General Scanning, Inc.

View Engineering, Inc.

Gsi Group Corporation

Gsi Lumonics Corporation

Synthetic Vision Systems, Inc.

Donald K Rohrer

Donald J Svetkoff

Robert W Kelley

Robert Lea Jackson

David A Noblett

John J Weisgerber

Ronald J Svetkoff

Patrick F Leonard

E North Coleman, Jr

A method and system are provided for inspecting electronic components mounted on printed circuit boards utilizing both 3-D and 2-D data associated with the components and the background on which they are mounted on the printed circuit board. Preferably, a 3-D scanner in the form of a solid state dual detector laser images the components and solder paste on the printed circuit board to obtain the 3-D and 2-D data. Then, a high speed image processor processes the 3-D data to find the locations of the leads and the solder paste. Then, the high speed image processor processes the 2-D data together with the locations of the leads and the solder paste to distinguish the leads from the solder paste. The high speed image processor may calculate centroids of feet of the leads, average height of the feet and border violation percentage of the solder paste.

Method and system for inspecting electronic components mounted on printed circuit boards

A method and system for automatically generating reference height data for use in a 3D inspection system are provided wherein local reference areas on an object are initially determined and then the height of these local reference areas are determined to generate the reference height data. When the object is a printed circuit board, the local reference areas are located relative to predetermined interconnect sites where solder paste is to be deposited or components placed and from which the relative height of the solder paste or components is to be determined using the reference height data during the subsequent inspection process.

Method and system for automatically generating reference height data for use in a three-dimensional inspection system

A method and system for three-dimensional imaging of objects, including integrated circuit interconnections and many other microelectronic assemblies and miniature parts, is used to greatly improve the efficiency of triangulation-based laser line scanning systems. A scanning beam is incident at a normal angle to the X,Y inspection plane with the scan line oriented at 45.degree., diagonal to an axis defining a first direction of motion. Motion of the imaging head along the axis is used to acquire line scan images in the non-orthogonal coordinate system having symmetry about the orthogonal axes of motion.

Method and system for triangulation-based, 3-D imaging utilizing an

A triangulation-based method and system for high speed 3D and gray scale imaging and associated pre-processing of digitized information allows for estimation or filtering of height and gray scale values based upon the confidence level of the information obtained from a pair of sensors and also based upon knowledge of the object structure and its reflectance characteristics. A modulated laser beam is scanned across the object to create a plurality of spots which are viewed by a pair of well-matched receivers. Each receiver includes a light collection and delivery system, a position sensitive detector, and an associated ratiometric signal processor, or similar means for extraction of height and intensity information or data by triangulation. An optional automatic light control sub-system provides greatly extended dynamic range with control inputs derived from an amplifying detector included in each receiver to maximize occurrences of valid data points. Prior to image processing, each point in the digitized 3D and gray scale data is transformed based upon the digital values of the gray scale and height values. The multi-channel pointwise transformation produces an improved estimate of intensity and height at a point of interest, or is used to filter the data for improvements in the 3D and gray scale contrast prior to image processing and measurement analysis. Either linear or non-linear transformations are utilized, based on the match between 3D and gray values, and other conditions which determine the confidence level of the information.

Triangulation-based 3-D imaging and processing method and system

A triangulation-based method and system for high speed 3D and gray scale imaging and associated pre-processing of digitized information allows for estimation or filtering of height and gray scale values. This estimation is based upon the confidence level of the information obtained from a pair of sensors and also based upon knowledge of the object structure and its reflectance characteristics. A modulated laser beam is scanned across the object to create a plurality of spots which are viewed by a pair of well-matched receivers. Each receiver includes a light collection and delivery system, a position sensitive detector, and an associated ratio-metric signal processor, or similar means for extraction of height and intensity information or data by triangulation. An optional automatic light control sub-system provides greatly extended dynamic range with control inputs derived from an amplifying detector included in each receiver to maximize occurrences of valid data points. Prior to image processing, each point in the digitized 3D and gray scale data is transformed based upon the digital values of the gray scale and height values. The multi-channel pointwise transformation produces an improved estimate of intensity and height at a point of interest, or is used to filter the data for improvements in the 3D and gray scale contrast prior to image processing and measurement analysis. Either linear or non-linear transformations are utilized, based on the match between 3D and/or gray values, and other conditions which determine the confidence level of the information.

Triangulation-based 3D imaging and processing method and system

A method and system for three-dimensional imaging of objects, including integrated circuit interconnections to improve the efficiency of triangulation-based laser line scanning systems. A scanning beam is incident at a normal angle to the X,Y inspection plane with the scan line oriented at 45.degree., diagonal to an axis defining a first direction of motion. Motion of the imaging head along the axis is used to acquire line scan images in the non-orthogonal coordinate system.

A triangulation-based method and system for high speed 3D and gray scale imaging and associated pre-processing of digitized information allows for estimation or filtering of height and gray scale values based upon the confidence level of the information obtained from a pair of sensors and also based upon knowledge of the object structure and its reflectance characteristics. A modulated laser beam is scanned across the object to create a plurality of spots which are viewed by a pair of well-matched receivers. Each receiver includes a light collection and delivery system, a position sensitive detector, and an associated ratio-metric signal processor, or similar means for extraction of height and intensity information or data by triangulation. An optional automatic light control sub-system provides greatly extended dynamic range with control inputs derived from an amplifying detector included in each receiver to maximize occurrences of valid data points. Prior to image processing, each point in the digitized 3D and gray scale data is transformed based upon the digital values of the gray scale and height values. The multi-channel pointwise transformation produces an improved estimate of intensity and height at a point of interest, or is used to filter the data for improvements in the 3D and gray scale contrast prior to image processing and measurement analysis. Either linear or non-linear transformations are utilized, based on the match between 3D and gray values, and other conditions which determine the confidence level of the information.

A method and system are disclosed for automatically visually inspecting an article such as an electronic circuit wherein both reference and non-reference algorithms are utilized to detect circuit defects. The system includes a pipelined cellular image processor which is utilized to implement the non-reference algorithm and an arithmetic logic unit (ALU) is coupled to the output of the cellular image processor to perform the reference method. The non-reference method includes a spaces and traces algorithm and the reference method includes a topology matching algorithm. The system also includes an algorithm for locating and gauging critical areas of the circuit with sub-pixel accuracy. The cellular image processor is supported by a matched host image processor system

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Whitmore Lake, MI, United States of America

Donald K Rohrer