Automatic PCB Inspection Algorithms: A Survey

The importance of the inspection process has been magnified by the requirements of the modern manufacturing environment. In electronics mass-production manufacturing facilities, an attempt is often made to achieve 100% quality assurance of all parts, subassemblies, and finished goods. A variety of approaches for automated visual inspection of printed circuits have been reported over the past two decades. In this survey, algorithms and techniques for the automated inspection of printed circuit boards are examined. A classification tree for these algorithms is presented and the algorithms are grouped according to this classification. This survey concentrates mainly on image analysis and fault detection strategies; these also include state-of-the-art techniques. A summary of the commercial PCB inspection systems is also presented.