RoHS Compliance

Santa Clara Plating Co., Inc. is an RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) compliant facility. Processed parts will be RoHS compliant unless otherwise noted in the Price Tables on each our Service pages. For the few processes we offer that are not RoHS compliant, we offer RoHS compliant alternatives (with the exception of Gold Chem Film – see below).

Regarding Passivation: Some of our passivate baths contain dichromate, which is not RoHS compliant. Because passivation is fundamentally a cleaning treatment (which removes embedded particles of iron from the surface of the part), none of the chemicals in the bath bond to the part. Further, all bath chemistry is rinsed completely away from the part. Theoretically, therefore, all passivate is RoHS compliant. Technically, however, there is one concern: solution entrapment. If the design of the part results in solution entrapment, and the solution contains dichromate, then the part will not be RoHS compliant. If your part requires a spec that includes dichromate and needs to be RoHS compliant, we simply check the design of the part for entrapment issues. Alternatively, we offer numerous passivate baths that do not contain dichromate, and are therefore RoHS compliant whether or not entrapment is an issue: Citric Passivate, Passivate 6, and Passivate Nitric 2.

Regarding Chem Film: RoHS compliance is achieved by using trivalent chromate chemistry (as opposed to hexavalent chromate chemistry, which is not RoHS compliant). It is the hexavalent chromate particle that produces the gold color associated with gold alodine (chem film). Gold chem film, therefore, is not RoHS compliant. We offer our hexavalent chem films in both clear and gold color. RoHS compliant trivalent chromate, however, is only offered in clear.

Please feel free to contact us with further questions about RoHS compliance.