Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1466505
52 SMT007 MAGAZINE I MAY 2022 Johnson: Angled images? In that regard, are you starting to rely on more than just 2D contrast for identification? Are you starting to use a little bit of a 3D angle at this? Caissie: at's right. It's not quite 3D, but more than a top-down 2D image. We can tilt the detector in the machine up to 45 degrees so we can get an angled image so you can see the top and bottom of structures like vias, to see exactly where the solder is placed in three dimensions. Johnson: What's the advantage to these angled images? Caissie: In boards where you have multiple layers, it is sometimes helpful to look inside through-holes and vias just to see if the solder is completely filling those areas with no voids in the solder. Johnson: e additional angles certainly help you get a more complete picture of what's going on there. Caissie: at's right. You can also use that fea- ture to look around some tall components that might be blocking your view. You can angle the detector to see around those types of compo- nents as well. Johnson: You have some capabilities within the Apogee to handle some different types of boards. What makes that challenging? Why does that require you to do something differ- ent? Caissie: We have a 90-kiloVolt system, which is good for smaller, thinner boards. When you get into the larger boards with multiple layers, it does get a little more difficult for that X-ray to penetrate all the way through. We have a 130-kiloVolt version coming that will be more appropriate for those types of applications. Johnson: Because of the board type, you need to optimize. One system is not going to work for every board thickness. Caissie: at's right. We typically use the higher power system for applications like server boards and automotive components. ose thicker boards are going to require more power to penetrate through those boards to see all the different layers. Johnson: With this new capability and trying to work at this market where you're dealing with the smaller, lighter boards, what are some of the key market drivers? Obviously, you need a slightly different X-ray system to optimize to those sorts of boards, but what are your cus- tomers looking for? Caissie: We typically see customers asking for automated routines to inspect a number of dif- ferent locations on a board, to bring that data into automatic reports, and to load that data into a database. We also see a lot of custom- ers looking for BGA analysis tools and inspec- tion analysis that will automatically generate reports on things like solder fill, solder void- ing, etc. Johnson: Now we're starting to talk about data collection. Caissie: Yes. ese machines can automate inspection and generate reports. We can save that information into custom locations or into a customer database. We can include differ- ent information, like the X-ray settings used or image annotations, in those reports as well. Johnson: What are some of the new things a manufacturing floor supervisor and manage- Brennan Caissie