Relevance of 3D x-ray imaging for electronic packages and printed circuit boards

Abstract

X-ray inspection systems are key tools for quality control, yield enhancement and failure analysis of PCBs and semiconductor devices for over two decades. In many cases, these capable tools provide the only non-destructive techniques for inspection of electronic components. There have been significant improvements in the X-ray inspection capabilities (both 2D and 3D) in the last several years. Applications such as artificial intelligence (AI), 5G, high-performance computing and internet-of-things (IOT) mandate higher IO density and 3D scaling at the device, package and system levels, thereby increasing the need for non-destructive imaging at high resolution and preferably in 3D. In this paper, we discussed a nondestructive approach for printed circuit board (PCB) by using real time x-ray imaging system under 3D mode. We demonstrate our proposed process on PCB, a six-layer custom designed board and few more complex commercial boards.