ZOI

Optical inspection is an automated visual inspection of printed circuit board (PCB) (or LCD, transistor) manufacture where a camera autonomously scans the device under test for both catastrophic failure (e.g. missing component) and quality defects (e.g. fillet size or shape or component skew).

It is commonly exploited in the manufacturing process because it is a non-contact technology to inspect invisible defects in micro- and nano-scales.

An optical inspection method is employed in many stages through the manufacturing process including bare board inspection, solder paste inspection (SPI), pre-reflow and post-reflow as well as other stages.