| Title | Automatic Defect Inspection and Classification for PDPs (Plasma Display Panels) |
| Publication Type | Thesis |
| Year of Publication | 2003 |
| Authors | Ge, R. |
| Academic Department | Department of Systems Design Engineering |
| University | University of Waterloo |
| City | Waterloo, Ontario, Canada |
| Thesis Type | M.A.Sc Thesis |
| Abstract | The popularity of flat-panel displays (FPDs), including plasma display panels (PDPs) and liquid-crystal displays (LCDs), has given rise to the need to streamline their production. FPDs are increasingly replacing cathode-ray tube (CRT) screens, and are at a critical juncture where high availability and lower prices will drive further customer adoption. As a result, FPD manufacturers such as Pioneer, NEC, Fujitsu, Matsushita and Sony are currently making large investments to drive their costs down. Currently one of the most important, time-consuming and costly phases of FPD production is the inspection process, in which automated optical inspection and image processing techniques are used to identify production defects. Historically, the digital signal processor (DSP) functions required by this application would be implemented in DSP hardware processors. However, much higher speed DSP functions can be built using programmable logic, which retains the needed flexibility of DSP processors while achieving several magnitudes of a performance advantage compared to normal multi-DSP processor systems. |
