Three-dimensional imaging for circuit-board assembly

A major barrier to improved process control in electronic circuit-pack assembly is the lack of robust, high-speed, cost-effective sensing technologies. As part of an overall process-control system, AT&T's Little Rock (Arkansas) Operations Center is implementing a new three-dimensional (3-D) imaging system that measures the amount of solder paste applied to circuit boards. The system uses an imaging technique that can measure the solder-paste volume of each site on a circuit board at production rates. Our investigation shows that solder-paste volume is an important process-control parameter for high-quality circuit board assembly.