[Amps] BeO in tubes/tinwhiskers

[Steve Thompson]

Pat Barthelow wrote:
snip
> Professor Todd Weatherford KI8CX, at the Navy School in Monterey is researchng
> consequences of lead free electronics and predicts doom and gloom as to
> lifetime of future electronic equipment due to the tin whisker problem,
> which also manifests in the metals used in IC wafers. He predicts something
> like less than a 2year MTBF on consumer electronics, due to the lead free aspects.

Yes - but the average life of iPod/cell phones is something like 6 
months before they are tossed in the trash, so it's not a problem 
and it achieves the aim of restricting the lead going into 
landfill. The side effect is to half kill a business like mine, 
where products are intended to last 20 years and carefully 
nurtured 'last buy' stocks of components are suddenly unusable.

Steve