The Electronics Source Book
December 15, 2004
Actel
goes green on 100% of its FPGA products
While a good portion of the suppliers in
the electronics industry are struggling to meet the European Union’s Reduction
of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) regulations, Actel Corp. of Mountain View,
Calif. has announced it is now producing lead-free versions of 100 percent of
its FPGA products. The company achieved the green threshold many months ago.
The regulations require manufacturers to sell products that are free of six
hazardous materials including lead and mercury by July 2006. Actel joins a
minority group of electronic component suppliers that jumped ahead of the curve
in producing RoHS-compliant parts two years early. Many in the electronics
industry are getting nervous about the impending deadline since the industry
works roughly on an 18-month design-to-delivery schedule. That means that
products being designed now will deliver after the RoHS deadline.
One major global contract manufacturer
recently surveyed its supply base to determine which suppliers are likely to be
compliant on time. Executives noted that 38 percent of its suppliers reached
compliance in 2003. Another 11 percent will be compliant by the end of 2004. 7
percent are expected to become compliant in 2005, and 6 percent more will come
onboard in 2006. That leaves a surprisingly large 38 percent of the component
supply base with no clear path to compliance. These figures roughly correspond
to the supplier study revealed by Avnet Inc. and Technology Forecasters Inc.
that we reported on last month.
It’s not surprising that companies like
Actel have decided to get ahead of the compliance curve. In an environment
where many suppliers have not yet assured their customer base that they will
ship lead-free parts in time to meet the RoHS deadline, a company with a
fully-compliant line of components can potentially grab a competitive
advantage. “We’ve been working on compliance since 2002, and now we’ve been
compliant for more than six months,” says Cindy Newell, the tactical marketing
manager at Actel.
Newell notes that Actel maintains
compliance information on its website. “We’ve put together an extensive
resource package to educate our customers and the public in general,” says
Newell. “We provide a complete listing of our parts and their compliance
status. This includes the composition of the solder in all of our packages.”
She notes that the website lists a breakdown of the different materials in each
package. Actel has also integrated its compliance program into its line of
older parts as well as its newer offerings. “The compliance includes our older
products,” says Newell. “Some suppliers are only offering compliance for new
components.”
Part of the reason Actel jumped ahead of the RoHS deadline is because it has a significant customer base in Japan where electronic manufacturers are trying to shift to lead-free parts this year. “We have some Japanese customers that are requiring compliance by the end of this year,” says Newell. “That’s because they will have products they produce now that will be still be out on the market past the RoHS deadline.”
The part numbering dilemma
One of the controversies raging through the electronics industry is how suppliers intend to handle part numbering for their lead-free components. Most suppliers intend to continue manufacturing a small number of non-compliant parts for the military and portions of the telecommunications industry – the military is exempt entirely from compliance, and portions of the telecommunications industry will not have to be compliant until 2010 – so part numbering can be a potential problem.
The Avnet/Technology Forecasters study indicates that 45 percent of the component supply base does not intend to issue unique part numbers to lead-free versions of their parts. Instead, they will mark the outer packaging or indicate which components are compliant by lot or date. Distributors, manufacturers and EMS providers are strongly urging their suppliers to create unique part numbers for lead-free components.
Actel has decided to solve the problem by putting an additional code at the end of the part number to indicate that a part is RoHS compliant. The goal is to keep the part numbers similar so design engineers can quickly identify the part while avoiding any confusion about whether the part is lead-free or leaded. “We’re using an X79 at the end of the part number, which means it’s green,” says Newell.
This is Part IV in a series of articles.
Part I: Industry braces for the lead-free conversion
Part II: Progress on lead-free components spotty
Part III: IDT: 99 percent lead free already
Part IV: Actel goes green on 100% of its FPGA products
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