JPH06249916A - Contact unit for handler - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a contact unit, for a handler, wherein it can comply easily with various kinds of semiconductor devices. CONSTITUTION:In a contact unit 1, a measuring probe 16 for a socket 15 is brought into contact with a lead 11 for a semiconductor device. In the contact unit, a holding mechanism 2 which is composed of a suction nozzle 22 for the semiconductor device 10 and of a holding plate 21 is installed at the lower side of a conveyance plate 5, a coupling mechanism 3 which is composed of a pressure plate 32 installed at the upper-side of the conveyance plate 5 and of a coupling rod 33 is installed, and the holding mechanism 2 is held so as to be movable up and down. In addition, the shaft 42a of a ball screw 42 which is moved up and down by the drive of a pulse motor 41 is installed at the upper part of the coupling mechanism 3, and a pressure mechanism 4 which moves the coupling mechanism 3 up and down is installed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a contact unit for a handler, in which a lead extending from a semiconductor device is brought into contact with a probe of a socket to measure a predetermined characteristic.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A handler for measuring the characteristics of a semiconductor device encapsulated in a package under high temperature or low temperature environment
As shown in the cross-sectional view of FIG. 4, a socket 15 for obtaining an electrical connection between the semiconductor device 10 and the measurement substrate 6 and a semiconductor device 10 for sequentially carrying the semiconductor device 10 onto the socket 15 under a predetermined environment. The carrier plate 5 and the contact unit 1 for pressing the semiconductor device 10 carried on the socket 15 by the carrier plate 5 from above to bring the lead 11 of the semiconductor device 10 into contact with the probe 16 of the socket 15 are provided. Has been.

The contact unit 1 has a socket 15
An attachment 8 for pressing the semiconductor device 10 placed on it from above is attached, and this attachment 8 presses the lead 11 of the semiconductor device 10 from above, and the probe 16 of the socket 15 and the tips of the leads 11 are attached. The part is contacted with a predetermined pressure.

Further, in the contact unit 1 shown in the sectional view of FIG. 5, the semiconductor device 10 is sucked and held in an inverted state when it is transferred by the transfer plate 5, and is arranged on the socket 15 in that direction. . Then, the package of the semiconductor device 10 is pressed from above by the attachment 8 to bring the extended portion of the lead 11, a so-called shoulder portion, into contact with the probe 16 of the socket 15.

In this way, the semiconductor device 10 is inverted and the probe 16 of the socket 15 and the extended portion of the lead 11 are brought into contact with each other, so that a constant pressing force is applied regardless of the shape of the tip portion of the lead 11. Can be contacted. For example, even if the shape of the tip of the lead 11 is an insertion type,
Even if it is a gull wing type, since the shape of the shoulder portion is almost the same, if the contact with the probe 16 is obtained here, the same socket 15 can handle a plurality of types of semiconductor devices 10.

[0006]

However, the contact unit 1 as shown in FIG. 5 has the following problems. That is, since the shoulder portion of the lead 11 and the probe 16 of the socket 15 are brought into contact with each other by reversing the semiconductor device 10, the lead 11 is easily deformed if the pressing force of the attachment 8 is too strong. Will be Therefore, it is necessary to control the pressing force of the attachment 8 with high accuracy and to control the vertical stroke of the contact unit 1 to be constant.

Further, since the stroke of the contact unit 1 is controlled to be constant, the semiconductor device 10
When the thickness of the package changes, the lead 11 and the probe 16
It becomes impossible to obtain a constant contact pressure with. To cope with this, when the thickness of the package of the semiconductor device 10 changes, the attachment 8 having a height h corresponding to the thickness is used for the measurement.

That is, when the package becomes thin, the attachment 8 having a large height h is used. On the contrary, when the package becomes thick, the attachment 8 having a small height h is used. However, such replacement work of the attachment 8 requires a great deal of labor, and the attachment 8 must be prepared according to the type of the semiconductor device 10. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a contact unit of a handler that can easily deal with various types of semiconductor devices.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a contact unit of a handler made to solve such a problem. That is, a semiconductor device is placed on a socket provided with a plurality of probes, and the probes and the leads of the semiconductor device are brought into contact with each other. A holding mechanism for holding the device is provided, and a connecting mechanism is provided on the upper side of the carrying plate via a spring to hold the holding mechanism in a vertically movable state with respect to the carrying plate. A pressing mechanism for arranging a shaft of a ball screw that moves up and down by driving and moving the connecting mechanism up and down is provided.

The holding mechanism is composed of a suction nozzle for sucking and holding the semiconductor device, and a holding plate for moving the suction nozzle up and down according to the movement of the connecting mechanism. It also comprises a pressing plate arranged between the shaft and the conveying plate, and a connecting rod provided in a state of penetrating the conveying plate for connecting the pressing plate and the holding mechanism.

[0011]

[Operation] Pulley, belt,
By rotating the nut of the ball screw and lowering the shaft, the lower end of the shaft pushes down the pressing plate of the connecting mechanism. As a result, the connecting plate and the holding plate of the holding mechanism provided on the lower side of the transport plate are pushed down via the connecting rod, and the semiconductor device held by the suction nozzle descends and comes into contact with the socket. That is, the amount of lowering of the semiconductor device can be accurately adjusted according to the driving amount of the pulse motor, so that the contact pressure between the semiconductor device and the socket can be controlled. Further, since the transfer plate is provided with the connecting mechanism and the holding mechanism, it is possible to continuously carry out the work of carrying the semiconductor device onto the socket and the work of contacting the semiconductor device socket.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a contact unit of a handler of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a contact unit of a handler of the present invention. The contact unit 1 is for contacting the leads 11 of the semiconductor device 10 with the probe 16 of the socket 15 attached to the measurement substrate 6, and mainly includes a holding mechanism 2 for holding the semiconductor device 10 and a holding mechanism 2. The connecting mechanism 3 is connected to the mechanism 2, and the pressing mechanism 4 is provided above the connecting mechanism 3.

The holding mechanism 2 is composed of a holding plate 21 and a connecting plate 23, and is below the carrying plate 5 for carrying the semiconductor device 10 above the socket 15, that is, between the socket 15 and the carrying plate 5. They are arranged in between. The connecting plate 23 is connected in a vertically movable state by a connecting mechanism 3 provided on the upper side of the transport plate 5, and vertically moves the entire holding mechanism 2. Further, the connecting mechanism 3 is arranged on the carrying plate 5 via the biasing force of the spring 31, and the shaft 42a of the ball screw 42 constituting the pressing mechanism 4 is arranged substantially vertically above the connecting mechanism 3. ing.

The shaft 42a of the ball screw 42 is accurately moved up and down with the base 7 as a reference by transmitting the rotation of the pulse motor 41 to the nut 42b of the ball screw 42 via the pulley 43 and the belt 44. It is a thing. That is, when the shaft 42a is lowered by driving the pulse motor 41, the lower end of the shaft 42a contacts the coupling mechanism 3, and the coupling mechanism 3 can be pushed down by further lowering.

The connecting mechanism 3 includes a shaft 42a of the ball screw 42.
And a connecting rod 33 extending downward from the pressing plate 32 and penetrating the transport plate 5 to be connected to the connecting plate 23. The shaft 42a descends to connect the connecting mechanism 3 to each other. At the same time that the pressing plate 32 is pushed down, the holding mechanism 2 is pushed down via the connecting rod 33. The holding plate 21 of the holding mechanism 2 is provided with a suction nozzle 22, and the suction nozzle 22 holds the semiconductor device 10 by vacuum suction or the like.

Therefore, the pulse motor 4 of the pressing mechanism 4
By driving 1, the shaft 42a of the ball screw 42 is lowered and the connecting mechanism 3 is pushed down, and at the same time, the holding mechanism 2
Is pushed down and the semiconductor device 10 is lowered. Further, the holding plate 21 is provided with a hole (not shown), and when the holding mechanism 2 is lowered, it is fitted with a pin 17 provided on the measurement substrate 6 to align the semiconductor device 10 with the socket 15. Is done.

The holding mechanism 2 and the connecting mechanism 3 as described above are
It moves with the movement (rotation) of the transport plate 5. That is, the semiconductor device 10 is held by suction at the predetermined position by the suction nozzle 22, and the carrier plate 5 is moved (rotated) to arrange the semiconductor device 10 above the socket 15. When the semiconductor device 10 is placed above the socket 15 and the semiconductor device 10 is lowered as described above, the semiconductor device 10 and the socket 15 can come into contact with each other.

Next, a method of measuring the semiconductor device 10 using the contact unit 1 of this handler will be described. That is, this measuring method includes a step of adsorbing the semiconductor device 10, a carrying step, a contact step, and a measuring step. First, in the suction process, the semiconductor device 10 stored in, for example, a tray-shaped storage container (not shown) is suction-held by the suction nozzle 22 of the holding mechanism 2.

Next, in a carrying step, the carrying plate 5 is moved (rotated) to move the semiconductor device 10 above the socket 15 while the semiconductor device 10 is held by the suction nozzle 22. Next, in a contact step, the semiconductor device 10 is lowered to bring the leads 11 of the semiconductor device 10 into contact with the probe 16 of the socket 15 at a predetermined pressure. The contact state of the semiconductor device 10 in the contact step from the arrangement state of the semiconductor device 10 in the carrying step will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view for explaining the arrangement state of the semiconductor device 10, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view for explaining the contact state between the semiconductor device 10 and the socket 15. First, as shown in FIG. 2, the carrier plate 5 is positioned so that the semiconductor device 10 suction-held by the suction nozzle 22 of the holding mechanism 2 is arranged above the socket 15.

In this state, the lower end of the shaft 42a of the ball screw 42 is arranged above the pressing plate 32 of the connecting mechanism 3. That is, the ball screw 42 is mounted on the base 7 above the socket 15.
The holding mechanism 2 attached to the holding mechanism 2 that is carried by the carrying plate 5 between the ball screw 42 and the socket 15.
The connection mechanism 3, and the semiconductor device 10 are arranged. The connecting plate 23 and the holding plate 21 of the holding mechanism 2 are connected via a leaf spring 24 so that the holding plate 21 can slightly move with respect to the connecting plate 23 fixed to the connecting rod 33. It has become.

Then, as shown in FIG. 3, the rotation of the pulse motor 41 is transmitted to the nut 42b of the ball screw 42 via the pulley 43 and the belt 44, and the shaft 42a is lowered as shown by the arrow in the figure. As a result, the lower end of the shaft 42a comes into contact with the pressing plate 32 of the connecting mechanism 3 and pushes down the pressing plate 32 and the holding plate 21 of the holding mechanism 2.

When the holding plate 21 is pushed down, the holding plate 2
The holes 18 provided in the first substrate 1 and the pins 17 provided in the measurement substrate 6 are fitted to position the holding plate 21, and the semiconductor device 10 and the socket 15 are accurately aligned. At this time, even if the position of the hole 18 and the position of the pin 17 are slightly displaced, if the amount of displacement is within the allowable range, the holding plate 21 is slightly movable with respect to the connecting plate 23, 18 comes into the pin 17. And
The semiconductor device 10 descends and the leads 11 and the probe 16 of the socket 15 come into contact with each other. Further, the semiconductor device 10 is slightly lowered from this abutted state, and the lead 11 and the probe 1
A predetermined contact pressure with 6 is obtained.

The amount of lowering of the semiconductor device 10 is accurately determined by the number of rotations of the pulse motor 41. That is, the distance between the lead 11 and the probe 16 in the arrangement state of the semiconductor device 10 (see FIG. 2) and the descending amount for obtaining a predetermined contact pressure from the state where the lead 11 and the probe 16 are in contact with each other. Based on the combined amount, pulse motor 4
By accurately setting the number of revolutions of 1 and controlling the pulse motor 41 so as to attain this number of revolutions, the semiconductor device 10 can be accurately lowered by a predetermined amount.

The distance between the lead 11 and the probe 16 when the semiconductor device 10 is arranged is determined by the thickness of the package of the semiconductor device 10, the shape of the lead 11 and the like, and is determined in advance. Further, the descending amount from the state where the lead 11 and the probe 16 are in contact with each other is determined according to the contact pressure between the lead 11 and the probe 16. That is, when the semiconductor device 10 of another type is adsorbed, the distance between the lead 11 and the probe 16 in the arrangement state of the semiconductor device 10 changes, but the rotation speed of the pulse motor 41 is changed according to this distance. By setting, it is possible to make contact with the same contact pressure. That is, it is possible to easily deal with the case where the semiconductor device 10 of another type is measured.

Further, by controlling the rotation speed of the pulse motor 41, it becomes possible to perform the measurement efficiently. For example, when the semiconductor device 10 is arranged and the distance between the lead 11 and the probe 16 is wide, the pulse motor 41 is rotated rapidly to increase the descending speed of the semiconductor device 10 and the distance between the lead 11 and the probe 16 is increased. When approaching, the rotation speed of the pulse motor 41 is reduced to slowly lower the semiconductor device 10. By using the pulse motor 41, such control can be easily performed.

When the semiconductor device 10 is turned upside down and mounted in the socket 15, that is, when so-called back contact is performed, the probe 16 is brought into contact with the extended portion (so-called shoulder portion) of the lead 11. In order to suppress the deformation of the leads 11, it is necessary to set the contact pressure with the probe 16 accurately. Even in such a case, the contact pressure can be set accurately by the accurate control of the pulse motor 41.

Lead 11 and socket 1 of semiconductor device 10
When the probe 16 of No. 5 comes into contact with a predetermined pressure, a circuit (not shown) provided on the measurement substrate 6 is operated as a measurement step to measure the characteristics of the semiconductor device 10. At this time, since the lead 11 and the probe 16 are in accurate contact with each other at a predetermined pressure, highly accurate measurement can be performed.

The carrying plate 5 has a plurality of holding mechanisms 2.
If the connection mechanism 3 is provided, the operations from the suction holding of the semiconductor device 10 to the measurement can be continuously performed. That is, after one semiconductor device 10 is sucked by the one holding mechanism 2 and conveyed above the socket 15, another semiconductor device 10 is sucked by the other holding mechanism 2. During this time,
One semiconductor device 10 is measured, and when the measurement is completed, one semiconductor device 10 is unloaded and another semiconductor device 10 is measured. In this way, adsorption holding and measurement can be performed in parallel, and efficient measurement can be performed.

[0030]

As described above, the contact unit of the handler of the present invention has the following effects. That is, even when measuring other types of semiconductor devices, the leads of the semiconductor device and the probe of the socket can always be brought into contact with each other at a constant pressure by controlling the pulse motor. For this reason, the work for measuring other types of semiconductor devices is facilitated, and efficient measurement can be performed. Further, since the contact pressure between the lead and the probe can be set accurately, it is possible to suppress the deformation of the lead and to perform accurate measurement by reliable contact.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a contact unit of a handler of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an arrangement state of semiconductor devices.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a contact state of a semiconductor device.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view (No. 1) for explaining a conventional example.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view (No. 2) for explaining a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Contact unit 2 Holding mechanism 3 Coupling mechanism 4 Pushing mechanism 5 Conveying plate 6 Measuring board 7 Base 10 Semiconductor device 11 Lead 15 Socket 16 Measuring element 41 Pulse motor 42 Ball screw 42a Shaft 42b Nut 43 Pulley 44 Belt

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A contact unit of a handler, wherein a semiconductor device is placed in a socket provided with a plurality of probes, and the probes contact the leads of the semiconductor device, the contact unit moving above the socket. A holding mechanism which is provided below the carrying plate and holds the semiconductor device, and a holding mechanism which is provided above the carrying plate via a spring and which makes the holding mechanism movable up and down with respect to the carrying plate. A contact of a handler comprising a holding mechanism for holding and a pushing mechanism for vertically moving the shaft of a ball screw arranged above the connecting mechanism by driving a pulse motor to move the connecting mechanism up and down. unit. 2. The holding mechanism includes a suction nozzle for holding the semiconductor device by suction, and a holding plate that is connected to the connecting mechanism and moves the suction nozzle up and down in accordance with the movement of the connecting mechanism. The contact unit of the handler according to claim 1, characterized in that: 3. As the connecting mechanism, a pressing plate disposed between the shaft of the ball screw and the conveying plate, and penetrating the conveying plate, the pressing plate and the holding mechanism are connected to each other. The contact unit of the handler according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a connecting rod.