X-ray electronics inspection machine's innovative motion control is provided by versatile PCI card

Citation

(2001), "X-ray electronics inspection machine's innovative motion control is provided by versatile PCI card", Sensor Review, Vol. 21 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/sr.2001.08721daf.006

X-ray electronics inspection machine's innovative motion control is provided by versatile PCI card

X-ray electronics inspection machine's innovative motion control is provided by versatile PCI cardKeywords: Machine vision, Printed circuit boards

Mouse-controlled movement provides views of hidden solder bonds on PCBs, or chip internals at semiconductor plants.

The ground-breaking mouse-controlled positioning delivered by Dage's new X-ray electronics inspection machines is handled by Baldor's NextMove PCIbus motion controller card (Plate 5).

In order to provide revealing views of hidden solder joints on surface-mount printed-circuit boards (PCBs) – or internal views of the new generations of chip packages such as CSP and BGA – the card performs sophisticated correlations of up to five axes of movement in real-time. These allow the operator to orbit around an area of interest under the direction of simple hand movements. The motion controller translates these to three sets of synchronised motion that site the PCB or chip area of interest in the right position, while keeping it close against the X-ray source on one side and moving the imaging system as needed on the other.

Plate 5 A new Dage X-ray electronics inspection machine

Dage's XL series X-ray machines are controlled by PCs. The NextMove motion controller card plugs into a PC's PCIbus expansion slot, and works as a semi-autonomous subsystem. It receives double-click and click-and-drag requests to move to exact positions and/or perform controlled scans, and performs the real-time calculations and moves required to realise the positioning.

Programming these correlated and interpolated multi-axis movements was simplified by Mint's large library of specialist keywords which make complex movements available as high-level commands. Dage utilises many of these in the new machine including SPLINE – which proved of particular value on this project as it effectively allowed the creation of custom movement profiles.

Dage had the option of using the Mint language in either its native interpreted form, or as a library of compatible "C" language routines. It chose the latter for this particular machine project because of the computationally-intensive nature of the movements required. This approach allowed the final program to be made very compact and fast-executing, for use in the embedded system, providing the machine's operators with virtually immediate responses to positioning requests.

Designed for ease of use in a production environment, Dage's XL series of X-ray inspection systems deliver highly magnified, high resolution, all-around oblique-angle views of otherwise invisible solder bonds connecting array components to the PCB substrate. A straightforward "point and click" software interface provides system control, enabling rapid inspection and analysis over areas up to 24 x 20 inches.

For further information please contact: Eddie Palmer, or Catherine Adams, Baldor, Mint Motion Centre, 6 Bristol Distribution Park, Hawkley Drive, Bristol, BS32 0BF, UK. Tel: +44 (0)1454 850000; Fax: +44 (0)1454 859001; E-mail: eddie.palmer@baldor.co.uk or catherine.adams@baldor.co.uk