ELECTRONIC SENSORS The smart way to inspect PCBs


In PCB manufacturing, smart displacement sensors can be used in pick-and-place machines, where they perform reliable quality inspection at micrometer accuracies, as well as inspecting the position of integrated components, says Glenn Wedgbrow, business development manager at Micro-Epsilon UK


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ensors that inspect the position of highly-integrated components during PCB production must overcome a series of challenges. Primarily, these include high speeds due to the highly dynamic production process, a small focus diameter due to extremely small components and high spatial resolution due to minimal displacement changes that must be detected.


The optoNCDT 1420 series of smart laser triangulation sensors from Micro-Epsilon measure on a non-contact basis and do not affect the PCB or its highly-sensitive components. The non-contact measuring procedure enables the laser sensors to acquire and process the measurement values very quickly. The most important characteristics of laser triangulation sensors are their high performance, extremely compact design and reliable signal adjustment on changing surfaces, which ensures high precision results.


Fig 1: In the manufacture of PCBs, highest precision is required. Smart optoNCDT displacement sensors from Micro-Epsilon perform reliable quality monitoring at micrometer-accuracies.


Fig 2: Scribe lines in PCB panels must also be measured precisely. The optoNCDT 1420 laser sensor is ideal for this application due to its unique combina- tion of speed, precision and compact design.


20 FEBRUARY 2025 | ELECTRONICS FOR ENGINEERS


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