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New X-ray inspection system is last piece in CIL jigsaw
Custom Interconnect Ltd (CIL), the Whitchurch based electronics design and contract manufacture company, has taken delivery of the first DAGE XD7600 XiDAT digital X-ray system to be installed in the Europe.
The state-of-the-art system will be used both in-house and
offered on a sub-contract service to other manufacturers to provide
a diagnostic tool that allows high accuracy, non-destructive integrity
analysis. With resolution down to 600nm (0.6 microns), it is the
most accurate system available in the UK.
In addition to inspecting BGA / uBGA devices it will also be used
to analyse voiding under semiconductor die because when attaching
LED / LASER die or power devices such as MOSFETs, it is vital
that the die attach is void-free for good thermal management.
CIL managing director, John Boston said: "The simple truth of
the matter is that you cannot undertake BGA assembly with any
confidence without X-ray. A number of our customers who are selling
to Japan are demanding better than Five Sigma (1 fault in 100,000
assemblies). In these cases it is not just a question of having
accurate SMT placement equipment and providing high reliability,
it is necessary to provide statistical proof of the process control.
This will be even more important when switching to lead-free as
there is bound to be issues arising over soldering.
"In addition to providing a sub-contract service for our customers
this investment will enable us to improve and control our own
internal processes. We reviewed four other systems but the DAGE
XD7600 was substantially better than all the others in terms of
specification and performance."
The DAGE XD7600 XiDAT Digital X-ray Inspection System provides
single image and/or video with resolution down to 600nm for assemblies
up to 458mm x 407mm in size. It can therefore cope with almost
any PCB in manufacture.
The purchase of this system brings CIL's outlay in capital equipment
to just over £1 million in the past two years and it completes
an impressive array of the latest electronic manufacturing equipment
at CIL.
"This is the final piece in the jigsaw adding to the three fully
automated SMT lines (one of which is processing lead-free), two
aluminium wire bonders, DAGE Series 4000 pull/shear test and the
OPUS 3 selective soldering machine that have been installed over
the past couple of years. This, added to the our new design department
running the latest circuit simulation and PCB layout software
package leads me to believe that we now have a facility that is
second to none in the UK." added John Boston.
He also reports on a change of emphasis recently saying: "Customers
are no longer come to us to manufacture their products, but they
are coming to us get their next generation of products developed
and manufactured on state-of-the-art facilities, in terms of both
manufacturing and diagnostic tools."
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