A Review and Analysis of Automatic Optical Inspection and Quality Monitoring Methods in Electronics Industry

Electronics industry is one of the fastest evolving, innovative, and most competitive industries. In order to meet the high consumption demands on electronics components, quality standards of the products must be well-maintained. Automatic optical inspection (AOI) is one of the non-destructive techniques used in quality inspection of various products. This technique is considered robust and can replace human inspectors who are subjected to dull and fatigue in performing inspection tasks. A fully automated optical inspection system consists of hardware and software setups. Hardware setup include image sensor and illumination settings and is responsible to acquire the digital image, while the software part implements an inspection algorithm to extract the features of the acquired images and classify them into defected and non-defected based on the user requirements. A sorting mechanism can be used to separate the defective products from the good ones. This article provides a comprehensive review of the various AOI systems used in electronics, micro-electronics, and opto-electronics industries. In this review the defects of the commonly inspected electronic components, such as semiconductor wafers, flat panel displays, printed circuit boards and light emitting diodes, are first explained. Hardware setups used in acquiring images are then discussed in terms of the camera and lighting source selection and configuration. The inspection algorithms used for detecting the defects in the electronic components are discussed in terms of the preprocessing, feature extraction and classification tools used for this purpose. Recent articles that used deep learning algorithms are also reviewed. The article concludes by highlighting the current trends and possible future research directions.Framework of the IQONIC Project; European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program

Vision based systems for hardness testing and NDT.

The work presented in this thesis concerns the development of vision based systems for two hardness (destructive) tests, namely; the Shore and Vickers and a quality assurance non-destructive test. In each case the vision system is based on an IBM PC compatible computer fitted with a commercially available frame store. Bespoke image analysis software was written using the C language for each system. In the Shore test, hardness is judged by the maximum rebound height attained by an indenter incident on a test sample. The purpose of the vision system is to measure the rebound height automatically. Laser light is used to illuminate the indenter and a vidicon vision camera is used to view its motion. Two approaches to the problem are considered; one in which image data is analysed in real time and one in which image·data is merely stored in real time and analysed a posteriori. Non-real time analysis is shown to be superior to real time analysis in terms of accuracy and reliablity and its software implementation is discussed in detail. The Vickers test uses the size of the permanent impression left by an indenter forced into the test material under a known load as a hardness index. In this case the purpose of the vision system is to measure the size of the indentation automatically. The original image analysis algorithms are shown to be capable of analysing good quality samples but are unreliable when applied to poor quality specimens. Further, fault-tolerant, algorithms are described to provide reliable and accurate results over wide variations in sample quality.The quality assurance application involves automated visual inspection of novel ferrite components for defects. Each component is approximately 8 mm in diameter, annular in shape, and coated with aluminium. Laser light is used to illuminate individual components which arc viewed using a charge-coupled device (CCD) video camera. Image analysis algorithms for characterising defects in component geometry and surface finish arc discussed. The system is shown to capable of measuring component edge eccentricity and hole offset as well as providing a quantitative description of surface chips and cracks. The system is further shown to be capable of separately classifying surface defects extending to the edge of a component. Calculation of shape parameters for surface defects also provides a means of distinguishing cracks from surface chips

The development of the MIC detector for space applications

Since the development of the original Boksenberg IPCS at UCL several innovations have led to a highly compact, lightweight detector, the MIC-IPCS. A version specially designed for space applications is described here. The design has been based around the special requirements of a space based system. The design and operation of each component of the detector is described. The detector incorporates a microchannel plate intensifier specifically designed for photon counting. The properties of the intensifier that limit the detector performance are considered. The output of the intensifier is coupled to a CCD via a fibre optic taper. The characteristics of fibre coupling are discussed and the effects the fibre taper introduces via pin cushion distortion are considered in detail. A fast scanning CCD is used as a readout device and the operation and design of the camera is described. The CCD data is presented to the image processing electronics that perform various important functions on the data. The design of each component circuit is considered in detail, in particular, a new interpolative centroiding technique has been developed. Tests were carried out to assess the performance of the detector. The results are discussed and the performance characteristics of the detector evaluated. I have been personally responsible for the design and testing of the processing electronics, the analysis of the phosphor decay characteristics of the image intensifier and for analysis of fibre taper distortion and efficiency. Additionally, when construction of the detector was complete, I took part in all the subsequent system tests and data reduction together with the other members of the group

DESIGN OF A BURST MODE ULTRA HIGH-SPEED LOW-NOISE CMOS IMAGE SENSOR

Ultra-high-speed (UHS) image sensors are of interest for studying fast scientific phenomena and may also be useful in medicine. Several published studies have recently achieved frame rates of up to millions of frames per second (Mfps) using advanced processes and/or customized processes. This thesis presents a burst-mode (108 frames) UHS low-noise CMOS image sensor (CIS) based on charge-sweep transfer gates in an unmodified, standard 180 nm front-side-illuminated CIS process. By optimizing the photodiode geometry, the 52.8 μm pitch pixels with 20x20 μm^2 of active area, achieve a charge-transfer time of less than 10 ns. A proof-of-concept CIS was designed and fabricated. Through characterization, it is shown that the designed CIS has the potential to achieve 20 Mfps with an input-referred noise of 5.1 e− rms

Research and technology

Activities of the Goddard Space Flight Center are described in the areas of planets and interplanetary media, comets, astronomy and high-energy physics, solar physics, atmospheres, terrestrial physics, ocean science, sensors and space technology, techniques, user space data systems, space communications and navigation, and system and software engineering. Flight projects and mission definition studies are presented, and institutional technology is described

NASA Tech Briefs, July 1992

Topics include: New Product Ideas; Electronic Components and Circuits; Electronic Systems; Physical Sciences; Materials; Computer Programs; Mechanics; Machinery; Fabrication Technology; Mathematics and Information Sciences; Life Sciences

Future Computer Requirements for Computational Aerodynamics

Recent advances in computational aerodynamics are discussed as well as motivations for and potential benefits of a National Aerodynamic Simulation Facility having the capability to solve fluid dynamic equations at speeds two to three orders of magnitude faster than presently possible with general computers. Two contracted efforts to define processor architectures for such a facility are summarized

Conference on Charge-Coupled Device Technology and Applications

Papers were presented from the conference on charge coupled device technology and applications. The following topics were investigated: data processing; infrared; devices and testing; electron-in, x-ray, radiation; and applications. The emphasis was on the advances of mutual relevance and potential significance both to industry and NASA's current and future requirements in all fields of imaging, signal processing and memory

The Sixth Annual Workshop on Space Operations Applications and Research (SOAR 1992)

This document contains papers presented at the Space Operations, Applications, and Research Symposium (SOAR) hosted by the U.S. Air Force (USAF) on 4-6 Aug. 1992 and held at the JSC Gilruth Recreation Center. The symposium was cosponsored by the Air Force Material Command and by NASA/JSC. Key technical areas covered during the symposium were robotic and telepresence, automation and intelligent systems, human factors, life sciences, and space maintenance and servicing. The SOAR differed from most other conferences in that it was concerned with Government-sponsored research and development relevant to aerospace operations. The symposium's proceedings include papers covering various disciplines presented by experts from NASA, the USAF, universities, and industry

NBS monograph

From Introduction: "This is the second in a series of reports concerned with research and development requirements and areas of continuing concern in the computer and information sciences and technologies.