Cleanliness drive

Britain's Northern Telecom has
become the world's first major electronics company to phase out
ozone-depleting CFCs from its
operations. The achievement was
made possible by eliminating the
need for solvent cleaning by using
an inert atmosphere of nitrogen
during soldering. This allows the
use of less active fluxes which do not
need to be cleaned off after assembly, and the use of an oxygen-free
atmosphere has meant less contamination of the final product. The
reliability of the product has
also improved by eliminating CFC
pollution (Electronic Engineering,
July 96).