Sep 16, 2013 
Nordson DAGE, a division of Nordson Corporation (NASDAQ: NDSN) is delighted to announce that Evstatin Krastev, Ph.D., partnered with Zhen (Jane) Feng, Ph. D., Tho Vu, Michael Xie, David A. Geiger and Murad Kurwa of FLEXTRONICS International Inc., and Zohair Mehkri of Santa Clara University, will be presenting their paper titled, “2D/3D X-Ray Inspection: Process Control and Development Tool” during technical session PRC2 Imaging, Inspection and Quality at the upcoming SMTA International in Fort Worth Texas. Technical session PRC 2 is scheduled to take place Wednesday, October 16, from 4:00pm-5:30pm in room 201B of the Fort Worth Convention Center.
The paper discusses the issues surrounding the realities for PCBA manufacturing caused by the increasing use of BGA (ball grid array) and POP (package on package) packages. As most of the solder joints in these devices are invisible optically, it means AXI (automated X-ray inspection) is becoming more frequently used in SMT lines. The experience is that it is very challenging for current AXI machines to achieve defect escape rates of better than 2% and false call PPM of less than 2000 for BGAs, POPs and some types of connectors. Therefore this paper discusses the best ways to utilize the X-ray inspections techniques currently available and how to improve this situation. It will suggest methods of optimizing the AXI algorithms used and indicate the correlation between AXI and 2D/3D CT X-ray inspection results.
The 2D/3D X-ray inspection described is used to
1. Identify solder joint head-in-pillow (HIP) defects in BGA devices, and utilize the collected data to improve the AXI programming process
2. Identify solder joint quality of POP on cavity board, to improve the SMT process.
The 3D X-ray test method discussed is 3D X-ray Board Level Computer Tomography (Limited Angle Computer Tomography or PCT). As these inspection methods are non-destructive it means that expensive boards do not need to be destroyed during the inspection process.
Headquartered in Aylesbury, UK, Nordson DAGE is a unit of the Nordson Corporation and manufactures and supports a complete range of award winning digital X-ray inspection systems and bond test equipment for the printed circuit board assembly and semiconductor industries. For more information, visit www.nordsondage.com.
Nordson Corporation delivers precision technology solutions that help customers increase speed, productivity and up-time, enable new products and features, and decrease material usage. The company engineers, manufactures and markets differentiated products and systems used for dispensing adhesives, coatings, sealants, biomaterials and other materials, fluid management, testing and inspection, and UV curing and surface plasma treatment, all supported by application expertise and direct global sales and service. Nordson serves a wide variety of consumer non-durable, durable and technology end markets including packaging, nonwovens, electronics, medical, appliances, energy, transportation, building and construction, and general product assembly and finishing. Founded in 1954 and headquartered in Westlake, Ohio, the company has operations and support offices in more than 30 countries. Visit Nordson at www.nordson.com, twitter.com/Nordson_Corp, or Facebook.com/Nordson.
