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www.us-
tech.com 21st Century Inspection: Lectronics Gains X-ray Vision By Davina McDonnell, Marketing Director, Saline Lectronics A
nalyzing solder joints for leadless compo- nents has always been tricky business. Tra- ditionally, the electronics manufacturing in-
dustry has relied on manual visual inspection or 2D X-ray systems to determine whether or not a connection is acceptable. One of the latest solutions for circuit board
assemblies packed with BGAs and QFNs is 3D X- ray inspection. In order to guarantee a product’s performance throughout its entire lifecycle, the tiny, hidden solder balls underneath bottom-termi- nated components need to be seen and analyzed. Both 2D X-ray and visual inspection are high-
ly unreliable and subjective. Without an accurate picture of what’s going on underneath the compo- nent packages, technicians won’t always agree on what constitutes an appropriate solder joint.
Without an accurate picture of what’s going on underneath the component packages, technicians won’t always agree on what constitutes an appropriate solder joint.
To remove the subjectivity of measuring accu-
rate connections in leadless components, Saline Lectronics recently invested in a Nikon XT V 160 Varian 1313Dx system with
X.Tract technology. Upgrading from a 2D X-ray system, this new, high- quality PCB inspection system allows the compa- ny’s technicians to get inside, underneath, and take a highly-magnified look at component connec- tions for complex PCB assemblies. “Our old machine was simply an X-ray,” com-
ments Scott Sober, VP of operations and manufac- turing at Lectronics. “The Nikon XT is a proper in- spection tool. With it, I will definitively know that
Nikon XT V 160 X-ray inspection system (Credit: Desiree Molnar).
my manufacturing process is providing excellent results for all bottom-terminated components.”
X-ray Vision The Nikon XT V 160 will expose any hidden
features allowing further examination of BGAs and other array-style packages as well as inspect heels of solder joints, fine pitch packages, and the internal characteristics of solder joints. With a pro- prietary NanoTech 160 kV X-ray spot and electro- magnetic lens, the system is equipped with the lat- est digital imaging technology available and pro- duces clear, sharp images at the micron level. The Nikon X-ray system will also serve as an excellent process development tool for Lectronics.
Getting clear pictures of specific areas on a PCB as- sembly that were not previously seen on the compa- ny’s older X-ray, will help to reveal any hidden, un- known defects. With defects being brought to light sooner in the assembly process, the company’s man- ufacturing team can engage in root-cause analysis, and update production procedures in order to pre- vent the defects from recurring. In fact, the Nikon system will validate manufacturing processes by providing visual proof that a solder joint is good — proving that the oven profile is accurate for that spe- cific circuit board assembly. “The Nikon Metrology team envisioned that
Saline Lectronics would implement the Nikon XT V X-ray inspection system as a quality control tool to complement their existing testing and inspection process,” says Frank Wiencek, Midwest business de- velopment manager at Nikon Metrology.” The Nikon XT V system allows Lectronics to see the quality of solder joints and other features of multi-layer boards that can’t be seen with optical inspection.” With the automated inspection mode feature
on the Nikon XT V 160, the company is able to pro- gram a variety of routines into the system that function as batch automated X-ray inspection (AXI). These routines automatically inspect a cer- tain PCB assembly, or area of components on the board, and perform a full 2D and 3D analysis of the region of interest. This will enable the compa- ny’s technicians to quickly and intuitively run rou- tines of repeated inspections for production circuit board assemblies. Running routines will help the company’s
team save time on first-time builds as well as dur- ing the troubleshooting process of any production fallout. The intelligent program control feature on the X-ray allows for customizable system control,
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February, 2017
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