The next level: high-speed controlled conformal coating processes and topology measurements

Talking about purified assembled printed circuit boards (PCBs), e.g. in automotive industry for control of airbag or antilock braking systems (ABS) one of the main issues is the protection against environmental impact. The error-free functionality has to be guaranteed even under extreme conditions and this warranty has to be provided for even a decade. The process of conformal coating is not new but nowadays manufacturer of PCBs starts to use the conformal coating process not only at selected areas, the full board is going to be protected. To keep the costs under control it is inevitable to measure the thickness of the coatings. An intelligent design of the full process chain implementing the conformal coating process are perfect conditions to integrate sensor technology for process control. This feature will describe the implementation of an optical sensor technology for the inspection of the conformal coating process to illustrate the benefit of optical sensors in today's industry.