Combining AOI and x-rays for greater flexibility
Steve Scheiber, Contributing Technical Editor -- Test & Measurement World, 2/1/2005
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| The X8051 combines x-ray technology with automated optical inspection techniques and handles board sizes up to 22x28 in. Courtesy of Viscom. |
To address this challenge, Viscom AG has introduced the X8051, an inspection system that combines 2-D and 3-D x-ray imaging capability with automated optical inspection (AOI). The company claims that no other system offers as many different inspection tools in one box.
Viscom developed the X8051 to meet manufacturers' needs for manual, semi-automatic, and fully automatic inspection and for both in-line and off-line operation. Its x-ray section detects typical faults on BGAs, surface-mount, and other components that hide their solder joints, and it can handle board sizes up to 22x28 in. The system even inspects lead-free solders, a feature that is becoming increasingly important.
Field of view
| Read other articles from this Machine-Vision & Inspection Test Report: Combining AOI and x-rays for greater flexibility The world is analog Inspecting the future A common environment simplifies application development |
The wider field lets users detect more obvious faults such as large solder shorts and whether a component is present, absent, or out of position. A rotating conveyor allows the system to inspect objects in line at angles up to 70 degrees, reducing false failures caused by mispositioning of the board under inspection.
Since the goal was to accommodate a wide range of inspection strategies, the system also permits 3-D imaging using either computer tomography (software reconstruction of a 2-D image to convey 3-D information) or laminography ("slicing" the component or board at different heights to construct a 3-D image). Other available tools include proprietary image processing and analysis, an interface that permits connection to a repair or programming station or an SPC server, and links to bar-code and data-matrix scanners for better product traceability.
By combining x-ray techniques with AOI on one system, Viscom has given customers more "bang for the buck." Also, for contract manufacturers and others who must accommodate a high product mix, a rapid changeover, and the unpredictability of what's coming next, this combined system makes it easier to modify an inspection strategy without the need to purchase additional hardware.
