Method and apparatus for three-dimensional testing of printed circuitboards

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The object of the present invention is to provide methods with which the structures of printed circuit boards can be automatically checked in the microscopic and macroscopic domains and without the disadvantages set forth above.
An attendant object is to provide an arrangement for the implementation of the aforementioned methods.
An object of the invention is achieved in a method for three-dimensional testing of printed circuit boards on the basis of identified, spatial surface coordinates (X, Y, Z) for the recognition of defects at the structures in the microscopic domain on the basis of a planar local evaluation window, whereby every scanned point having the planar coordinates (X, Y) is pushed once through the center point of the planar, local evaluation window; the position of cross sectional areas is determined by the center point; the cross sectional areas are determined by the boundaries of the evaluation window and by the surface of the interconnect; the calculation of each individual cross sectional area occurs by summing up the differential areas arising that are prescribed by the uniform, planar scanning of surface coordinates; the evaluation of the values obtained for the cross sectional areas occurs in comparison to the prescribed, required width and height of the interconnect; and a prescribed, minimum spacing between two neighboring interconnects is checked by identifying the width of the regions having the height value of zero.
An object of the invention is also achieved in a method for three-dimensional testing of printed circuit boards on the basis of identified, spatial surface coordinates (X, Y, Z), whereby microscopic defects at the structures are recognized by the reference/actual value comparison with the predetermined scanned fields and, for the reference/actual value comparison, the overall volume of all interconnects, the center of gravity of the overall volume of all interconnects, the overall area of insulation regions, and the center of gravity of the overall surface of the insulation regions are identified and compared to the corresponding values of a reference