Design software complies with ROHS

"ROHS (restriction-of-hazardous-substances) features are popping up in pc-board-design software. The ROHS directive, which strictly limits six substances, including lead, in electronics products for sale in the European Union after July 2006, is moving from a manufacturing to a design problem. "You have to solve the compliance issue as far upstream as possible," says Manny Marcano, president of EMA Design Automation Inc. EMA provides a function for Cadence Design Systems tools that puts parametric information for ROHS compliance on the desktop. At the design stage, an engineer can call up an approved-vendor list that provides ROHS-compliant parts. "Today, engineers are picking parts from their old libraries and designing boards that may or may not be compliant," says Marcano. "When it gets to manufacturing, it's too late, and, if the part is noncompliant, you've got to do iterations of that design cycle." Likewise, Mentor Graphics Corp has announced pc-board-tool support allowing designers to use component data to find ROHS parts. Zuken Ltd's efforts also broaden the company's ROHS offerings. Jeroen Leinders, international distribution manager at Zuken, says that customers asked for support of a new pad shape. Zuken responded with CADstar 8.0 tools incorporating rounded rectangular pads. Leinders claims that using rounded rather than rectangular corners improves the soldering process for lead-free design." Source: edn.com