Electronics Inspection: A Portrait in Speed

Daniel C. McCarthy, Senior Editor

Last year, the electronics industry accounted for 21.4 percent of machine vision units sold in North America. The segment is second only to the semiconductor market, which represented 34.7 percent, according to the Automated Imaging Association.

Electronics occupies the middle ground between high-end semiconductor applications and other volume manufacturing communities, where low cost plays a greater role. The term "high-speed inspection of electronics" is a redundancy: Like any volume manufacturing operation, nearly all electronics manufacturing proceeds at rates limited only by technology...