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84 PCB007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2019 Article by Juha Saily FOCALSPEC INC. Introduction Line confocal sensors—and scanners based on them—are used in the imaging of surfaces, transparent materials, and multi-layered struc- tures in various metrology and inspection ap- plications on discrete parts, assemblies, webs, and other continuous products. Examples of well-suited applications for line confocal tech- nology include glossy, mirror-like, transpar- ent and multi-layered surfaces made of met- als (connector pins, conductor traces, solder bumps, etc.), polymers (adhesives, enclosures, coatings, etc.), ceramics (components, sub- strates, etc.) and glass (display panels, etc.). Line confocal sensors operate at high speed and can be used to scan fast-moving surfaces in real-time as well as stationary product sam- ples in the laboratory. Imaging results can be used to characterize a product's dimensions, form, surface topog- raphy, surface roughness, flatness, thickness, and 3D volume. The line confocal method also has a tomographic functionality, which enables the capture of 3D structures under transparent layers, as well as the simultaneous acquisition of 2D gray-scale (intensity) images from single or multiple surfaces with a large depth of fo- cus covering the sensor's entire Z range (up to 5.50 mm). Line Confocal Method Figure 1 shows the line confocal sensor mod- els that are currently in production. Each sen- sor has two front lenses—one for its transmit- ter and another for the receiver. New High-speed 3D Surface Imaging Technology in Electronics Manufacturing Applications Figure 1: Line confocal sensors.