Lead-free assemblies present no problems for AOI

Lead-free assemblies present no problems for AOI

Keywords: Lead-free soldering, Assembly

The National Physical Laboratory has just completed a comprehensive benchmarking of six automatic optical inspection (AOI) systems using lead-free assemblies. This work has clearly shown that current AOI systems are just as capable of inspecting lead-free assemblies as they are for SnPb assemblies.

The NPL's results clearly showed that all the systems in this study were capable of inspecting lead-free assemblies with the same algorithms as used for the inspection of SnPb assemblies. Indeed the results achieved with lead-free assemblies were very similar or better than those for SnPb assemblies, measured in a previous AOI benchmarking project.

The future looks good for AOI and lead-free. Potential users can now approach system acquisition with increased confidence, knowing that when their production lines change over to lead-free, their automatic inspection equipment should cause no problems beyond a little programming.

For further information on Agency, Contact: Mike Judd, Mike Judd Marketing. E-mail: chris.hunt@npl.co.uk