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Lenovo has announced a new patent-pending Low Temperature Solder (LTS) process developed to improve PC manufacturing by conserving energy and increasing reliability.
Ever since having to abandon the use of lead-based solder more than 10 years ago due to environmental concerns, the electronics industry has been searching for a solution to reduce heat, power consumption and carbon emissions by improving the tin-based solder process which replaced the older lead-based process.
The newer tin-based process required high temperatures consuming more energy and adding stress on components.
This new process can be universally applied to all electronics manufacturing involving printed circuit boards with no cost or performance impact to customers, claims Lenovo.
The true innovation is in the science and testing required to develop and validate the new LTS process. Lenovo investigated thousands of combinations of solder paste material composed of a mixture of tin, copper, bismuth nickel and silver, specific compositions of flux material and unique profiles of time and heat temperatures that combine to enable this process.
As is typical in standard electronics assembly using surface-mount technology (SMT), the solder and flux mixture is first printed on the face of the circuit board. The components are then added and heat is applied to melt the solder mixture, securing and connecting the components to the board. With the new LTS process, soldering heat is applied at maximum temperatures of 180 degrees Celsius, a reduction of 70 degrees from the previous method.
Throughout testing and validation, Lenovo used existing materials to compose the solder paste and existing oven equipment for heating, thus Lenovo can implement the new system without increasing production costs.
After validation of the procedure, Lenovo discovered a reduction in carbon emissions as a result of using the new process. The procedure is already in production for the ThinkPad E series and the 5th-generation X1 Carbon.
Throughout 2017, Lenovo intends to implement the new LTS process on 8 SMT lines and estimates savings of up to 35 per cent on carbon emissions. By the end of 2018, Lenovo aims to have 33 SMT lines with two ovens per line using this new process, giving an estimated annual saving of 5,956 metric tons of CO2. To put this into perspective, the equivalent reduction in CO2 emissions is equal to the consumption of 670,170 gallons of gasoline3 per year.
Through the new process, Lenovo also expects better reliability for its devices due to lower heat stress during the “oven bake” procedure. In the early stages of deployment, Lenovo has observed a 50 per cent decrease in printed circuit board warpage and a reduction in defective parts per million during the manufacturing process.