Gold is considered a conflict mineral and it is interesting to consider how to minimize its use. Unfortunately it has become one of the most popular materials to plate PCBs with for SMT soldering. This article compares various options including…
Materials
Tantalum Capacitors
Tantalum is primarily used in electronics to build power supply decoupling capacitors. It is considered a conflict mineral so it is a good idea to minimize their use or insist on careful sourcing. Unfortunately, there is currently a worldwide shortage…
Plurifunctionality
Identifying and embracing opportunities for plurifunctional design is one of the most important practices to achieve sustainability. A component of a design can be said to be plurifunctional if a single material or assembly provides multiple functions concurrently. The term…