leadless

Leadless refers to devices or components designed to operate without traditional leads, wires, or tethers that connect a unit to a separate controller, power source, or chassis. The term is used in multiple fields, most prominently electronics packaging and medicine.

In electronics, leadless design eliminates protruding pins or wires from components. This enables higher packaging density, reduced parasitic inductance and capacitance, and often improved mechanical robustness. Common examples include leadless ceramic chip carriers and other surface-mount formats that terminate directly to pads on a circuit board. Leadless packaging can complicate assembly and repair, and may require specialized equipment.

In medicine, leadless is used to describe devices implanted without transvenous leads routed to a remote generator. The most notable example is the leadless pacemaker, a self-contained device placed inside the heart via a catheter, typically in the right ventricle. By avoiding transvenous leads and a chest pocket for a generator, leadless cardiac devices aim to reduce lead-related complications, infection risk at the pocket, and venous obstruction. They are generally indicated for selected patients requiring single-chamber pacing; long-term management, extraction or replacement can present distinct challenges compared with conventional systems.

Development has continued to expand leadless technology, with ongoing research into multi-chamber and defibrillator options, as well as other medical applications. In electronics, leadless approaches continue to advance in microelectronics and power packaging, emphasizing reliability and miniaturization.