Development of Next Generation Environment-Friendly Soldering Technology

The IMS project "Next Generation Environment-Friendly Soldering Technology" has been advanced with the aim of worldwide promotion of Pb-free soldering since fiscal year 2000. The objective of this project is to evaluate the impact of metals used in Pb-free solders on the human body and the environmental impact of the full life cycle of products using Pb-free solders, and also to advance production and recycle (reuse) technologies. In this report, the outline of the project and some results up to fiscal year 2002 are reported.