Biodegradable materials represent a promising path toward green and sustainable electronics on a global scale in the future. Plastics play a pivotal role in contemporary electronics, including printed circuit boards (PCB), where petroleum‐based polymers such as epoxies form the base insulating substrate. In this review paper, several promising bio‐based alternatives to conventional PCB materials that are recently developed and investigated are stated and discussed regarding their properties, practical utilization, and further perspective. The given list includes polylactic acid (PLA), cellulose acetate (CA), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and others, with the development of PLA‐based PCB substrates being the furthest along regarding the use in industry practice. Yet, all of the provided solutions are still only suitable for prototypes or low‐cost electronics without high‐reliability requirements. The reason for this is inferior mechanical and thermal properties of biopolymers compared to traditional petroleum‐based polymers. Further development is therefore essential, including new types of reinforcements and other additives. However, as Life Cycle Assessment analyses discussed in the paper show, biopolymers are capable of significantly reducing the environmental impact and are likely to play a major role in shaping a sustainable path for the electronics industry, which will be a key challenge in the current decade.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to increase the reliability of manufactured electronics and to reveal reliability significant factors. The experiments were focused especially on the influence of the reflow oven parameters presented by a heating factor. Design/methodology/approach: The shear strength of the surface mount device (SMD) resistors and their joint resistance were analyzed. The resistors were assembled with two Sn/Ag/Cu-based and one Bi-based solder pastes, and the analysis was done for several values of the heating factor and before and after isothermal aging. The measurement of thickness of intermetallic compounds was conducted on the micro-sections of the solder joints. Findings: The shear strength of solder joints based on the Sn/Ag/Cu-based solder alloy started to decline after the heating factor reached the value of 500 s · K, whereas the shear strength of the solder alloy based on the Bi alloy (in the measured range) always increased with an increase in the heating factor. Also, the Bi-based solder joints showed shear strength increase after isothermal aging in contrast to Sn/Ag/Cu-based solder joints, which showed shear strength decrease. Originality/value: The interpretation of the results of such a comprehensive measurement leads to a better understanding of the mutual relation between reliability and other technological parameters such as solder alloy type, surface finish and parameters of the soldering process.

Biodegradables are a promising path for the future of electronics in a greener mindset. The review study focuses on their applications and past and current research results. The paper also investigates the application of nanomaterials as fillers to control or increase the physical (electrical, mechanical, thermal) properties of biodegradable biopolymers. These biodegradables and nanocomposites are already effectively used in prototypes and advanced application areas with demanding requirements, such as flexible and wearable electronics, implantable or biomedical applications, and traditional commercial electronics. The nano-enhanced biopolymer substrates (e.g., with improved gas and water barrier functionalities) sometimes also with integrated, nano-enabled functionalities (such as electromagnetic shielding or plasmonic activity) can be beneficial in many electronics packaging and nanopackaging applications as well.