The article provides a review of the state-of-art non-destructive testing (NDT) methods used for evaluation of integrated circuit (IC) packaging. The review identifies various types of the defects and the capabilities of most common NDT methods employed for defect detection. The main aim of this paper is to provide a detailed review on the common NDT methods for IC packaging addressing their principles of operation, advantages, limitations and suggestions for improvement. The current methods such as, X-ray, scanning acoustic microscopy (SAM), infrared thermography (IRT), magnetic current imaging (MCI) and surface acoustic waves (SAW) are explicitly reviewed. The uniqueness of the paper lies in comprehensive comparison of the current NDT methods, recommendations for the improvements, and introduction of new candidate NDT technologies, which can be adopted for IC packaging.

Detection and characterisation of structural damage using guided waves is very promising technique in non-destructive testing and structural health monitoring systems. Because of their simplicity and low cost, current techniques normally utilise traditional piezo-electric or optical fibre sensors to capture a directional scattered field from a defect or damaged area. However, the practical implementation of these techniques usually requires an extensive preliminary study in order to identify a suitable location and polarisation of the sensors, as well as determine the optimal parameters for wave excitation, which vary depending on the size and type of damage and structure. Recent advances in 3D laser vibrometry provide an opportunity to avoid many of the restrictions and limitations associated with traditional (1D) sensing systems by capturing the transient 3D displacement/velocity fields rather than the displacement/strain along a single axis and limited to a small number of discrete locations. Using 3D laser vibrometry, this paper suggests a non-contact, baseline-free method for imaging structural defects such as corrosion spots, cracks and dents as well as delamination damage. It focuses on the mode conversion effects and investigates the sensitivity of the in-plane and out-of-plane scattered fields in relation to the presence of common defects. The experimental measurements are presented in terms of the root mean square (RMS) values of the velocity field. The outcomes of the present study can help in a number of ways, including selecting an appropriate strategy for defect detection using guided wave techniques. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Defect detection techniques, which utilise guided waves, have received significant attention over the past twenty years. Many of these techniques implement the baseline signal subtraction approach for damage diagnosis. In this approach, the baseline signal previously recorded for a defect-free structure is compared with/or subtracted from the actual signal recorded during routine inspections. A significant deviation between these two signals (or residual signal/time-trace) can be treated as an indication of the presence of critical damage. However, the accuracy of this common approach can be compromised by various uncontrolled factors, which include ambient temperature variations, unavoidable inconsistencies in the PZT installation procedure and degradation of mechanical properties with time. This paper presents a new method for reconstruction of the baseline signal, which can compensate for the above influences and improve the accurateness of damage diagnosis. The method utilises 3D laser vibrometry measurements in conjunction with high-fidelity FE simulations. This paper also describes an application of this method to the reconstruction of the baseline signal and detection of damage in beam and plate structures. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Corrosion is considered as one of the most predominant causes of pipeline failures in the oil and gas industry and normally cannot be easily detected at the inner surface of pipelines without service disruption. The real-time inspection of oil and gas pipelines is extremely vital to mitigate accidents and maintenance cost as well as to improve the oil and gas transport efficiency. In this paper, a new, non-contact optical sensor array method for real-time inspection and non-destructive evaluation (NDE) of pipelines is presented. The proposed optical method consists of light emitting diodes (LEDs) and light dependent resistors (LDRs) to send light and receive reflected light from the inner surface of pipelines. The uniqueness of the proposed method lies in its accurate detection as well as its localization of corrosion defects, based on the utilization of optical sensor array in the pipeline, and also the flexibility with which this system can be adopted for pipelines with different services, sizes, and materials, as well as the method’s economic viability. Experimental studies are conducted considering corrosion defects with different features and dimensions to confirm the robustness and accuracy of the method. The obtained data are processed with discrete wavelet transform (DWT) for noise cancelation and feature extraction. The estimated sizes of the corrosion defects for different physical parameters, such as inspection speed and lift-off distance, are investigated and, finally, some preliminary tests are conducted based on the implementation of the proposed method on an in-line developed smart pipeline inspection gauge (PIG) for in-line inspection (ILI) application, with resulting success.

Adhesive bonded structures have been widely used in aerospace, automobile, and marine industries. Due to the complex nature of the failure mechanisms of bonded structures, cost-effective and reliable damage detection is crucial for these industries. Most of the common damage detection methods are not adequately sensitive to the presence of weakened bonding. This paper presents an experimental and analytical method for the in-situ detection of damage in adhesive-bonded structures. The method is fully non-contact, using air-coupled ultrasonic transducers (ACT) for ultrasonic wave generation and sensing. The uniqueness of the proposed method relies on accurate detection and localization of weakened bonding in complex adhesive bonded structures. The specimens tested in this study are parts of real-world structures with critical and complex damage types, provided by Hyundai Heavy Industries^® and IKTS Fraunhofer^®. Various transmitter and receiver configurations, including through transmission, pitch-catch scanning, and probe holder angles, were attempted, and the obtained results were analyzed. The method examines the time-of-flight of the ultrasonic waves over a target inspection area, and the spatial variation of the time-of-flight information was examined to visualize and locate damage. The proposed method works without relying on reference data obtained from the pristine condition of the target specimen. Aluminum bonded plates and triplex adhesive layers with debonding and weakened bonding were used to examine the effectiveness of the method.