Tin Whiskers: The Next Y2K Problem?
My company (we make semiconductor lasers) is scrambling along with other high-tech electronics and laser manufacturers to meet the growing wave of regulations—from Europe, Japan, and probably others—requiring lead to be phased out of various types of electronic products. As this article points out, this is likely to exacerbate the “tin whiskers” problem—in which microprocessors and other circuit elements can be shorted out when the metal grows small “whiskers”—since lead helps inhibit this.
Thanks, Europe!
