A PCB inspection machine has been installed in India, using capacitance testing to check electrical characteristics during electronics manufacturing.
Hioki has installed its PCB inspection machine in India for the first time, adding an Indian installation to its global user base. The machine is used for automated electrical testing of printed circuit boards (PCBs) and substrate assemblies during manufacturing. It checks the electrical characteristics of a board or substrate to help manufacturers identify problems during production and quality-control processes.
At SEMICON 2026, Hiromi Kimoto, Senior Director of Automatic Test Equipment at Hioki, said the company has installed more than 1600 such machines globally. The machines are used by manufacturers in Japan, Taiwan, China, and South Korea. “This year, we got the order for our first machine,” Hiromi said.
The machine uses a capacitance-based test method for PCB inspection. According to Hiromi, this allows testing at a higher speed than conventional resistance-based testing. This capacitance-based approach is a key feature that sets the machine apart from other inspection equipment.
Hioki’s inspection systems use probes to test points on a PCB or substrate without requiring a dedicated test fixture for each board design. Some of Hioki’s flying-probe inspection systems use capacitance measurement as one of their electrical test methods.
The machine is manufactured by Hioki in Japan. The company develops electrical measurement equipment and applies its measurement technology to PCB testing and inspection. The system is therefore primarily relevant to electronics manufacturing, where PCBs or substrates need to be electrically checked during or after production.
