Imaging techniques as we know like X-Ray, CT scan, Ultrasound, MRI etc. play a vital role in diagnosing various diseases in human beings. Using the data gathered from these images doctors prescribe the required medications or surgeries to the patients. Similar imaging techniques are also used in electronics circuit boards to find and diagnose faults in them. One such technique is thermal imaging that is used to check the thermal health of an electronic circuit so that it can give better results under the given operating conditions. Thermal images of an electronic board tell us temperature variations in different parts of the circuits as shown in the figure below. Here RED colour indicate high temperature. ORANGE indicate moderate and GREEN indicate low temperatures.

Thermal image of an electronic circuit board

Thermal imaging technology is used to monitor the controlled heating and cooling profiles, used to connect the integrated circuit and other discrete components to the circuitry. Thermal images can benefit the engineers and scientists in terms of increased efficiency and reduced scrap generation.

The thermal imaging camera enables the engineers to view small circuits and identify individual objects, which may have contained a variety of regular or irregular shapes. Consequently problems can often be solved by the design team by replacing, redesigning or relaying out an over (or under) heating component or circuit; similarly the quality assurance group can often identify electrical discrepancies in a circuit or product which, although not causing any immediate problem, may result in a functional or reliability problem in the future.

Applications:

• Printed Circuit Boards: Thermal imaging cameras are often used to monitor and control printed circuit board temperatures during the design process; this is because the temperatures involved are extremely critical.
• Production line: In production line a thermal images can automatically locate poor soldering, track discontinuities, incorrect component values and power ratings as well as incorrect polarities.
• Integrated circuits: Thermal mapping of a semiconductor integrated circuit can be very beneficial to the design engineer in optimizing his design; it can also be an invaluable aid to the semiconductor process engineer who is charged with maintaining control of the implementation and diffusion processes.

By - Mr. Sukhraj Singh Brar, Assistant Professor (ECE), Chitkara University, H.P.

References:-

1. https://www.pcb-investigator.com/en/plugins/physics-thermal-analysis-current-simulation