Many industries depend on the rigorous standards put in place for the production of printed circuit boards (PCBs). In the automotive industry, for example, PCBs often come into contact with environmental challenges such as high heat and vibration, and it is essential that these challenges do not cause structural defects. A major factor in ensuring the viability of a PCB is to check that its surface-mount solder joints are all properly formed.

Furthermore, to meet marketplace guidelines for miniaturization, weight reduction and use environment expansion, manufacturers are finding it increasingly difficult to satisfy the requirements for quality control. It is indispensable to establish a quality control system complying with the global quality standard ISO/TS 16949, both at the mother factory as well as at any satellite factories.

Omron has developed an innovative approach to ensuring the quality of solder joints in PCB production. Based on the fact that joint quality can be determined by quantifying the solder shape, this philosophy – known as “3D-SJI” – promotes fast program creation and tuning capability as well as stable inspection results.

This white paper will go into detail about 3D-SJI and how it can help manufacturers simultaneously boost quality and productivity on the SMT line.