Printed circuit board industry

The printed circuit board is the platform upon which microelectronic components such as semiconductor chips and capacitors are mounted. It provides the electrical interconnections between components and is found in virtually all electronics products. Once considered low technology, the printed circuit board is evolving into a high-technology product. Printed circuit board manufacturing is highly complicated, requiring large equipment investments and over 50 process steps. Many of the high-speed, miniaturized printed circuit boards are now manufactured in cleanrooms with the same health and safety problems posed by other microelectronics manufacturing. Asia produces three-fourths of the world's printed circuit boards. In Asian countries, glycol ethers are the major solvents used in the printed circuit board industry. Large quantities of hazardous chemicals such as formaldehyde, dimethylformamide, and lead are used by the printed circuit board industry. For decades, chemically intensive and often sloppy manufacturing processes exposed tens of thousands of workers to a large number of chemicals that are now known to be reproductive toxicants and carcinogens. The printed circuit board industry has exposed workers to high doses of toxic metals, solvents, acids, and photolithographic chemicals. Only recently has there been any serious effort to diminish the quantity of lead distributed worldwide by the printed circuit board industry. Billions of electronics products have been discarded in every region of the world. This paper summarizes recent regulatory and enforcement efforts.