☣ Beryllium oxide (BeO)

fatal

Where you meet it: RF power transistor caps and substrates · microwave magnetron ceramic insulators · high-power resistors and terminations · laser diode submounts · klystrons, TWTs and transmitting tubes · some mil/aero hybrid substrates

What you need to know

You cannot identify it by sight. BeO is often pink or salmon, but white and off-white BeO exists and ordinary alumina is also white. There is no field test.
BeO is completely safe while intact and solid. The hazard is respirable particulate — dust and fume made by breaking it.
Inhaled beryllium causes chronic beryllium disease: irreversible granulomatous lung scarring, which may first appear years after the exposure. It is also a confirmed human lung carcinogen. Sensitisation can follow a single significant exposure and there is no cure.
OSHA's permissible limit is 0.2 µg/m³ over 8 hours — micrograms. It is among the lowest limits OSHA sets for anything.
If a suspect part breaks: do not dry sweep and do not use a household vacuum. Wet-wipe or use a HEPA-filtered vacuum, bag the debris, dispose as hazardous waste.

The rule: NEVER grind, sand, file, saw, drill, abrasive-cut, sandblast, hammer, crush, shred, torch, melt or incinerate anything that might contain BeO. Sell or dispose of suspect parts intact. Broken beryllium parts are worth nothing; your lungs are worth everything.

Components this applies to

Gold flat packs (military / aerospace) ICs & chips · $400–900/lb Au 3–10 g/lbAg 1–4 g/lb S Precious-Metal Sputtering Targets Other · $32000–50000/lb Au ~454 g/lb — the target is solid metalPt 138 g in a 2 in × 0.125 in discPd 77 g in a 2 in × 0.125 in disc S Thick-Film Hybrid Microcircuits ICs & chips · $15–90/lb Au 1.5–4 g/lb packaged; 5–10 g/lb stripped substratesAg 0–15 g/lb on Ag/Pd conductor variantsPd present in Ag/Pd pastes S Ceramic CCD/CIS Image Sensors ICs & chips · $150–400/lb Au 0.02–0.15 g per ceramic package ≈ 1.8 g/lbAu under 0.001 g per mobile/webcam moduleBase Nd-Fe-B in VCM actuators A Fiber transceivers (SFP/GBIC/QSFP) ⚠ Other · $10–25/lb Au 0.5–1.5 g/lb (whole modules)Ag trace A IC Test, Burn-In & ZIF Sockets Contacts & relays · $15–60/lb Au 0.5–2 g/lb complete; 3–8 g/lb de-populated contactsCu ~60 g/lbPd Pd-Ni with gold flash on high-cycle sockets A RF power transistors ☣ RF, power & vintage · $60–200/lb Au 0.5–2 g/lbBase Kovar A Telecom / military boards Boards · $11–35/lb Au 0.3–4 g/lbAg 1–8 g/lbPd 0.02–0.3 g/lbCu 15–25% A Gold-plated hermetic transistors (TO-3/TO-5/TO-18) RF, power & vintage · $40–120/lb Au 0.5–2 g/lbBase Kovar B DC-DC converter bricks & isolation modules Other · $40–400/lb Au 0.08–0.3 g/lbAg 1–4 g/lbCu ~90 g/lb C Hybrid / EV traction inverter ⚡ Automotive · $8–20/lb Cu 3–8 kg per inverterAg 0.5–3 g sinter per power stageAu 0.02–0.08 g on gate-driver boardsBase 5–15 kg aluminium housing C Klystrons & Travelling-Wave Tubes RF, power & vintage · $3–40/lb Cu ~250 g/lb (0.35–0.75 lb Cu per lb of tube)Au ~0.5–4 g per tubeAg 2–30 g per tube C Semiconductor Wafers & Fab Tooling Other · $20–200/lb Au 0.0045 g/lb generic research-fab wafer scrapAu 7.4 g/lb for 1 µm gold-backed wafersBase quartz and SiC boats: zero metal C Vacuum tubes RF, power & vintage · $5–20/lb Au 0.1–0.5 g/lb (gold-pin types)Ag traceBase nickel plates C Clip-on and bolt-on board heatsinks Other · $5–25/lb Cu 0–450 g/lb D Magnetron ☣☣ RF, power & vintage · $1–4/lb Ag 0.5–2 g per magnetronCu 200–400 g per unitBase ferrite magnets D Photomultiplier Tubes (PMTs) Other · $150–900/lb Ag 0.1–2 g per tubeAu 0–20 mg per tubeBase BeCu dynodes with an activated BeO surface D Thermal Printheads Other · $200–900/lb Au 0.002–0.02 g per head ≈ 0.06 g/lbBase Ru as RuO2 glazeBase alumina substrate + Al heatsink bar D Vintage Home Computers & Boards Boards · $80–350/lb Au 0.05–0.20 g per C64 board; 0.1–0.4 g per Apple II boardAu gold-lid ceramic DIPs at $150–400/lbCu ~40 g/lb D

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