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Chapter 1: Introduction

This document presents the results of a cleaner technologies substitutes assessment (CTSA) of seven technologies for performing the "making holes conductive" (MHC) function during the manufacture of printed wiring boards (PWBs). MHC technologies are used by PWB manufacturers to deposit a seed layer or coating of conductive material into the drilled through- holes of rigid, multi-layer PWBs prior to electroplating. The technologies evaluated here are electroless copper, carbon, conductive polymer, graphite, non-formaldehyde electroless copper, organic-palladium, and tin-palladium. Chemical and process information is also presented for a conductive ink technology, but this technology is not evaluated fully.⁽¹⁾

For the purposes of this evaluation, the non-conveyorized electroless copper process is considered the baseline process against which alternative technologies and equipment configurations (e.g., non-conveyorized or conveyorized) are compared. This CTSA is the culmination of over two years of research by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Design for the Environment (DfE) PWB Project and the University of Tennessee (UT) Center for Clean Products and Clean Technologies on the comparative risk, performance, cost, and natural resource requirements of the alternatives as compared to the baseline.

The DfE PWB Project is a voluntary, cooperative partnership among EPA, industry, public-interest groups, and other stakeholders to promote implementation of environmentally beneficial and economically feasible manufacturing technologies by PWB manufacturers. Project partners participated in the planning and execution of this CTSA by helping define the scope and direction of the CTSA, developing project workplans, donating time, materials, and their manufacturing facilities for project research, and reviewing technical information contained in this CTSA. Much of the process-specific information presented here was provided by chemical suppliers to the PWB industry, PWB manufacturers who responded to project information requests, and PWB manufacturers who volunteered their facilities for a performance demonstration of the baseline and alternative technologies.

Section 1.1 presents project background information, including summary descriptions of the EPA DfE Program and the DfE PWB Project. Section 1.2 is an overview of the PWB industry, including the types of PWBs produced, the market for PWBs, and the overall PWB manufacturing process. Section 1.3 summarizes the CTSA methodology, including a discussion of how technologies were selected for evaluation in the CTSA, the boundaries of the evaluation, issues evaluated, data sources, and project limitations. Section 1.4 describes the organization of the remainder of the CTSA document.

1.1 PROJECT BACKGROUND [22K PDF file]

1.2 OVERVIEW OF PWB INDUSTRY [253K PDF file]

1.3 CTSA METHODOLOGY [48K PDF file]

1.4 ORGANIZATION OF THIS REPORT & REFERENCES [19K PDF file]

Footnote

1. Only limited analyses were performed on the conductive ink technology for two reasons: 1) the process is not applicable to multi-layer boards, which were the focus of the CTSA; and 2) sufficient data were not available to characterize the risk, cost, and energy and natural resources consumption of all of the relevant process steps (e.g., preparation of the screen for printing, the screen printing process itself, and screen reclamation).

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Chapter 1: Introduction

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