• About Us
  • What is DfE?
  • Quienes Somos? (Spanish)
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Safer Product Labeling
  • DfE's Alternatives
    Assessments Program
  • DfE Stakeholder Groups
  • Contact Us
  • DfE on Facebook!
• About the DfE Label
  • What Does the DfE Label Mean?
  • Which Products Have the DfE
    Label?
  • How to Partner, Get the DfE
    Label
  • DfE Safer Chemical Ingredients
  • DfE Criteria for Safer Chemical
    Ingredients
  • DfE Antimicrobial Pesticide Pilot
    Project
• Labeled Products
  • For Consumers
  • For Industrial & Institutional
    Purchasers
• DfE Projects
  • DfE's Alternatives Assessments
    Program
  • BPA in Thermal Paper
  • Flame Retardant Alternatives
    to decaBDE
  • Flame Retardant Alternatives
    for Hexabromocyclododecane
    (HBCD)
  • Flame Retardants in Circuit
    Boards
  • Flame Retardants in Furniture
  • Nonylphenol Ethoxylate (NPE)
    Surfactants
  • Alternatives to Certain Phthalates
  • DfE Life-Cycle Assessments
  • Lithium-ion Batteries &
    Nanotechnology
  • Safer Detergents Stewardship
    Initiative
  • DfE's Best Practices Partnerships
• Resources
  • Publications
  • CleanGredients® (database
    of safer ingredients)

 

Chapter 2: Profile of the Making Holes Conductive Use Cluster

This section of the Cleaner Technologies Substitute Assessment (CTSA) describes the technologies that comprise the making holes conductive (MHC) use cluster. A use cluster is a set of chemical products, technologies, or processes that can substitute for one another to perform a particular function. In this case, the function is "making holes conductive" and the set of technologies includes electroless copper, carbon, conductive polymer, graphite, non-formaldehyde electroless copper, organic-palladium, and tin-palladium. Information is also provided for a conductive ink technology, which can be used to perform the MHC function on double-sided boards, but not multi-layer boards.

Section 2.1 presents process descriptions for each of the MHC technologies and describes the chemical composition of MHC chemical products that were evaluated in the CTSA. Section 2.2 briefly describes additional technologies that may be used to perform the MHC function, but were not evaluated. Section 2.3 summarizes the market for MHC technologies, including information on the total market value of MHC chemicals, and the market shares of electroless copper processes as compared to the technologies.

2.1 CHEMISTRY AND PROCESS DESCRIPTION OF MHC TECHNOLOGIES [535K PDF file]

2.2 ADDITIONAL MHC TECHNOLOGIES [16K PDF file]

2.3 MARKET PROFILE OF MHC TECHNOLOGIES & REFERENCES [13K PDF file]

---

Click here for an Adobe Acrobat PDF version of Chapter 2 in its entirety. [560K PDF file]

For Volume I in its entirety [4,508K PDF file]

Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view PDF documents. Click below for information on downloading a free copy.

PLEASE NOTE: Some of the documents mentioned in this Section are in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF). To view or print them you will need to have the Adobe Acrobat Reader program installed on your computer. The Reader can be downloaded and used with no charge; check here for more information on the Adobe Acrobat Reader.