SAM (Scanning Acoustic Microscope), also called SAT (Scanning Acoustic Tomography), one of the nondestructive inspection tools in common use in semiconductor industry, just like X-Ray, can be used for process control, incoming material quality control, and qualification of components, assemblies, and processes. The method can detect delaminations, die tilt, solder ball joint geometry, underfill coverage, voids, and porosity. Modern high-speed acoustic microscopy systems are capable of imaging a large number of electronics packages during a single analysis. Advanced systems allow for automated inspection and imaging of components in JEDEC trays. This allows non-sacrificial examination of product prior to production, during processing, after testing, or just prior to final delivery.

Some of the more commonly examined components and packages include: Bare printed wire boards (PWBs), Bonded wafers, Capacitors, Ceramics, COB (Chip On Board), CSP (Chip Scale Package), Flex circuits, Flip chips, MCM (Multi Chip Module), PBGA (Plastic Ball Grid Array), PDIP (Plastic Dual In-line Package), PLCC (Plastic Leaded Chip Carrier), PQFP (Plastic Quad Flat Pack), Smart cards, SOIC (Small Outline Integrated Circuit), TSOP (Thin Single Outline Package), and so on.

Some of the SAM failure analysis and R&D applications include analysis of popcorn cracks, package voids, underfill delaminations, cracks, voids, bonded wafer voids, solder cracks and a number of other process originated defects. The method is particularly sensitive to unintentional air gaps in and between materials. This makes the method suitable for non-destructive examination of bonded layers.