Roman metallurgy the most important being bronze, an alloy of copper and tin. Alloys are mixtures of different metals created either by smelting or by forging. It is important to note that an ore does not necessarily constitute an alloy; ore is a collection of minerals and alloyed metals. As metallurgical technology developed (hammering, melting, smelting, roasting, cupellation, moulding, smithing, etc.), more metals were intentionally included in the metallurgical repertoire. By the height of the Roman Empire, metals in use included: Gold, Silver, Copper, Tin, Lead, Zinc, Iron, Mercury, Arsenic, Antimony (Healy 1978). As in the Bronze Age, metals were used based
Printed circuit board coated with solder by hot air solder levelling (HASL). The HASL finish prevents oxidation from the underlying copper, thereby guaranteeing a solderable surface. This solder was a tin-lead alloy, however new solder compounds are now used to achieve compliance with the RoHS directive in the EU, which restricts the use of lead. One of these lead-free compounds is SN100CL, made up of 99.3% tin, 0.7% copper, 0.05% nickel, and a nominal of 60 ppm germanium. It is important to use solder compatible with both the PCB and the parts used. An example is ball grid array (BGA) using tin-lead solder