OMRON Corporation has announced an expansion of its integration of NVIDIA technologies, combining its Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) and 3D-CT X-ray Inspection (AXI) systems with NVIDIA Omniverse libraries. The move makes it possible to visualise substrate warpage caused by heat and to implement AI-driven, skillless inspection, aiming to reshape the semiconductor inspection process.

Achieving higher accuracy for skillless substrate inspection

As digital society advances, including the rise of AI factories, the innovation of electronic devices such as ultra-high-speed, high-capacity information processing has accelerated. As a result, the mounting of printed circuit boards (PCBs) that support these devices has become more complex, requiring advanced mounting technology and strict quality assurance. At the same time, the shortage of skilled technicians is becoming more severe worldwide.

Semiconductor manufacturers experience challenges related to substrate yields and quality control as a result of these shortages, making the shift to AI-driven quality control that can help scale individual expertise increasingly urgent.

The technical integration of OMRON and NVIDIA AI and simulation technologies began in 2022. In this further collaboration, operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT) are linked to integrate manufacturing data that had previously been siloed, providing new insights to improve productivity, quality and yields. OMRON is also expanding the application of digital twins to PCB inspection processes that require micron-level precision, promoting real-time optimisation on the manufacturing floor.

Visualising board warpage in digital space

Board warpage, which occurs when heat is applied during manufacturing, is one of the key challenges in electronic component production. It can lead to solder joint defects and quality abnormalities, yet it is difficult to recognise with the naked eye.

By integrating NVIDIA Omniverse libraries, OMRON can use physics-based simulation to reproduce board deformation and the force resisting deformation, enabling real-time visualisation of subtle changes that were previously difficult to grasp. With these simulations, manufacturing sites can pre-adjust the time-based temperature changes, or thermal profile, in the heating and cooling process, making it possible to predict and prevent critical solder joint defects before they occur.

Overlaying AOI and AXI data

OMRON uses digital twins to overlay the 3D surface data acquired by AOI with the internal structure data acquired by AXI. This enables engineers to instantly identify the causal relationships behind surface phenomena, such as pinpointing tiny internal bubbles that caused misalignment of surface components, making previously unseen information visible and enhancing the value provided by inspection equipment.

AI agent-assisted inspection

To address the global shortage of skilled engineers and make inspections more AI-driven, OMRON will introduce visual inspection agents powered by NVIDIA Metropolis Blueprint for Video Search and Summarization (VSS) and NVIDIA Cosmos. VSS uses Cosmos Reason, an open vision language model, to analyse images alongside a large language model to understand historical data, enabling the agent to reason and propose next steps to users.

For example, when a user asks why a board is warped, the AI agent searches historical data for images of warped boards with similar characteristics, analyses the root cause, and returns a detailed answer with insights in an easy-to-understand summary.

“Leveraging OMRON’s know-how in automation rooted in a real on-site perspective, together with high-speed, high-precision control technology, we will realise highly accurate digital twins as part of the solution,” said Motohiro Yamanishi, Company President of the Industrial Automation Company (IAB) at OMRON Corporation. “By combining our inspection data with NVIDIA’s physical AI, customers will be able to visualise the factors affecting production, rapidly upskill novice operators, and maximise the return on investment of production lines.”

Part of a wider growth strategy

OMRON has launched its medium-term roadmap, “SF 2nd Stage,” from fiscal 2026, defining 13 focus businesses that will drive growth. The Inspection Systems Business Division HQ is one of the core businesses set to drive innovation in manufacturing sites using NVIDIA physical AI.

By combining its strengths across automation devices with inspection technologies, OMRON is delivering inspection solutions for the semiconductor industry, aiming to strengthen its value creation and contribute to a more digitalised society.