More versatile x-ray inspection

Paul Groome Manager Automated X-Ray Inspection Teradyne Courtesy of Teradyne. For more Q&A with Paul Groome, including an explanation of how companies choose between 2-D and 3-D x-rays, see “X-ray approach depends on application.”

Q: What features have made the biggest impact on your customers?

A: Because of its approach to image acquisition, ClearVue allows the versatility of analyzing image data in either 2-D or 3-D formats on a single platform, depending on the situation. Manufacturers can obtain high-quality imaging of obscured components and BGAs and perform simpler tasks such as verifying accurate component placement and solder volumes in one pass. Companies have also been attracted by the product's high reliability.

Q: What applications have benefited?

A: The technique has proved very popular in applications that value quality over all other product characteristics—automotive, telecommunications, datacom, and military/aeronautics environments, for example.

Q: How has the approach affected the demand for older x-ray solutions?

A: To draw an analogy we are all familiar with, I would say that the transition between conventional laminography and ClearVue puts us in the same position that consumers were in when electronics manufacturers introduced compact discs in the 1980s to replace vinyl LPs. As with all technologies that suddenly and completely alter the landscape, many die-hards kept their vinyl LPs, but they also bought CD and MP3 players. Never-theless, the migration—however much people may resist it—is inevitable.

People compare ClearVue's repeatable, accurate, digital approach to the noisy, mechanical, analog alternatives. Still, many manufacturers continue to use laminography systems, and the technology has a lot of life left. Until now, it was the only viable 3-D x-ray solution. People understand both its strengths and its limitations.

Q: What about the future?

A: Projected growth rates through 2010 for automated x-ray inspection (AXI) will top 16%. With other automated vision and test solutions experiencing growth of less than 8%, it is clear that the demographic is shifting away from those more traditional inspection approaches to x-ray. And although our 2-D solutions have enjoyed considerable success, the addition of 3-D imaging is generating considerable excitement.

Q: What's causing all the “buzz”?

A: Customers are excited by the fact that the x-ray sources don't have to move. This architecture simplifies the system's mechanical design. The resulting increased reliability and reduced downtime contribute significantly to companies' bottom lines.

Q: What improvements would you like to see in the technology going forward?

A: To be honest, the system addresses the needs of manufacturers for whom quality is the highest-priority concern, but determining how to apply it in a specific situation often requires a higher skill level than we might like. We'd like to make it easier to use.