contain lead exceed 0.1% by weight in homogenous materials.

RoHS Compliant : While lead (Pb) is the most widely used toxic substance in electrical and electronic equipment, the term "Lead (Pb)-free" is often wrongly adopted to refer to all of the substances specified in RoHS Directive. RoHS restricts a total of six substances - lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, PBB and PBDE. To be truly compliant with this legislation, the presence of each of these substances must be reduced below their maximum concentration values (MCV). For the purposes of RoHS regulations, a maximum concentration value of up to 0.1% by weight in homogenous materials for lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, PBB and PBDE and of up to 0.01% by weight in homogenous materials for cadmium will be permitted in the manufacture of new electrical and electronic equipment. SAMSUNG Electronics has analyzed its products, and as a result of our investigation, to the best of our knowledge the amount of cadmium, hexavalent chromium, mercury, polybrominated biphenyls (PBB), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) is either not detected or is below the threshold targets currently being considered for RoHS.
In order to completely rule out the possibilities that the banned substances are contained by accident or by on-process contamination, SAMSUNG Electronics launched the Green Procurement scheme which assures that all raw materials for semiconductor chips do not contain RoHS banned substances. Currently the company is using only RoHS compliant materials. Therefore, all Lead (Pb)-free semiconductors provided by SAMSUNG are RoHS compliant. SAMSUNG Electronics has secured the capability to supply Lead-free (or RoHS compliant) products across all semiconductor product lines. You can check the RoHS complaint logo on the product or package to verify whether the product you are planning to buy meets the requirements. You can also check if the product is RoHS compliant by typing the product code in theRoHS compliant search.

Eco-Product : SAMSUNG Electronics defines "Eco-Product" to mean Lead (Pb)-Free (RoHS compatible), and free of Chlorine (Cl), Bromine (Br) and Antimony (Sb) based flame retardants (Br or Sb do not exceed 0.09% by weight in homogeneous material).

Material Declaration Sheets (MDS) are available for several product groups on the website. If the MDS that you are interested in is not available at this location, contact your field representative or service and support organization. SAMSUNG Electronics is continuously expanding the database. Please note that the EU will adopt thresholds of 100 ppm for cadmium and 1000 ppm for the remaining substances, including lead, to be measured at the homogeneous material level. SAMSUNG Electronics' product content website shows quantities by weight of the material.

SAMSUNG Electronics completed development and qualification for PB-free technologies. However, some products that are not in mass production require time to renovate the manufacturing processes. Therefore, you should contact the sales manager and give your requirements for Pb-free products, in order to get the items on your desired schedule. Click the link below to find the Pb-free qualification status of each product group.

During the Pb-free transition phase, SAMSUNG Electronics is supplying both Leaded (SnPb) & Lead (Pb)-free products. Eventually SAMSUNG Electronics will move to Lead(Pb)-free product, but it is not clear yet when industry conditions will facilitate that change.

Eventually SAMSUNG Electronics will move to Lead (Pb)-free products, but it is not clear yet when industry conditions will facilitate that change. Please contact your local sales representative if you have any questions about conversion of particular part that is not provided on website.

Pricing is determined by product marketing, taking into account competition and value to the marketplace. Conversion to Lead (Pb)-Free, in and of itself, is not planned to result in price changes.

SAMSUNG Electronics does intend to comply with J-Std-020 MSL requirements, which establish in part the peak temperature rating and MSL of the part. Peak reflow temperature rating and MSL rating information is generally 260°C and MSL 3 respectively.
However if you want to know the exact MSL of a product, please contact to your sales partner.

BGA packages are SnAgCu. Lead-frame packages are SnBi (Post-plating) and NiPdAu (Pre-plating).

For lead-frame type SAMSUNG Electronics' Lead (Pb)-free devices can be integrated regardless of whether the assembly processes have already been converted to lead-free or not. However the compatibility of BGA type devices is not fully guaranteed (soldering below 230°C is critical) since they will require a higher soldering temperature than Leaded (Pb) equivalents.
The main difference between Leaded (Pb) and Lead (Pb)-free soldering process is the temperature range: Leaded (Pb) soldering (215°C-240°C) vs. Lead (Pb)-free soldering (235°C-260°C).

The first contact for all questions about Lead (Pb)-free and Eco-Products is your sales partner. For any other questions regarding Lead (Pb)-Free status or strategies, please contact to the following e-mail address.