Quality assurance through X-ray inspection
- quality control of the invisible inner conductor systems
- non-destructive inspection of printed circuit boards
- detection of typical errors
- checking hidden solder joints on BGA components (BGA rework)
- ensuring product safety and high quality requirements
- in demand especially in the automotive industry and medical technology
How does the x-ray inspection work?
The automatic X-ray inspection (AXI) is in principle comparable to the automatic optical inspection (AOI), except that X-rays are used instead of light. This is absorbed differently by the different materials of the printed circuit boards, components and solder alloys. The various components and connections of the printed circuit boards are shown on the resulting recordings and automatically evaluated in series with the help of appropriate image processing programs. Manual X-ray inspection (MXI) is used for sample analysis and special testing of individual components.
Different approaches for different requirements
Since the 2D technology only takes one picture per component with vertical radiation of the assemblies, the effort is not so high and the process is fast. The method is suitable for checking hidden solder points, bond points, connection contacts and for verifying the quality and homogeneity of the solder points.
With 2.5D technology with angled radiation, shadowing can be better recognized. However, the technical effort for generating the oblique view-throughs is considerably higher.
With the help of 3D technology or computer tomography with oblique radiation from different directions, the different placement levels can be displayed. The different levels of complex components (for example, double-sided printed circuit boards) are recorded individually. Due to the possibility of highlighting different materials in color, components and assemblies can also be checked for possible material or processing errors.