PCB Technical - AI improves the accuracy of PCB layout and inspection

Most designers manually carry out printed circuit board (PCB) design and wiring that are complicated and time-consuming.The use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology to support related tasks has great potential,and it is expected to greatly improve the efficiency and accuracy of PCB layout and inspection.Including process simplification and performance improvement,there are opportunities to reach unprecedented levels, which will create a new situation and create huge business opportunities for the PCB manufacturing industry.

According to reports,AI technology is developing rapidly and practical applications are reshaping the way people live and work. The long-term goal of many researchers is to create AI technology that can comprehend by analogy and deal with general problems,which can surpass human performance in any cognitive work. At present, AI can strengthen the real-time communication between automation systems and between automation systems and operators, assist the manufacturing industry to increase production capacity and reduce scrap rates, and strengthen the management efficiency of assets, inventory, and supply chains.

The AI technology used by the existing AI system has a narrow application range and is difficult to draw inferences.It can only deal with such things as detecting cyber threats, driving vehicles, facial recognition,Internet search,and PCB component placement based on the data of the training algorithm.Specific problems such as placement,PCB inspection, equation solving, etc., but the degree of expertise that can be achieved may even surpass that of humans.

As the manufacturing industry moves toward Industry 4.0 and transforms into a smart factory,it is crucial to introduce AI technology in PCB manufacturing.As the application of AI technology in PCB manufacturing and even the entire electronics industry gradually becomes the mainstream,the future Will be the key to ensuring the success of the plan.It is expected that AI technology will have a positive impact on operating procedures and speed,trust and reliability,and will greatly contribute to the transformation of the PCB manufacturing industry.

As the size of the PCB board is shrinking,the requirements for arranging the placement of components are getting higher and higher.The precision placement tool for electronic components with built-in AI technology allows manufacturers to more accurately arrange the components on the PCB.The placement position is optimized to improve PCB performance and assembly efficiency.In addition,the application of AI technology in PCB manufacturing inspection operations can narrow the inspection range according to the locations of frequent defects,which can reduce the cost and time spent in PCB inspection.

One of the main applications of automatic optical inspection (AOI) solutions in PCB manufacturing is defect classification.The usual method of operation is to transmit the image to the remote multi-image verification workstation by the AOI device,and the human operator.The judgment is really flawed or false,but it is inevitable that there will be errors and deficiencies in the handling of humans.The AI solution is trained based on the judgment results of human operators,so it has the ability to autonomously perform classification judgments with consistent accuracy.

However,to achieve the desired performance,training must be carried out with the correct data pattern,so that the AI system can gradually learn the correct algorithm behavior. In addition, because even the most subtle data changes will completely reverse the results of the AI system's judgment,it can be seen that data is one of the keys to AI applications.The lack of high-quality,labeled information,AI technology will be useless,so the AI system The sensitivity of the data is very important.