RoHS Compliance FAQ

What is RoHS? 
RoHS is the acronym for Restriction of Hazardous Substances. RoHS, also known as Directive 2002/95/EC, originated in the European Union and restricts the use of specific hazardous materials found in electrical and electronic products. All applicable products in the EU market after July 1, 2006 must pass RoHS compliance. For the complete directive, see Directive 2002/95/EC of the European Parliament.

What are the restricted materials mandated under RoHS?
The substances banned under RoHS are lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), cadmium (Cd), hexavalent chromium (CrVI), polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE). 

Why is RoHS compliance important?
The restricted materials are hazardous to the environment and pollute landfills, and are dangerous in terms of occupational exposure during manufacturing and recycling.

How are products tested for RoHS compliance?
Portable RoHS analyzers, also known as X-ray fluorescence or XRF metal analyzers, are used for screening and verification of RoHS compliance. 

Which companies are affected by the RoHS Directive?
Any business that sells applicable electronic products, sub-assemblies or components directly to EU countries, or sells to resellers, distributors or integrators that in turn sell products to EU countries, is impacted if they utilize any of the restricted materials.

What is WEEE?
WEEE is the acronym for Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment. WEEE, also known as Directive 2002/96/EC, mandates the treatment, recovery and recycling of electric and electronic equipment. All applicable products in the EU market after August 13, 2006 must pass WEEE compliance and carry the "Wheelie Bin" sticker. For the complete directive, see Directive 2002/96/EC of the European Parliament.

How are RoHS and WEE related?
WEEE compliance aims to encourage the design of electronic products with environmentally-safe recycling and recovery in mind. RoHS compliance dovetails into WEEE by reducing the amount of hazardous chemicals used in electronic manufacture.

Fixed or movable detector filters, which take advantage of non-dispersive XRF principles,
 are sometimes added to EDXRF devices to further improve the instruments effective
 resolution or sensitivity forming a hybrid EDX/NDX device. 

Applications
EDXRF can be used for a tremendous variety of elemental analysis applications. It can be used to measure virtually every element form Na to Pu in the periodic table, in concentrations ranging from a few ppm to nearly 100 percent. It can be used for monitoring major components in a product or process or the addition of minor additive. Because XRF's popularity in the geological field, EDXRF instruments are often used alongside WDXRF instruments for measuring major and minor components in geological sample.