Final Report Summary - PLASTRONICSSPEC (Development of an automated digital radiography system for the inspection of plastic electronics)
Executive Summary:
Plastic electronics are systems made up of organic electronic materials (polymers). A large part of the plastic electronics industry is using organic light emitting diodes (OLED) for digital display, which holds promise of a future revolution in consumer electronics because both the device and the circuit connections therein can be physically flexible. OLEDs have already appeared in large screen televisions, computer monitors, mobile phones etc. and potentially, will very soon be used in folded or rolled up products like electronic books, digital displays, self-illuminating wall paper.
However, there is a problem in that defects like cracks, chips, pixel misalignment, displacement in electrical interconnects occur in these products which compromises product quality. As a result, it leads to failures when incorporated in to larger products. If defects are identified only when incorporated in larger products this leads to a lot of product wastage and resources, which in turn lead to higher product prices. These problems make it important for the defects to be identified on-line right after the plastic electronic component is manufactured and before it leaves the factory door.
Existing inspection techniques which are carried out off-line may involve production line closure to avoid wastage of very large batches of product should defects be found, which is not acceptable for large scale manufacturing industry. The closure itself involves wastage of materials and time. Also, off-line defect detection methods are limited to surface defects, can take longer and are also open to human misinterpretation.
To date, no fully automated method exists to speedily check components at the end of the production line. The cost of modern X-ray inspection systems prohibits their use for smaller electronics manufacturing concerns. Hence, the SMEs identified a strong market need and opportunity for a new inspection product, which is essentially a technology to enable the growth of the very young plastic electronics industry, which is expected eventually to overtake the present day silicon based mass market electronics.
The intention of the PlastronicsSpec project was to provide an enabling DR technology to support the achievement of mass market in plastic electronic products. The goal was to perform rapid, on-line, high resolution and 100% volumetric inspection by digital, real time radiographic imaging. This would lead to automatic and instant rejection of defective components with minimum wastage, and elimination of human errors in data interpretation.
The PlastronicsSpec system has been developed so that it is capable of inspecting different types of plastic electronic components which could be either flat samples or a roll-to-roll supply.
Now, at the project end, the finalised PlastronicsSpec system prototype has met its objectives. The PlastronicsSpec inspection system is intended to be sited after production of an OLED panel, either just before the thin film encapsulation stage or directly after it and, before any further value is added by a production process. The inspection system is fully automated and can inspect flat Oled panels and also a roll-to-roll supply of flexible electronics. The system is capable of acquiring low noise images by averaging up to 1000 frames per X-ray image and obtaining an image resolution of 1.2 μm at high magnification. A single image frame taken by the detector could be acquired in the range of 30 ms-300 ms. To scan a whole Oled sample of 600mm x 600mm at high resolution takes approximately 30-40 minutes. For reducing the scanning time in such situation, a different scanning strategy is required. Areas should be first scanned at low resolution (10-20 μm) and then, when a defective area is detected, a second local scan of that specific area is made at the higher resolution (1.2 μm - 2 μm). In this case the total scanning time is expected to be around 4-5 minutes.
Field trials have proven the PlastronicsSpec prototype’s flexibility and capability. The technology readiness level of the finished prototype is 4-6 and, after some refinement and testing with a wide range of Oled flat panels and flexible components, it is expected that the first commercialised system could be on the market in as little as 6 to 12 months.
Project Context and Objectives:
Plastic electronics describes electronic systems and devices that are based on electrically conductive polymers i.e. organic electronic materials rather than inorganic electronic materials such as silicon, gallium arsenide, gallium nitride etc. These organic electronic materials show potential of a future revolution in the consumer electronics industry as both the devices and their circuit interconnects can be physically flexible and can be manufactured by inkjet printing, coating and spraying processes. When compared to the dominant, traditional etching and photolithography processes that are used to produce inorganic electronic systems, these processes are all much cheaper and faster.
A major sector for plastic electronics is for Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) displays. These have many advantages over traditional LCD (liquid crystal display) displays, including being able to provide far better colour contrast ratios, faster response times, requiring no backlighting (being self-emissive), provide wider viewing angles, produce a true black colour, not suffering from colour shift, consume 70% less power and almost no power in the non-emissive state. Prototype or first generation OLED displays have already appeared in consumer electronic devices such as large screen televisions, computer monitors, mobile phones etc., as well as in billboards and cheap large-area lighting systems. Other potential markets and new products that plastic electronics open up include low-power self-illuminating wallpaper, paint and windows, cheap product labelling tags, printed batteries, printed solar cells and electronic books, which can be folded or rolled up. Although the first generation products, which are on sale come at high cost, economies of scale from mass production would drive down prices, indicating a new mass market for consumer electronics based on plastic electronics. It is conservatively estimated that the present global market of €0.5 billion will grow to €43 billion by 2019, and more optimistic estimates suggest this could be as high as €96 billion by 2019 and €303 billion by 2029.
However, there is a problem that threatens to limit the market promise. Numerous types of defects specific to plastic electronics can arise during manufacture, which are currently discovered only after inclusion of components in products, leading to high product waste and correspondingly high prices. Typically, the probability of a defect arising in a plastic electronics panel, significant enough to destroy the product performance or service life, is 1 defect per 32 cm2. Therefore, for small displays, such as for mobile phones, on average 75% of the product has to be scrapped to obtain one defect free display, this rises to 98% or more for a panel large enough for a TV. Defects in the display pixels and their interconnects include cracks, chips and pixel misalignment; all of which reduce image and colour quality. Displacement errors can also occur in the necessary high-resolution printing of the electrical interconnects. In order to produce an acceptable product lifetime high-end oxide films are used to protect the sensitive organic materials from water vapour and oxygen. However, this protection is destroyed by defects such as pinholes, stress cracks and grain boundaries, which are common in thin oxide barrier films when fabricated onto plastic substrates.
Therefore, it is important to detect all defects that reduce the performance or lifetime of a circuit at the production stage so that defective circuits can be discarded before they leave the factory door or become incorporated into a larger product.
Existing inspection techniques are only carried out off-line and involve line closure to avoid wastage of very large batches of product, should defects be found. The closure itself also involves wastage of materials and time. Moreover, due to the fact that the off-line inspection is restricted to manually operated optical methods, only surface defects can be detected, and this is open to human misinterpretation. Hence, there arose a need for an automated, rapid, on-line, high resolution and 100% volumetric inspection by non-destructive means, for determining and rejecting defective product with minimum wastage and the elimination of human error in data interpretation.
PlastronicsSpec system is designed to meet the above targets to detect defects, which affect product performance and lifetime in flat Oled panels and roll-to-roll flexible electronics.
The objectives of the PlastronicsSpec project were:
1. To design and develop an in-situ digital radiographic inspection system for plastic electronics devices and circuitry. The proposed system shall use signal processing to discriminate between good products and those with stress cracks, flaws, pinholes, grain boundaries and pixel misalignments at various stages on the production line. The proposed system shall use a commercially available X-ray source and a 2D flat panel detector such that the system will be capable of acquiring low noise images and generating a high resolution image, at high magnification.
2. To ascertain an optimum mechanical arrangement for holding flat and roll-to-roll supply plastic samples using a two-belt based X-Y scanner with smooth and continuous movements. The scanner movements should be repeatable, reliable and accurate with respect to the X-ray source & detector and X-ray safety.
3. To develop suitable software algorithms for the automated defect recognition and the defect warning system in a plastic electronic component. Various image filtering techniques can be used to achieve optimum pattern recognition and accurately size defects.
4. To design an integrated system for in-situ real time inspection of plastic components.
The PlastronicsSpec project findings have contributed to the improvement of non-destructive testing (NDT) services offered to the electronics industry and expanded the technological potential of fully automated inspection systems. The plastic electronics industry is worldwide, with an ever-increasing component supply business with components originating from many different countries, and internationally accepted quality standards and availability of the tools needed to deliver them is critical to the sector’s growth. It is expected that, after successful commercialisation of the PlastronicsSpec prototype, and due to its “first in the market” status, the system will become the industry standard.
Project Results:
The proposed objectives were to develop a real time digital X-ray radiography system
• which can be integrated on-line in a production environment
• which uses an optimum X-ray source and a detector
• which has a mechanical system that can accommodate not only flat samples but also a roll-to-roll supply
• And which uses a software algorithm capable of automatic detection of defects in plastic electronics.
The techniques, systems and technology needed to realise the project included
1. Procuring an appropriate low energy X-ray source system with specifications regarding the operating voltage of 55keV, operating current of 80 mA, a collimator with a 40 degree cone angle to obtain a field of view, and a X-ray source tube life of several thousand hours (this is a standard specification) to fit in with typical production line maintenance schedules. A number of different sources were identified based on source energy, resolution capability and cost factors and based on these investigations; a microfocus X-ray source from the manufacturer X-Ray WorX GmbH was identified and purchased. The technical objectives were to set up and condition the X-ray source to check functionality, quantify the source focal spot size and acquire test results using recommended inspection set-up. The ethernet port allows manipulation and monitoring of the X-ray source on PC controlled systems and a LabVIEW based program has been developed for X-ray source parameter settings.
2. Based on the X-ray detector specifications, a commercially available detector, Dexela CMOS (Complementary metal oxide semiconductor) 2315 was identified and purchased for the PlastronicsSpec inspection system. The flat panel detector has a physical active area of 229.8 mm x 145.4 mm with a pixel size of 75 um. Control and correction software was developed in LabVIEW 8.2 development environment in order to communicate with the detector via a camera link connection. The software is responsible for connecting to the detector, adjusting its settings, capturing and viewing images and performing image correction functions to remove artefacts introduced by various aspects of the image acquisition process. Many of these functions are performed or facilitated through an application programming interface (API) provided by the detector manufacturer. In order for LabVIEW to access the functionality of the API a “wrapper” dynamic link library (DLL) was produced in C++, acting as a conduit between the API and LabVIEW.
3. Development of a sample feeding and manipulation mechanism. The technique used is a belt-based X-Y translation stage that moves the sample to accommodate the scanning area of the detector. Flat glass based samples with a maximum size of 600mm X 600mm and a roll-to-roll supply can be accommodated on the PlastronicsSpec inspection system. The X-Y system has been designed using specifications such that a motorised mechanism allows the adjustment of the X-ray magnification by allowing the detector and source to move in height relative to the inspected plastic electronic component. The detector possesses an adjustable positioning in rotation in the Z direction. The angular adjustment of the detector is conducted manually by an operator on installation of the system.
4. Development of a multimodal signal processing software for the automatic detection of smallest possible image differences. LabVIEW based software has been designed in order to apply image processing techniques on the radiographed images. The image processing software uses a LabVIEW vision module in combination with the open source ImageJ software to detect defects. Defect detection is achieved by using the following steps,
• Applying appropriate ImageJ filters to the radiograph
• Selecting the region of interest (ROI) in the radiograph
• Subtracting this image from the reference image
The result is automated, real time imaging of plastic electronic components. When executed on the PlastronicsSpec system main control computer, plastic component sentencing can be performed in a matter of seconds. Another advantage is that the database software module acts as a repository for the control set-up settings and for the component reference images which in turn may act as a catalogue store of defects for the imaged plastic electronic components.
5. Based on the considerations for mechanical and ionising radiation safety and other hardware requirements (e.g. data acquisition) an initial hardware concept drawing was produced and implemented. The X-ray enclosure to house and integrate all parts of the PlastronicsSpec system, and to shield the operator from radiation has been developed. After construction and integration of all the parts the enclosure was certified for safe operation. The result is an enclosure design certified for safe use with radiation.
Potential Impact:
* Socio-economic impact
The project has made significant technological progress in the field of plastic electronics technology based on organic materials. The successful outcome to the project will benefit European potential business on a global scale with an application technology that could benefit every plastic component manufacturer, distributor, broker and end user. The failure to discover defects immediately after production and before being incorporated into a larger product like a digital display involving OLEDs, leads to high product waste leading to high prices, which threatens the market promise. PlastronicsSpec system plays a significant role in addressing this problem by detecting misaligned layers, pixel defects, cracks etc.
For the SMEs participating in the project, there is a significant impact both at European and international level. First generation OLED displays have already appeared in large screen televisions, computer monitors, bill boards, mobile phones, personal digital assistants and cheap, large area lighting systems. Also the flexibility of electronic polymers has opened up a large range of new applications and markets such as low power self-illuminating wall paper, paint and windows, cheap product labelling tags, printed batteries, printed solar cells and electronic books which can be folded up. Hence, the Plastic Electronics global market is forecast to grow as much €303 billion by 2029.
PlastronicsSpec will enable defect detection at an early stage in the production line in real time. It is expected that, after successful commercialisation of the PlastronicsSpec prototype, the system has the potential of becoming the plastic electronics industry standard. As such, it would be a standard requirement at the end of the production line in an Oled panel or a flexible electronics manufacturing site.
*Dissemination activities:
Exploitation and dissemination: All PlastronicsSpec partners have been active in dissemination. This included dissemination through online news items, magazine articles and seminars. The PlastronicsSpec website hosted a blog which was regularly updated, and reported on news items about plastic electronic components, as well as news specific to the PlastronicsSpec project. Project flyers were prepared and distributed at seminars and exhibitions. OLED Technologies and Solutions (OTS) has given presentations and displayed grasshopper posters at exhibitions both independently and jointly with TWI.
Of significant note are the following activities:
-Seminar presentation: Partner CETEMMSA presented at the one day seminar on their Printed Electronics & emerging macrotrends report at the BCN Presentation in Barcelona. This event was supported by the Government of Catalonia - Delegation to the EU and the Catalan Agency for Competitiveness, ACC1Ó and IESE Business School in June 2013.
-OTS, Accent Pro and TWI jointly presented at the Semicon 2013 conference. Together the partners OTS and TWI operated a stand where posters, flyers and video were used to highlight the OLED products and the PlastronicsSpec system for the inspection of OLEDs in October 2013.
-Partner OTS manned a stand with grasshopper posters, video and other promotional material at the “Nacht der Unternehmen” event held at Technology Centre Aachen in Germany, to promote OTS OLED products and services and the PlastronicsSpec real time radiography inspection system in November 2013.
-In November 2013, partner Accent Pro 2000 published a news article on the consortium partners website (http://www.oledinfo.com) advertising the role and features of the PlastronicsSpec online radiography system for the inspection of plastic electronic components.
-Public demonstration: A public demonstration of the finished PlastronicsSpec inspection system was given on 4th Dec 2013 at Accent Pro 2000 in Bucharest, Romania. End user OTS was in attendance.
-Public video: A professional video recording session was scripted and organised by TWI and was filmed at partner Accent Pro 2000 premises in Bucharest, Romania. An external company, Science View, specialising in the creation scientific and technological based journalism videos was commissioned by the consortium to film and produce the video on PlastronicsSpec project. The project partners Accent Pro 2000, TWI and OTS participated in the filming of this video which was recorded on 12-13 November 2013. The video is 6.30 mins long and it is available on the project website. In addition, the video has been uploaded on you tube for public access.
-News article: TWI contributed a news article titled, “Plastronics scanner system offers real-time in production inspection of OLED materials” published in the +plasticelectronics magazine on 24th of January 2014.
*Exploitation of the results
The PlastronicsSpec project will deliver an integrated inspection solution to meet the requirements of the EU plastic electronics industry. The exact exploitation arrangement is still being agreed and will be finalised when the prototype system Technology Readiness Level (TRL) is increased from its current level of 4-6. The PlastronicsSpec consortium anticipates that there will be different options of the PlastronicsSpec system depending on the application. It has already been agreed by the consortium that if any SME sells a system they would be entitled to 5% commission on the sale price. Since, OTS has been more active in the project (through provision of information, samples, dissemination and other support), it was agreed by the consortium that OTS could expect 10-15% on the sale price. OTS would like to be involved in the production of PlastronicsSpec systems and can financially sponsor some of the development of the system.
In the next 6 to 12 months the consortium aims to improve the system to a more commercial ready state. AP2K intend to seek further funding to further develop the PlastronicsSpec product. If there is interest, this could lead to the creation of a joint venture company to exploit and create a product beyond the current prototype technology readiness.
Address of project public website and relevant contact details
A project website was set up to act as a communication port between the partners and to disseminate the project: http://www.plastronicsspec.eu
For general enquires and the PlastronicsSpec system please contact Mihai.iovea@accent.ro at
Accent Pro 2000 s.r.l.
Nerva Traian 1, Bl K6, Sc 1, Ap 26, Bucharest S3, 031041 – ROMANIA
Tel/Fax/Answering machine: (4021)3204759
Web Site: http://www.accent.ro
E-mail: office@accent.ro
Other contact details according to the specific technologies developed in PlastronicsSpec are listed below:
Topic: PlastronicsSpec system
Dr. Ian Nicholson
TWI Ltd
Technology Centre Wales
Harbourside Business Park
Harbourside Road
Port Talbot
SA13 1SB
Tel: +44-(0)1639873100
Website: http://www.twi-global.com
e-mail: ian.nicholson@twi.co.uk
Topic: Software
Dr. Mihai Iovea
Accent Pro 2000 s.r.l.
Nerva Traian 1, Bl K6, Sc 1, Ap 26, Bucharest S3, 031041 – ROMANIA
Tel/Fax/Answering machine: (4021)3204759
Web Site: http://www.accent.ro
E-mail: office@accent.ro
List of Websites:
A project website was set up at the start of the project by the consortium partner OTS with the domain name www.plastronicsspec.eu. The purpose of the website is to facilitate dissemination and act as a communication tool for the consortium. It consists of two main areas: one accessible to the public, and one only accessible by the members of the consortium.
It includes a “Contact” page and when information is requested via this page the enquiry is sent to all the partners. The home page of the website also hosts the blog page which summarises all the news related to the project and allows for comment from the public. The blog page was regularly updated during the course of the project.
In addition to the dissemination part of the website there is a secure member area to act as a repository for project related information and to allow easy electronic transfer of information between consortium partners.
Plastic electronics are systems made up of organic electronic materials (polymers). A large part of the plastic electronics industry is using organic light emitting diodes (OLED) for digital display, which holds promise of a future revolution in consumer electronics because both the device and the circuit connections therein can be physically flexible. OLEDs have already appeared in large screen televisions, computer monitors, mobile phones etc. and potentially, will very soon be used in folded or rolled up products like electronic books, digital displays, self-illuminating wall paper.
However, there is a problem in that defects like cracks, chips, pixel misalignment, displacement in electrical interconnects occur in these products which compromises product quality. As a result, it leads to failures when incorporated in to larger products. If defects are identified only when incorporated in larger products this leads to a lot of product wastage and resources, which in turn lead to higher product prices. These problems make it important for the defects to be identified on-line right after the plastic electronic component is manufactured and before it leaves the factory door.
Existing inspection techniques which are carried out off-line may involve production line closure to avoid wastage of very large batches of product should defects be found, which is not acceptable for large scale manufacturing industry. The closure itself involves wastage of materials and time. Also, off-line defect detection methods are limited to surface defects, can take longer and are also open to human misinterpretation.
To date, no fully automated method exists to speedily check components at the end of the production line. The cost of modern X-ray inspection systems prohibits their use for smaller electronics manufacturing concerns. Hence, the SMEs identified a strong market need and opportunity for a new inspection product, which is essentially a technology to enable the growth of the very young plastic electronics industry, which is expected eventually to overtake the present day silicon based mass market electronics.
The intention of the PlastronicsSpec project was to provide an enabling DR technology to support the achievement of mass market in plastic electronic products. The goal was to perform rapid, on-line, high resolution and 100% volumetric inspection by digital, real time radiographic imaging. This would lead to automatic and instant rejection of defective components with minimum wastage, and elimination of human errors in data interpretation.
The PlastronicsSpec system has been developed so that it is capable of inspecting different types of plastic electronic components which could be either flat samples or a roll-to-roll supply.
Now, at the project end, the finalised PlastronicsSpec system prototype has met its objectives. The PlastronicsSpec inspection system is intended to be sited after production of an OLED panel, either just before the thin film encapsulation stage or directly after it and, before any further value is added by a production process. The inspection system is fully automated and can inspect flat Oled panels and also a roll-to-roll supply of flexible electronics. The system is capable of acquiring low noise images by averaging up to 1000 frames per X-ray image and obtaining an image resolution of 1.2 μm at high magnification. A single image frame taken by the detector could be acquired in the range of 30 ms-300 ms. To scan a whole Oled sample of 600mm x 600mm at high resolution takes approximately 30-40 minutes. For reducing the scanning time in such situation, a different scanning strategy is required. Areas should be first scanned at low resolution (10-20 μm) and then, when a defective area is detected, a second local scan of that specific area is made at the higher resolution (1.2 μm - 2 μm). In this case the total scanning time is expected to be around 4-5 minutes.
Field trials have proven the PlastronicsSpec prototype’s flexibility and capability. The technology readiness level of the finished prototype is 4-6 and, after some refinement and testing with a wide range of Oled flat panels and flexible components, it is expected that the first commercialised system could be on the market in as little as 6 to 12 months.
Project Context and Objectives:
Plastic electronics describes electronic systems and devices that are based on electrically conductive polymers i.e. organic electronic materials rather than inorganic electronic materials such as silicon, gallium arsenide, gallium nitride etc. These organic electronic materials show potential of a future revolution in the consumer electronics industry as both the devices and their circuit interconnects can be physically flexible and can be manufactured by inkjet printing, coating and spraying processes. When compared to the dominant, traditional etching and photolithography processes that are used to produce inorganic electronic systems, these processes are all much cheaper and faster.
A major sector for plastic electronics is for Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) displays. These have many advantages over traditional LCD (liquid crystal display) displays, including being able to provide far better colour contrast ratios, faster response times, requiring no backlighting (being self-emissive), provide wider viewing angles, produce a true black colour, not suffering from colour shift, consume 70% less power and almost no power in the non-emissive state. Prototype or first generation OLED displays have already appeared in consumer electronic devices such as large screen televisions, computer monitors, mobile phones etc., as well as in billboards and cheap large-area lighting systems. Other potential markets and new products that plastic electronics open up include low-power self-illuminating wallpaper, paint and windows, cheap product labelling tags, printed batteries, printed solar cells and electronic books, which can be folded or rolled up. Although the first generation products, which are on sale come at high cost, economies of scale from mass production would drive down prices, indicating a new mass market for consumer electronics based on plastic electronics. It is conservatively estimated that the present global market of €0.5 billion will grow to €43 billion by 2019, and more optimistic estimates suggest this could be as high as €96 billion by 2019 and €303 billion by 2029.
However, there is a problem that threatens to limit the market promise. Numerous types of defects specific to plastic electronics can arise during manufacture, which are currently discovered only after inclusion of components in products, leading to high product waste and correspondingly high prices. Typically, the probability of a defect arising in a plastic electronics panel, significant enough to destroy the product performance or service life, is 1 defect per 32 cm2. Therefore, for small displays, such as for mobile phones, on average 75% of the product has to be scrapped to obtain one defect free display, this rises to 98% or more for a panel large enough for a TV. Defects in the display pixels and their interconnects include cracks, chips and pixel misalignment; all of which reduce image and colour quality. Displacement errors can also occur in the necessary high-resolution printing of the electrical interconnects. In order to produce an acceptable product lifetime high-end oxide films are used to protect the sensitive organic materials from water vapour and oxygen. However, this protection is destroyed by defects such as pinholes, stress cracks and grain boundaries, which are common in thin oxide barrier films when fabricated onto plastic substrates.
Therefore, it is important to detect all defects that reduce the performance or lifetime of a circuit at the production stage so that defective circuits can be discarded before they leave the factory door or become incorporated into a larger product.
Existing inspection techniques are only carried out off-line and involve line closure to avoid wastage of very large batches of product, should defects be found. The closure itself also involves wastage of materials and time. Moreover, due to the fact that the off-line inspection is restricted to manually operated optical methods, only surface defects can be detected, and this is open to human misinterpretation. Hence, there arose a need for an automated, rapid, on-line, high resolution and 100% volumetric inspection by non-destructive means, for determining and rejecting defective product with minimum wastage and the elimination of human error in data interpretation.
PlastronicsSpec system is designed to meet the above targets to detect defects, which affect product performance and lifetime in flat Oled panels and roll-to-roll flexible electronics.
The objectives of the PlastronicsSpec project were:
1. To design and develop an in-situ digital radiographic inspection system for plastic electronics devices and circuitry. The proposed system shall use signal processing to discriminate between good products and those with stress cracks, flaws, pinholes, grain boundaries and pixel misalignments at various stages on the production line. The proposed system shall use a commercially available X-ray source and a 2D flat panel detector such that the system will be capable of acquiring low noise images and generating a high resolution image, at high magnification.
2. To ascertain an optimum mechanical arrangement for holding flat and roll-to-roll supply plastic samples using a two-belt based X-Y scanner with smooth and continuous movements. The scanner movements should be repeatable, reliable and accurate with respect to the X-ray source & detector and X-ray safety.
3. To develop suitable software algorithms for the automated defect recognition and the defect warning system in a plastic electronic component. Various image filtering techniques can be used to achieve optimum pattern recognition and accurately size defects.
4. To design an integrated system for in-situ real time inspection of plastic components.
The PlastronicsSpec project findings have contributed to the improvement of non-destructive testing (NDT) services offered to the electronics industry and expanded the technological potential of fully automated inspection systems. The plastic electronics industry is worldwide, with an ever-increasing component supply business with components originating from many different countries, and internationally accepted quality standards and availability of the tools needed to deliver them is critical to the sector’s growth. It is expected that, after successful commercialisation of the PlastronicsSpec prototype, and due to its “first in the market” status, the system will become the industry standard.
Project Results:
The proposed objectives were to develop a real time digital X-ray radiography system
• which can be integrated on-line in a production environment
• which uses an optimum X-ray source and a detector
• which has a mechanical system that can accommodate not only flat samples but also a roll-to-roll supply
• And which uses a software algorithm capable of automatic detection of defects in plastic electronics.
The techniques, systems and technology needed to realise the project included
1. Procuring an appropriate low energy X-ray source system with specifications regarding the operating voltage of 55keV, operating current of 80 mA, a collimator with a 40 degree cone angle to obtain a field of view, and a X-ray source tube life of several thousand hours (this is a standard specification) to fit in with typical production line maintenance schedules. A number of different sources were identified based on source energy, resolution capability and cost factors and based on these investigations; a microfocus X-ray source from the manufacturer X-Ray WorX GmbH was identified and purchased. The technical objectives were to set up and condition the X-ray source to check functionality, quantify the source focal spot size and acquire test results using recommended inspection set-up. The ethernet port allows manipulation and monitoring of the X-ray source on PC controlled systems and a LabVIEW based program has been developed for X-ray source parameter settings.
2. Based on the X-ray detector specifications, a commercially available detector, Dexela CMOS (Complementary metal oxide semiconductor) 2315 was identified and purchased for the PlastronicsSpec inspection system. The flat panel detector has a physical active area of 229.8 mm x 145.4 mm with a pixel size of 75 um. Control and correction software was developed in LabVIEW 8.2 development environment in order to communicate with the detector via a camera link connection. The software is responsible for connecting to the detector, adjusting its settings, capturing and viewing images and performing image correction functions to remove artefacts introduced by various aspects of the image acquisition process. Many of these functions are performed or facilitated through an application programming interface (API) provided by the detector manufacturer. In order for LabVIEW to access the functionality of the API a “wrapper” dynamic link library (DLL) was produced in C++, acting as a conduit between the API and LabVIEW.
3. Development of a sample feeding and manipulation mechanism. The technique used is a belt-based X-Y translation stage that moves the sample to accommodate the scanning area of the detector. Flat glass based samples with a maximum size of 600mm X 600mm and a roll-to-roll supply can be accommodated on the PlastronicsSpec inspection system. The X-Y system has been designed using specifications such that a motorised mechanism allows the adjustment of the X-ray magnification by allowing the detector and source to move in height relative to the inspected plastic electronic component. The detector possesses an adjustable positioning in rotation in the Z direction. The angular adjustment of the detector is conducted manually by an operator on installation of the system.
4. Development of a multimodal signal processing software for the automatic detection of smallest possible image differences. LabVIEW based software has been designed in order to apply image processing techniques on the radiographed images. The image processing software uses a LabVIEW vision module in combination with the open source ImageJ software to detect defects. Defect detection is achieved by using the following steps,
• Applying appropriate ImageJ filters to the radiograph
• Selecting the region of interest (ROI) in the radiograph
• Subtracting this image from the reference image
The result is automated, real time imaging of plastic electronic components. When executed on the PlastronicsSpec system main control computer, plastic component sentencing can be performed in a matter of seconds. Another advantage is that the database software module acts as a repository for the control set-up settings and for the component reference images which in turn may act as a catalogue store of defects for the imaged plastic electronic components.
5. Based on the considerations for mechanical and ionising radiation safety and other hardware requirements (e.g. data acquisition) an initial hardware concept drawing was produced and implemented. The X-ray enclosure to house and integrate all parts of the PlastronicsSpec system, and to shield the operator from radiation has been developed. After construction and integration of all the parts the enclosure was certified for safe operation. The result is an enclosure design certified for safe use with radiation.
Potential Impact:
* Socio-economic impact
The project has made significant technological progress in the field of plastic electronics technology based on organic materials. The successful outcome to the project will benefit European potential business on a global scale with an application technology that could benefit every plastic component manufacturer, distributor, broker and end user. The failure to discover defects immediately after production and before being incorporated into a larger product like a digital display involving OLEDs, leads to high product waste leading to high prices, which threatens the market promise. PlastronicsSpec system plays a significant role in addressing this problem by detecting misaligned layers, pixel defects, cracks etc.
For the SMEs participating in the project, there is a significant impact both at European and international level. First generation OLED displays have already appeared in large screen televisions, computer monitors, bill boards, mobile phones, personal digital assistants and cheap, large area lighting systems. Also the flexibility of electronic polymers has opened up a large range of new applications and markets such as low power self-illuminating wall paper, paint and windows, cheap product labelling tags, printed batteries, printed solar cells and electronic books which can be folded up. Hence, the Plastic Electronics global market is forecast to grow as much €303 billion by 2029.
PlastronicsSpec will enable defect detection at an early stage in the production line in real time. It is expected that, after successful commercialisation of the PlastronicsSpec prototype, the system has the potential of becoming the plastic electronics industry standard. As such, it would be a standard requirement at the end of the production line in an Oled panel or a flexible electronics manufacturing site.
*Dissemination activities:
Exploitation and dissemination: All PlastronicsSpec partners have been active in dissemination. This included dissemination through online news items, magazine articles and seminars. The PlastronicsSpec website hosted a blog which was regularly updated, and reported on news items about plastic electronic components, as well as news specific to the PlastronicsSpec project. Project flyers were prepared and distributed at seminars and exhibitions. OLED Technologies and Solutions (OTS) has given presentations and displayed grasshopper posters at exhibitions both independently and jointly with TWI.
Of significant note are the following activities:
-Seminar presentation: Partner CETEMMSA presented at the one day seminar on their Printed Electronics & emerging macrotrends report at the BCN Presentation in Barcelona. This event was supported by the Government of Catalonia - Delegation to the EU and the Catalan Agency for Competitiveness, ACC1Ó and IESE Business School in June 2013.
-OTS, Accent Pro and TWI jointly presented at the Semicon 2013 conference. Together the partners OTS and TWI operated a stand where posters, flyers and video were used to highlight the OLED products and the PlastronicsSpec system for the inspection of OLEDs in October 2013.
-Partner OTS manned a stand with grasshopper posters, video and other promotional material at the “Nacht der Unternehmen” event held at Technology Centre Aachen in Germany, to promote OTS OLED products and services and the PlastronicsSpec real time radiography inspection system in November 2013.
-In November 2013, partner Accent Pro 2000 published a news article on the consortium partners website (http://www.oledinfo.com) advertising the role and features of the PlastronicsSpec online radiography system for the inspection of plastic electronic components.
-Public demonstration: A public demonstration of the finished PlastronicsSpec inspection system was given on 4th Dec 2013 at Accent Pro 2000 in Bucharest, Romania. End user OTS was in attendance.
-Public video: A professional video recording session was scripted and organised by TWI and was filmed at partner Accent Pro 2000 premises in Bucharest, Romania. An external company, Science View, specialising in the creation scientific and technological based journalism videos was commissioned by the consortium to film and produce the video on PlastronicsSpec project. The project partners Accent Pro 2000, TWI and OTS participated in the filming of this video which was recorded on 12-13 November 2013. The video is 6.30 mins long and it is available on the project website. In addition, the video has been uploaded on you tube for public access.
-News article: TWI contributed a news article titled, “Plastronics scanner system offers real-time in production inspection of OLED materials” published in the +plasticelectronics magazine on 24th of January 2014.
*Exploitation of the results
The PlastronicsSpec project will deliver an integrated inspection solution to meet the requirements of the EU plastic electronics industry. The exact exploitation arrangement is still being agreed and will be finalised when the prototype system Technology Readiness Level (TRL) is increased from its current level of 4-6. The PlastronicsSpec consortium anticipates that there will be different options of the PlastronicsSpec system depending on the application. It has already been agreed by the consortium that if any SME sells a system they would be entitled to 5% commission on the sale price. Since, OTS has been more active in the project (through provision of information, samples, dissemination and other support), it was agreed by the consortium that OTS could expect 10-15% on the sale price. OTS would like to be involved in the production of PlastronicsSpec systems and can financially sponsor some of the development of the system.
In the next 6 to 12 months the consortium aims to improve the system to a more commercial ready state. AP2K intend to seek further funding to further develop the PlastronicsSpec product. If there is interest, this could lead to the creation of a joint venture company to exploit and create a product beyond the current prototype technology readiness.
Address of project public website and relevant contact details
A project website was set up to act as a communication port between the partners and to disseminate the project: http://www.plastronicsspec.eu
For general enquires and the PlastronicsSpec system please contact Mihai.iovea@accent.ro at
Accent Pro 2000 s.r.l.
Nerva Traian 1, Bl K6, Sc 1, Ap 26, Bucharest S3, 031041 – ROMANIA
Tel/Fax/Answering machine: (4021)3204759
Web Site: http://www.accent.ro
E-mail: office@accent.ro
Other contact details according to the specific technologies developed in PlastronicsSpec are listed below:
Topic: PlastronicsSpec system
Dr. Ian Nicholson
TWI Ltd
Technology Centre Wales
Harbourside Business Park
Harbourside Road
Port Talbot
SA13 1SB
Tel: +44-(0)1639873100
Website: http://www.twi-global.com
e-mail: ian.nicholson@twi.co.uk
Topic: Software
Dr. Mihai Iovea
Accent Pro 2000 s.r.l.
Nerva Traian 1, Bl K6, Sc 1, Ap 26, Bucharest S3, 031041 – ROMANIA
Tel/Fax/Answering machine: (4021)3204759
Web Site: http://www.accent.ro
E-mail: office@accent.ro
List of Websites:
A project website was set up at the start of the project by the consortium partner OTS with the domain name www.plastronicsspec.eu. The purpose of the website is to facilitate dissemination and act as a communication tool for the consortium. It consists of two main areas: one accessible to the public, and one only accessible by the members of the consortium.
It includes a “Contact” page and when information is requested via this page the enquiry is sent to all the partners. The home page of the website also hosts the blog page which summarises all the news related to the project and allows for comment from the public. The blog page was regularly updated during the course of the project.
In addition to the dissemination part of the website there is a secure member area to act as a repository for project related information and to allow easy electronic transfer of information between consortium partners.