Method and apparatus for determining surface roughness of metal foil within printed circuits
AssigneeCisco Technology, Inc.
InventorsScott T. Hinaga, Soumya De, Davie Senk
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In one embodiment, a method includes capturing an image of a piece of a printed circuit board (PCB) that includes at least one inner layer having a metal foil portion. The piece of the PCB includes a cross-section of the inner layer having the metal foil portion. The method also includes determining a surface roughness of the metal foil portion, wherein determining the surface roughness of the metal foil portion includes processing the image.
Claims28
A method comprising:
- capturing an image of a piece of a printed circuit board (PCB), the PCB including at least one inner layer having a metal foil portion, the image depicting a perimeter of the metal foil portion, wherein the piece of the PCB includes a cross-section of the at least one inner layer having the metal foil portion;
- and
- determining a surface roughness of the metal foil portion, wherein determining the surface roughness of the metal foil portion includes processing the image to obtain coordinate data associated with at least a section of the perimeter.
An apparatus comprising:
- means for capturing an image of a piece of a printed circuit board (PCB), the PCB including at least one inner layer having a metal foil portion, the image depicting a perimeter of the metal foil portion, wherein the piece of the PCB includes a cross-section of the at least one inner layer having the metal foil portion;
- and
- means for determining a surface roughness of the metal foil portion, wherein the means for determining the surface roughness of the metal foil portion include means for processing the image to obtain coordinate data associated with at least a section of the perimeter.
A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer program code, the computer program code, when executed, configured to:
- capture an image of a piece of a printed circuit board (PCB), the PCB including at least one inner layer having a metal foil portion, the image depicting a perimeter of the metal foil portion, wherein the piece of the PCB includes a cross-section of the at least one inner layer having the metal foil portion;
- and
- determine a surface roughness of the metal foil portion, wherein the computer program code configured to determine the surface roughness of the metal foil portion is further configured to process the image to obtain coordinate data associated with at least a section of the perimeter.
An apparatus comprising:
- a processing arrangement;
- a first interface, the first interface being arranged to obtain an image, the image including a depiction of a cross-section of a printed circuit board (PCB) having a plurality of layers, wherein the cross-section of the PCB includes an inner layer of the plurality of layers that includes a metal foil portion having at least one edge;
- and
- a roughness extraction module, the roughness extraction module being arranged to cooperate with the processing arrangement to process the image to determine a surface roughness associated with the at least one edge.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.