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Nolan’s Notes: Looking Deep Into the Future With X-ray

We’re talking about catching the vision of X-ray technology in the April 2025 issue of SMT007 Magazine, and it’s the perfect opportunity to recall those back-of-the-comic books “X-ray glasses” we all fell for as kids. Our hopes and dreams of seeing through walls were quashed by the realization that our new specs were merely a rainbow filter encased in cardboard. Let’s be honest with each other, because we’re all in this business with a similar mindset: You bought some, didn’t you? It’s okay and only natural. It's what we did with our “Fantastic Four” ambitions and “paper route” finances.

As a diagnostic tool, X-ray has been around for over a century, and available to EMS inspection for some years. It seems the industry has moved far enough forward to fully embrace X-ray on the assembly line. I’m reminded of Wayne Gretzky’s famous comment about the secret to his scoring success: “I skate to where the puck will be, not where the puck is.” I liken that to X-ray inspection, which has been standing here all this time waiting for the industry to catch up. Has X-ray’s time finally come in electronics manufacturing?

We’ve just returned from IPC APEX EXPO 2025 in Anaheim, so look in this issue for my impressions on the show. I want to take a moment to reflect on the momentum I see recently with line equipment R&D. New packages are pushing pick-and-place machinery to either handle very large components or very, very small ones. New high-performance materials are tweaking the tried-and-true soldering processes. Those large packages are hiding all their solder joints underneath the package itself. None of this is really new; rather, it’s the magnitude that’s new, and it’s the magnitude that brings X-ray into focus.

To highlight this month’s topic, we start with an excerpt from a new book published by I-Connect007 by Creative Electron’s Bill Cardoso, The Printed Circuit Assembler’s Guide to… X-ray Inspection. The book starts with some X-ray history and discusses its practical applications for EMS providers. It is free to download here. Also, in this issue, I’ve included an interview I had with Bill on the IPC APEX EXPO show floor.

To further the topic of X-ray inspection applications, you’ll find two technical papers on X-ray applications that address what we’re seeing with X-ray inspection today. While one speaks to X-ray’s role in the future of advanced packaging, the other talks about DRAM damage due to X-ray inspections in the post-PCB assembly process.

With automated optical inspection, X-ray is coming into its own. It would seem it’s only a matter of time before artificial intelligence starts to put the AI in AOI, making AOI much faster and reducing the risk of human error. But each application has its own merits. As a reference, one of the award-winning papers at this year’s APEX EXPO Technical Conference was by Ben Rachinger about creating a federated database of inspection images that can be shared amongst multiple EMS companies even while protecting the proprietary information. For those of you following AI closely, this paper is a good read.

Columnist Mike Konrad moderates a discussion on X-ray applications with Jesper Lykke, president and CEO of Viscom, and Robert Boguski, CEO of Datest. This roundtable-style discussion provides some insight into user perspective on the use of X-ray inspection.

Our other columnists touch on their areas of expertise as well. Dr. Jennie Hwang continues her series on AI, Josh Casper writes on additive manufacturing, Nash Bell discusses the basics of proper lead tinning, and Tom Yang considers “Redefining Connection and Responsibility in Digital Transformation.” While perhaps not exactly on the topic of X-ray, these columns address adjacent issues that are key drivers of change on our shop floors in their own right.

All this X-ray goodness, however, is built into some “big iron” capital equipment. We’re not wearing this technology on our faces in the form of a pair of X-ray specs—not yet, at least. Nevertheless, new challenges in AOI require new inspection techniques and the thoughtful application of tried-and-true technology in new ways. So, turn on those comic book X-ray glasses and look deep into the future.

This column originally appeared in the April 2025 issue of SMT007 Magazine.