Aviation/aerospace industry
Especially in the aviation/aerospace sectors, because of their exceptionally high quality requirements, inspection of electronic components cannot be neglected. Material flaws or defects in the electronics present economic disadvantages for the supplier and fatal consequences for the end user. A 100 % inspection is often required; this cannot be conducted by the human eye, or would be inefficient if it were.
For these reasons, many areas of the supply sector decide on automatic optical inspection (AOI) or increasingly, on X-ray inspection (AXI) to inspect non-visible solder joints. In addition to AOI and AXI, Viscom is one of the few suppliers to offer combined inspection with camera modules and X-ray tube, for example, with the inspection system X7056. Advantage: the inspection system joins the high speed of incident light inspection with the detection of concealed defects.
The application spectrum for AXI is continually widening. Among the classical applications are inspection of die attachments and wire bonding (sealed or within closed housings) as well as concealed solder joints on BGAs, µBGAs, Flip-Chips or bumps.
X-ray inspection can also be adopted in machine construction to detect voids in metal or synthetic cast parts or to inspect adhesive and screwless connection technologies.
For example, assemblies for products ranging from aerospace applications to cranes and construction machinery can be inspected with AOI and AXI. Such products control and monitor climate control installations, vehicle or actuation systems and are used by nearly all significant aircraft construction enterprises, such as Airbus or Boeing.
The use of automatic and neutral inspection processes has given a considerable boost to inspection depth. Today, PCBs with up to 6000 soldering sites are no longer a rarity. Now, exactly the same parameters are employed board after board. Because defect-free solder joints are recognized automatically, personnel can concentrate on evaluating and responding to error warnings. Automatic optical inspection spares significant costs and facilitates traceability of the production process as well.
A single system that combines automatic optical and X-ray inspections is especially well suited where 100 % quality inspection is required.
