A representative from the Best Manufacturing Practices Center of Excellence (BMPCOE) briefed attendees at the 2007 Components for Military and Space Electronics (CMSE) Conference held March 12-15 at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel in Los Angeles. The presentation, "Lead-Free Impact on DMSMS," was intended to make participants aware of the fact that the worldwide transition to lead-free processes and products presents a new facet to Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortages (DMSMS). As manufacturers transition from traditional tin-lead (Sn-Pb) solders and termination finishes to lead-free formulations, a host of reliability issues are emerging that include "tin whiskers"—one of the most insidious. Makers of high-reliability systems will be unable to use many lead-free components in their systems without some form of mitigation. Even though the parts will be available, they will not be useable and will therefore be obsolete. The BMPCOE presentation also included information on two tin whisker mitigation research projects comanaged by the BMPCOE and Raytheon Missile Systems; one on robotic solder dipping and one on the use of conformal coatings. The draft robotic solder dip project report is currently available for download at www.bmpcoe.org. The conformal coating report will be available later this year.

BMPCOE’s participation in this conference represents one of the Center’s many goals to support military programs in risk management and systems engineering and its work in resolving the risks associated with tin coatings while striving for excellence to increase the quality, reliability and maintainability of U.S. defense and commercial manufacturers.