Environmental Directives - European Union

In February 2003, legislation was enacted in Europe (Directive 2002/95/EC) restricting the use of certain hazardous materials in electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market within the EU. This directive became effective on July 1, 2006, and limited the amount of six environmentally hazardous substances:

• Lead (Pb)
• Mercury (Hg)
• Cadmium (Cd)
• Hexavalent Chromium (Cr+6)
• Polybrominated Biphenyl (PBB)
• Polybrominated Diphenyl Ether (PBDE) - including Decabromo Diphenyl Ether (Deca-BDE)

In addition to EU RoHS, Vicor Products also comply with EU Directive (2006/122/EC), which bans the use of Perfluorooctane Sulfonates. Vicor Corporation was committed to completely fulfill the requirements of the European Union RoHS Directive within the prescribed effectivity timeline. Through extensive redesign and documentation efforts, thorough re-engineering of our Manufacturing Processes and a formal battery of functional and reliability testing, Vicor has formulated a complete line of EU RoHS Compliant Product Families. This conversion required the substitution of internal components with different lead finishes, different encapsulant and the use of Lead (Pb) free assembly materials and manufacturing processes. Reliability and functional testing has verified that Vicor has been successful in the production of fully RoHS Compliant Products without compromising Form, Fit or Function and that performance and reliability meet or exceed that of our original Non-Compliant Products.

As a result of the requirements of our world-wide and domestic Customer base, Vicor will offer a complete EU RoHS Compliant Product line, as well as, a complete EU RoHS Non-Compliant Product line. All Vicor manufacturing processes have fully transitioned to RoHS Compliance, and all Components internal to our Products are in the process of transitioning to fully RoHS Compliant on a component Use-Up basis. Upon the completion of the Use-Up process for all internal components, they will all be fully EU RoHS Compliant, and the plating of the external terminations will be the only determiner of EU RoHS Compliance/Non-Compliance. RoHS Compliant will utilize Matte Tin over Nickel or Nickel/Palladium/Gold Terminations and RoHS Non-Compliant will utilize Tin/Lead. Vicor shall utilize it's RoHS Compliant Product as the basis of its Compliance with all other World-wide RoHS Directives.