Hitachi, Ltd.

Toshiaki Ichinose

Takanori Ninomiya

Yasuo Nakagawa

Asahiro Kuni

Nobuyuki Akiyama

Toshimitsu Hamada

Hisafumi Iwata

Yukio Matsuyama

Kozo Nakahata

Chie Yamanaka

Toshihiko Ayabe

A method and an apparatus for inspecting a soldered joint with an X-ray, the soldered joint being formed by soldering a lead to a surface of a substrate. The method may include moving the substrate so as to move the surface of the substrate in an XY plane to position the soldered joint at a desired position in the XY plane, rotating the substrate so as to rotate the surface of the substrate in the XY plane to position the soldered joint at a desired orientation in the XY plane, rotating an X-ray source and a detector about the soldered joint in both of two mutually perpendicular planes perpendicular to the XY plane while maintaining the X-ray source and the detector at fixed positions relative to each other to establish a desired oblique irradiation angle between an X-ray from the X-ray source and the lead on the surface of the substrate, irradiating the soldered joint with the X-ray from the X-ray source at the desired oblique irradiation angle such that the X-ray is transmitted through the soldered joint and the substrate, detecting the X-ray transmitted through the soldered joint and the substrate with the detector, the detector producing an output signal indicative of the detected X-ray, and determining a condition of the soldered joint based on the output signal of the detector. The apparatus may operate in the same fashion.

Inspection method for soldered joints using x-ray imaging and apparatus

A method for producing a thin film multilayer substrate having a base substrate, and, which a plurality of conductor pattern layers superposed thereon through dielectric layers therebetween comprises the steps of: optically detecting the uppermost conductor pattern layer whenever the conductor pattern layer is formed on the base substrate; inspecting an absence and/or presence of a fault of the conductor pattern layer; and repairing a faulty portion in accordance with fault position data detected by the inspecting. According to this method, it is possible to enhance a production yield of relatively large size of thin film multilayer substrates which needs a relatively small amount of production at a high production cost, for mounting LSI chips thereon.

Method for producing thin film multilayer substrate, and method and

A pattern defect detecting method and apparatus are disclosed on a connectivity processor to input a binary picture signal pattern and a pad position coordinate and outputting connectivity data between pads. Here, the connectivity processing refers to a processing for giving the identical number to one aggregation of connected or linked pads for the pads given to a serial pattern. In the connectivity processor wherein a plane on which the drawn pattern to be inspected is scanned by a linear sensor, the connectivity processing can be releazed almost concurrently with the scanning by driving a temporary memory. Also, a pattern defect detecting apparatus the above-mentioned connectivity. The invention processing coping with the difficulties of a required inspection level, and also represents a processing time of each embodiment theoretically. A moving time of the bed on which an inspecting object is placed and others are added to the real processing time.

Pattern defects detection method and apparatus

System for detecting pattern defects wherein images of corresponding portions of two originally identical patterns are detected and two image signals representing the images are registered with each other, a second image signal of the two registered signals is shifted by a predetermined number of pixels with respect to a first image signal, thus providing shifted second image signals. Differences in brightness between the first and second image signals as well as each of the shifted second image signals are calculated within intervals corresponding to pixels on one scanning line, thus providing a first group of difference image signals, preset values are added to and substracted from the first or second image signal to provide a sum image signal and a substraction image signal. Differences in brightness between the second or first image signal and each of the sum and substraction image signals are calculated within the intervals to provide a second group of at least two difference signals, normality of one of the two patterns is decided when the first group of difference signals and the second group of difference signals have coexistent positive and negative signs within one interval and a minimum of absolute values of the first group of difference signals and the second group of difference signals is calculated when the first and second group of difference signals have all either positive signs or negative signs within one interval, and the mimimum is detected as a true defect when the minimum exceeds a predetermined threshold.

Method and apparatus for detecting pattern defects

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Yokohama, Japan

Toshiaki Ichinose