Good Day All!

     I was asked a question by the GM the other day about X-ray that maybe I
can get some input on. The higher ups have been thinking about whether or not
we need to purchase an x-ray machine. We do have sources here in Silicon
Valley to take assemblies for x-ray...at anywhere from around $75.00 a board,
up to what's called "minimum lot charges" of $750.00 by vendors that want long
term contracts with you.

     We're a start-up contract assembly company, and just like any start-up we
need to be pretty frugal until we get ourselves established. As most of you
are aware, BGA's are becoming pretty commonplace, micro-BGA use seems to be
rocketing...at least on the new designs I'm seeing. So that does create a need
for x-ray, and I might add, as a process verification tool, not a process
control tool.

     The GM asked me a how often would I use the x-ray if we had one, and with
the assumption that we've got our processes under control and are able to set
a job up repeatably..."Good question..." I told him. He told me to think about
it and give him my answer sometime this afternoon.

     So my question is, those of you that are rich enough to have x-ray, how
do you utilize it? Random sampling plans? Or is it's use triggered by
something else? I know I would use it during the intial set-up of a process,
but I'm not really sure how I would use it on mature processes. If I'm doing
my job right, I've got the process that I verified during the initial set-up
under control and being monitored, so why would I need xray?

Thanks in advance!!

-Steve Gregory-

################################################################
TechNet E-Mail Forum provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c
################################################################
To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body:
To subscribe:   SUBSCRIBE TechNet <your full name>
To unsubscribe:   SIGNOFF TechNet 
################################################################
Please visit IPC's web site (http://www.ipc.org) "On-Line Services" section for additional information.
For technical support contact Hugo Scaramuzza at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.312
################################################################