PCB Solder Mask Waveguide Sensing for Crack Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Detecting and correcting physical faults, such as cracks, in the protective coating and traces of printed circuit boards (PCBs) is challenging, leading to potential damage and waste of resources in memory sub-systems.
Innovation Solution
Embedding optical waveguides in the protective coating of PCBs to detect disruptions in a laser beam, allowing for the identification and correction of physical faults, such as cracks, by measuring differences in beam characteristics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional inspection methods are used to detect faults in protective coating, then detection capability is limited, but device complexity and resource waste increase
Solution Approach 1:
An optical waveguide is embedded within the protective coating layer to serve as an intermediary sensor. The waveguide contains an optical beam that directly detects cracks and faults in the coating, providing high measurement precision without requiring complex external inspection equipment. This resolves the contradiction by enabling accurate fault detection through an integrated intermediary element rather than through complex external systems.
2Reliability
If protective coating is applied to prevent damage, then component protection is improved, but undetected cracks can still cause trace damage and resource waste
Solution Approach 1:
The optical waveguide provides real-time feedback about the condition of the protective coating by detecting cracks through optical beam disruption. This feedback mechanism enables early warning of coating failures before they can damage underlying traces, allowing for timely intervention and preventing resource waste from component failures. The feedback loop resolves the contradiction by maintaining reliability while preventing loss through continuous monitoring.
Solution Approach 2:
The embedded optical waveguide performs preliminary detection of cracks in the protective coating before these cracks can propagate and damage the traces. By detecting faults in advance, the system enables preliminary protective actions to be taken, preventing the chain of damage that would lead to resource waste. This preliminary action resolves the contradiction by maintaining component protection while preventing loss through early fault detection.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enhances the efficiency of memory systems by preventing damage to components and reducing resource waste through early detection and correction of faults in the PCBs.
Implementation Method 1
one or more optical waveguides embedded in the protective coating, the one or more optical waveguides being configured to enable detection of a fault associated with the protective coating based on disruption of an optical beam passing through the one or more optical waveguides
Data Source
AI summary
Aspects of the present disclosure configure a processor to detect faults in a printed circuit board (PCB) solder mask using an optical waveguide. The processor directs an optical beam to an input of one or more optical waveguides embedded in a protective coating layer of a PCB, the protective coating layer being adjacent to one or more traces of the PCB. The processor measures a beam characteristic of the optical beam that is output by the one or more optical waveguides. The processor detects a disruption of the optical beam that is output by the one or more optical waveguides based on the beam characteristic. The processor detects a fault in the protective coating layer of the PCB based on detecting the disruption of the optical beam that is output by the one or more optical waveguides.