Study on minute printed wiring board inspection system with a multi-function probe

Currently, there are electrical inspection methods for detecting defects in printed wiring boards. However, the reliability of these inspections is less than ideal. In order to improve these methods, not only is it necessary to have a system that is resistant to wear, high speed, with stable data acquisition, but a system that is able to perform on high-density circuits. This research focuses on a development of a non-contact probe inspection system for printed wiring boards. In order to eliminate connectivity defects that arose from contact probes used in previous inspection methods, this new system utilizes a probe with an attached dielectric material. In order to tailor to boards with very fine wiring, it is necessary for the system to conduct high-precision positioning as well as to capture signals within a microscopic region to detect even the smallest defects. This paper is concerned with the development of a new non-contact inspection system with multi-function probe to detect defects of printed wiring boards.