What is a Solder Paste Inspection Machine?

A solder inspection machine is a computerized machine used to find out the variety of solder paste defects, such as area, height, volume, shape, bridge, shift, and it also helps identifies other defects, nodules, scratches, and strains. It is located after the solder printing process and uses the visual method to find defects in the PCB. 

The solder printing process is one of the important processes in PCB fabrication. It is found that most of the solder joint defects are due to the improper solder paste printing. When the defect is found before the reflow process, it is good because the cost of rework is significantly higher if the defect is found out after the reflow process. 

There are two solder inspection methods: 2D and 3D are used in the solder inspection machine. The 2D method only has the capability to find the area coverage and short defects, but the 3D method has the capability to find the defects, such as area, height, volume, shape, bridge, shift, and also it find out other defects, nodules, scratches, and strains (see Figure 2 & 3). Today, mostly 3D method is used.

The solder inspection machine visually scans the PCB surface using one or more high definition cameras. A computer then processes the scanned image and compares it with the data that has of what the board should look like. By this comparison result, the solder inspection machine detects and highlights any defects in the board.

PCB Directory has listed solder paste inspection equipment from the leading manufacturers in the industry and made it easy for users to find these machines based on their requirement. Users can view equipment specifications, download the spec sheet and get quotes. Quotes requested are routed to manufacturer of the solder paste inspection machine.