International Business Machines Corporation

Michael A Sipe

Frederick G Weindelmayer

The invention is comprised of a method and apparatus for inspecting substrates and hat sink hat assemblies to determine whether the chips on the substrate and pistons on the heatsink hat assembly are matched. The inspection is carried out by separately illuminating both the substrate and the heatsink hat assembly in such a way that a bilevel image of each assembly is created. Each assembly has an associated image-acquisition device, such as a television or video camera which captures the bilevel image. These images are then converted to an array of image points. The points of the image of the substrate assembly are compared with a preset pattern to determine whether a chip is missing. A similar comparison is done with the points of the image of the heatsink hat assembly to determine whether any piston is missing. A deviation from the expected pattern will be communicated to an operator who will take corrective action.

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McLean, VA, United States of America

Michael A Sipe