ACW Technology Selects phoenix|x-ray from Contax

Contax Ltd - UK

10 April 2008

Production automation system specialist, Contax Ltd, has recently supplied a phoenix|x-ray microme|x system and new x|act software to major contract electronics manufacturer, ACW Technology Ltd. This new system enhances their existing x-ray inspection capability, and will provide ACW with greater inspection accuracy so improving process control and fault diagnosis.

Explained Dave Norris, Process Engineer at ACW Technology Ltd “Our existing system was over 5 years old, x-ray technologies have moved on considerably since then and we wanted to take advantage of this technology leap”

“Boards are becoming more of a challenge,” he continued. “We are being asked to build higher density circuit boards with ever increasing numbers of Area Array packages, which are either high mass high ball count BGAs, or sub-miniature CSPs, and all this with an ever-growing quantity of components being placed on the underside of circuit boards, directly beneath these arrays.”

“Whilst all x-ray inspection systems will detect obvious faults such as shorts, non-wetting and parts under BGAs, we wanted a system that went beyond simple fault recognition”.

ACW reviewed the market and shortlisted 3 market leading x-ray systems, including the phoenix microme|x.

“We had a very clear idea of our criteria,” Dave commented. “We were looking for excellent image quality, high equipment specification, easy to use operator interface, intuitive software features, good build quality and guaranteed support,” he explained.

“The right choice was critical, so as well as evaluating the microme|x, we went to Germany to visit the phoenix factory. Everything about phoenix impressed us,” he said. “The build quality is superb, and the Company is very impressive – very professional,” he added.

Support was another criteria on Dave Norris’s list. He continued, “As part of our review, we also looked at the suppliers, and the number of engineers available in our area. Contax passed this test with flying colours. They have a good, sound, reputation and excellent support infrastructure, with helpful and knowledgeable staff,” he said.

Commenting on the current status of the installation, Dave concluded, “We are still in the process of learning the software - but it does everything we want and more. Because of the image quality and high magnification, we are now able to detect even very subtle faults that may not have previously been flagged. This visual feedback will enable us to set up, control and monitor our processes more accurately, and provide an invaluable tool for our diagnostics engineers,” he finished.

x|act Software
Launched at Productronica, November 2007, the new x|act software allows fast, CAD based fully automated inspection of solder joints at the highest magnifications. It comes with a specially designed, intuitive inspection program, which requires only a simple, one-time configuration. Using a scanner, the component’s CAD-data is read into the x-ray system and laid over the image (live CAD-Overlay). This allows the user to have the complete sample data available at all times, even with rotating and tilting the sample and during ovhm.

The software platform features a CAD view, which is constantly displayed in small view on the screen, to facilitate navigation of the sample.