I - Historic

The AMELIE project builds upon results of community research programmes such as HEIDI, HIRONDELLE, ELFNET, IMECAT, PROTIN, HOTCAR as well as upon experience of promising lead-free alloys and surface mounted devices assembly processes developed by SOLECTRON. AMELIE is a multi-partner industrial demonstration and validation project involving major industrial groups, SME, technology resource centres and university laboratories in the field of reduction and management of risks related to the use of toxic substances in electronic assembly and interconnection. AMELIE was singled out in 2003 by the steering committee of the French “Multimaterials, Composites & Systems” Technology Research National Centre (CNRT MCS) located in AQUITAINE. The AMELIE consortium is based in the western half of FRANCE, spread over the AQUITAINE, BASSE-NORMANDIE and CENTRE regions and backed up by the merger of two CNRTs.

II - Motivation

The motivation that drives the AMELIE consortium and the genuine cohesion that pervades it go far beyond the environmental issues related to eliminating toxic substances. AMELIE is an integral part of an on-going and structuring approach to setting up a technology platform based on interconnection and assembly processes for electronics in the civil and military aeronautics. These electronic products are exempted up to 2010 from the RoHS & WEEE European directives BUT it is well known that the civil and military aeronautics sector couldn’t go ahead assembly products and supply chain with lead-based processes beyond 2008.