Optical inspection is vital to quality control in manufacturing, and in breaking down the meaning behind the words, it’s easy to see why.
As described by Matt Novak, director of technology and applications development at Bruker Nano Surfaces, “optical” means “of or pertaining to the interaction of light with matter and also the perception or detection of that light,” while “inspection” denotes “the process of examining objects or the world around us closely for specific (desired or undesired) characteristics.” Thus optical inspection can be defined as the examination of manufactured parts, whether that be through a microscope, laser scanner or other light imaging techniques, to detect possible defects and provide the utmost quality assurance.