Intel Goes Lead-Free for 45nm, Again

[Android1]

Intel's upcoming Penryn-based microprocessesr will be more biofriendly than its predecessors, or so they say.

Intel Corporation announced on Tuesday that the future of its microprocessors will be lead-free and environmentally friendly. This follows a big tech industry shift towards products that are more environmentally friendly. The shift will begin with its line of "green" 45-nanometer high-k metal gate (Hi-k) processors, which includes the next-generation Intel Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad and Xeon processors.

Lead is mainly used in a variety of micro-electric "packages" and "bumps" that attach the Intel chip to "packages", which are then wrapped around the chip and used to connect it to the motherboard. Package designs include pin grid array, ball grid array, and land grid array, and will all be 100 percent lead-free.

With the introduction of 65nm Yonah, Chipworks -- a company that reverses engineers chip packaging -- discovered that Intel silently transitioned from lead-tin solder-ball interconnects to plated copper pillars. Since then, all 65nm Intel processors no longer use lead for interconnects.

Source: DailyTech

[metroidfox]

Wow, Intel leading on a good front - I bet this is something people have not hear much. What difference does lead make as opposed to any other metal?