The need for speed
New or improved machine-vision technologies must be tailored so they can be easily integrated with what's already on the factory floor.
By Ann R. Thryft, Contributing Technical Editor -- Test & Measurement World, 12/1/2009 2:00:00 AM
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In both good and bad economic times, OEMs need to increase productivity by boosting efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and sometimes just plain volumes. Makers of machine-vision systems and components are working to continuously improve their products and technologies so they help enable these goals. One thing they all have in common is the push to increase throughput, whether that’s measured in how many PCB (printed-circuit board) assemblies an AOI (automated optical inspection) machine can inspect per minute or in the number of hours it takes to produce a 6-in. photovoltaic solar wafer.
But meeting the need for speed isn’t enough. New or improved technologies not only have to be better; they must also be tailored so they can be easily integrated with what’s already on the factory floor.
For example, although dual-lane configurations are a relatively new thing in PCB assembly inspection with AOI systems, these configurations have already been doubling productivity rates in SPI (solder-paste inspection) and pick-and-place machines (see "Multilane AOI speeds PCB inspection"). And as defects continue to shrink in size, the technology may be coming soon to semiconductor inspection, too. In solar-cell inspection, SEM (scanning-electron microscope) and FIB (focused ion beam) technologies can be applied to submicron solar characterization (see "Subsurface solar-cell characterization"), but until their throughput improves, dual-beam systems are limited to offline sampling use in solar.
Contact Ann R. Thryft at ann@tmworld.com.
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