Non-destructive techniques for the inspection of surface mount solder joints - review and experiment

TWI Industrial Member Report Summary 443/1992

M Forshaw, G A Holmes and S T Riches

Scope

There are a number of potential techniques available to address the problem of inspection of surface mount solder joints. The techniques which can be considered for this purpose are visual inspection, radiography, thermography and ultrasonic inspection.

This report describes the application of the above non-destructive testing techniques to surface mount assemblies where the advantages and limitations of each technique are established for inspection of different substrate types, package types and types of flaw, including lack of solder, non-touching leads, non-wetting, bridging and porosity.