CN112927726B

CN112927726B - Process test piece for use in the production of a flexural component

Info

Publication number: CN112927726B
Application number: CN202110068494.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: K·C·斯旺森; B·D·布德罗
Original assignee: Hutchinson Technology Inc
Current assignee: Hutchinson Technology Inc
Priority date: 2016-05-18
Filing date: 2017-05-18
Publication date: 2022-08-16
Anticipated expiration: 2037-05-18
Also published as: CN109565638B; CN112927726A; CN109565638A

Abstract

Systems and methods for manufacturing devices, such as flexures, using a process specimen are described. The method includes performing a test on at least one characteristic of a test piece included on a component sheet used in manufacturing the flexure. The at least one feature is produced by a manufacturing process step for producing a portion of the flexure. And the physical characteristic of the feature comprises at least one physical characteristic different from the physical characteristic of the portion. The method also includes determining whether the manufacturing process step will produce a flexure having an anomalous portion based on the performed test. Additionally, the method includes adjusting the manufacturing process step and manufacturing a portion of the flexure using the adjusted manufacturing process step.

Description

Process test piece for use in the production of a flexural component

The present application is a divisional application of chinese patent application 201780044298.8 filed on 18/5/2017.

Cross Reference to Related Applications

This application claims priority from U.S. patent application No.15/598,909 filed on 2017, month 5, 18 and further claims benefit from U.S. provisional patent application No.62/338,118 filed on 2016, month 5, 18, each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to manufacturing techniques. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relate to test pieces used in manufacturing flexures.

Background

Flexures generally include a spring metal base layer (e.g., stainless steel ("SST")), a conductive trace layer (e.g., copper (Cu)) on one side of the base layer, and an insulating layer (e.g., dielectric) separating the conductive trace layer from the base layer. An insulating cover layer may be applied over all or part of the conductive layer. A corrosion-resistant metal, such as gold (Au) and/or nickel (Ni), may be plated or otherwise applied to a portion of the trace layer to provide corrosion resistance. Flexures according to embodiments of the present disclosure can be fabricated using conventional additive deposition and/or subtractive processes such as wet (e.g., chemical) and dry (e.g., plasma) etching, electroplating and electroless plating, and sputtering processes associated with photolithography (e.g., using patterned and/or unpatterned photolithography masks). The term "forming" may be used in this application to describe one or more of these processes. Additionally, mechanical methods (e.g., using a punch and bending device) may also be used to manufacture flexures in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

These types of additive and subtractive processes are well known and used in connection with the manufacture of disk drive head suspensions, for example, and are generally disclosed in the following U.S. patents: U.S. patent 8,885,299 entitled "low resistance ground connection for dual stage actuator disc drive suspension" to Bennin et al; us patent 8,169,746 entitled "integrated lead suspension with multi-trace architecture" to Rice et al; hentges et al, U.S. patent 8,144,430 entitled "multilayer ground plane structure for integrated lead suspension"; hentges et al, U.S. patent 7,929,252 entitled "multilayer ground plane structure for integrated lead suspension"; swanson et al, U.S. Pat. No. 7,388,733 entitled "method for manufacturing noble Metal conductive leads for suspension assemblies"; U.S. patent 7,384,531 entitled "plated grounding feature for integrated lead suspension" to Peltoma et al; all of these patents are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

As described above, a number of manufacturing steps are performed to form the multilayer flexure into a part having the desired dimensions and performance requirements. Variations may occur that make the flexure impractical to implement as desired due to the implementation of various manufacturing process steps to form the various layers of the flexure. Thus, there is a continuing need to improve the process of manufacturing flexures.

Disclosure of Invention

Systems and methods for manufacturing devices, such as flexures, using a process specimen are described. The method includes performing a test on at least one feature of a test piece included on a component sheet used in manufacturing the flexure. The at least one feature is produced by a manufacturing process step for producing a portion of the flexure. And the physical characteristic of the feature comprises at least one physical characteristic different from the physical characteristic of the portion. The method also includes determining whether the manufacturing process step will produce a flexure having an anomalous portion based on the performed test. In addition, the method includes adjusting the manufacturing process step and manufacturing a portion of the flexure using the adjusted manufacturing process step.

Other features and advantages of embodiments of the present invention will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and from the detailed description that follows below.

Drawings

Embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings and in which like reference numerals refer to similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a system for manufacturing a flexure using a process test piece according to one embodiment;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary assembly sheet according to one embodiment;

FIG. 3 illustrates a top-down view (top view) of a portion of an assembly sheet including a test piece according to one embodiment;

FIG. 4 shows a test piece according to an embodiment;

FIG. 5 shows a test piece according to an embodiment;

FIG. 6 shows a test piece according to an embodiment;

FIG. 7 shows a test piece according to an embodiment;

FIG. 8 illustrates a plurality of test pieces according to an embodiment; and

FIG. 9 shows a diagram of a data management process flow, according to one embodiment.

Although the term "block" may be used herein to connote different elements employed illustratively, the term should not be interpreted as implying any particular order among or between various steps herein disclosed unless and except when the order of individual steps is explicitly described. In addition, a "set" or "group" of items (e.g., inputs, algorithms, data values, etc.) may include one or more items, and similarly, a subset or subgroup of items may include one or more items.

Detailed Description

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an illustrative system 100 for manufacturing a device, including but not limited to a flexure according to various embodiments, using a process specimen. The system 100 depicts a simplified illustration of a roll-to-roll manufacturing system 100 for producing a plurality of flexures. As described above, the flexure may be used in a disk drive head suspension. Additionally, the techniques and methods described herein may be used to fabricate devices such as flexures of actuator assemblies such as shape memory enabled actuators used in auto-focus and optical image stabilization assemblies.

The system 100 includes a substrate 102. In an embodiment, the substrate 102 is a base layer (e.g., SST) that can be divided into a plurality of component pieces 104A-104I. On each of the component pieces 104A-104I, one or more flexures 106A-106L and coupons 108A-108H may be formed. The flexures 106A-106L and the coupons 108A-108H are depicted for illustrative purposes and are not drawn to scale. Each of the coupons 108A-108H may include a plurality of different coupons having different characteristics. For example, each of the test pieces 108A-108H may include one or more of the test pieces 302A-302E depicted in FIG. 3, and/or one or more of the test pieces depicted in FIGS. 4-8 below. To form the flexures 106A-106L, the substrate 102 may be transferred from the first roll 110A to the second roll 110B, and vice versa. The substrate 102 transitions through the fabrication machinery 112 as it passes between the first roll 110A and the second roll 110B.

The fabrication machinery 112 can form the flexures 106A-106L using, for example, additive deposition and/or subtractive processes such as wet (e.g., chemical) and dry (e.g., plasma) etching, electroplating and electroless plating, and sputtering processes associated with photolithography. The process for forming the flexures 106A-106L may also form one or more features included in the coupons 108A-108H. That is, the manufacturing machine 112 may deposit, etch, expose, and/or develop (develop) one or more layers of material onto the substrate 102 to form the flexures 106A-106L and the coupons 108A-108H. For example, the fabrication machinery 112 may deposit one or more dielectric layers (e.g., polyimide) and/or one or more conductive layers (e.g., copper, chromium, nickel, gold, etc.) on the substrate 102. Each of these layers may be subjected to one or more processes including, but not limited to, etching, exposure to light (e.g., to harden a portion of the material), and/or exposure to one or more chemicals (e.g., to develop an unexposed portion of the material and/or deposit a layer of the material on the substrate 102), as well as other process techniques including those known in the art.

The test pieces 108A-108H may be analyzed by one or more sensors 114A-114D before and/or after one or more additive deposition and/or subtractive processes (e.g., polyimide development, resist development, stainless steel etching, etc.). The sensors 114A-114D may be used to determine one or more physical characteristics of the test pieces 108A-108H, including but not limited to size, height, thickness, width, diameter, conductivity, resistance, reflectivity, adhesion, lateral slope (side slope), color, and other characteristics that may be used to evaluate a process. Exemplary sensors 114A-114D may include, but are not limited to: a camera for determining the dimensions of the specimens 108A-108H, an electrical probe for measuring the conductivity/resistance of the specimens 108A-108H, a spectrometer for measuring the thickness, reflectivity, and/or color of the specimens 108A-108H, and/or an interferometer (e.g., a white light interferometer, such as a scanning white light interferometer) for measuring the surface profile (e.g., the thickness and/or width) of the specimens 108A-108H. For example, after developing the resist layer, the system 100 may pause, the sensors 114A-114D (e.g., cameras) may capture images of the test pieces 108A-108H produced using the process, and it may be determined from the captured images whether the test pieces 108A-108H were properly manufactured. For other embodiments, the system need not be paused in order for the one or more sensors to capture images of the test pieces 108A-108H.

According to some embodiments, testing one or more of the coupons 108A-108H may require physical contact with the coupons 108A-108H or even performing destructive testing on the coupons 108A-108H. Thus, testing of the test pieces 108A-108H may reduce or eliminate the possibility of damage to the flexures 106A-106L during testing for compliance of the assembly sheets 104A-104I.

According to various embodiments, the physical characteristics of the specimens 108A-108H are designed to indicate: whether a portion of the flexures 106A-106L (e.g., dielectric layer, conductive layer, etc.) are properly manufactured, whether a portion of the flexures 106A-106L include an anomaly, and/or whether a parameter, feature, and/or other aspect of the manufacturing process needs to be changed before the anomalous flexures 106A-106L are produced. That is, during fabrication of the flexures 106A-106L, drift in the fabrication process may occur due to one or more factors (e.g., chemical control, temperature, process flow rate, exposure energy, etc.). In an embodiment, one or more of the coupons 108A-108H may be used to determine when the manufacturing process begins to drift, to correct the process before a faulty or defective flexure 106A-106L that does not meet certain design specifications for the flexures 106A-106L is produced, and/or to determine whether any faulty or defective flexures 106A-106L have been produced.

For example, the coupons 108A-108H may include a plurality of features that are formed during the manufacturing process using the manufacturing process steps used to form the flexures 106A-106L. According to various embodiments, the features included in one or more of the coupons 108A-108H are configured to be more sensitive to variations in the manufacturing process than one or more devices manufactured using the one or more processes, such as the flexures 106A-106L. By way of example, the coupons 108A-108H may be characterized as a plurality of wires formed from, for example, polyimide, copper, nickel, gold, etc. by the additive and/or subtractive processes used in the fabrication of the flexures 106A-106L. The lines may have a range of different widths ranging from about 80 to 5 microns. Similar but non-identical lines (e.g., 10-micron lines) may be formed in the fabrication of the flexures 106A-106L during the same fabrication process step (e.g., formed of the same material as the coupons 108A-108H using the same additive and/or subtractive process). As such, if the test shows that one or more of the lines of the test pieces 108A-108H includes an anomaly, the lines of the flexures 106A-106L are also likely to include an anomaly, or the process is likely to have deviated from its operating tolerances. As such, when testing the test pieces 108A-108H before the integrity of the flexures 106A-106L is affected, it is likely that the manufacturing process is beginning to drift from one or more operating tolerances. Thus, when an anomaly of the test pieces 108A-108H is detected, the manufacturing process may be modified so that the flexures 106A-106L do not begin to have unacceptable anomalies that would affect the performance of the flexures 106A-106L. Examples of modifications that may be made to the manufacturing process include, but are not limited to: the conveyor speed at which the substrate 102 is translated through the fabrication machine 112 may be adjusted, the manifold pressure of the fabrication machine 112 may be adjusted, and other corrections used to correct one or more variables or variations of the process, including those processes known in the art.

According to various embodiments, other features of the coupons 108A-108H may be holes formed in, for example, polyimide, photoresist layers, copper, SST layers, nickel, gold, etc., by additive and/or subtractive processes used in the fabrication of the flexures 106A-106L. The holes may have a range of different widths that vary in diameter, for example from about 80 to 5 microns. Similar but non-identical holes (e.g., 10 micron holes) may be formed in the manufacture of the flexures 106A-106L during the same manufacturing process step (e.g., formed from the same material as the coupons 108A-108H using the same additive and/or subtractive processes). If it is determined that the 5 micron holes of the test pieces 108A-108H are not completely cleaned and/or include anomalies, as determined by the sensors 114A-114D, it may be determined that one or more portions of the flexures 106A-106L are also likely to include one or more anomalies, or that the process has likely drifted beyond one or more operating tolerances. As such, in addition to determining that the manufacturing process is beginning to drift before the flexures 106A-106L with errors or defects are produced, the system 100 can also be used to determine when the flexures 106A-106L with errors or defects will be produced. According to various embodiments, upon determining that the flexures 106A-106L are likely to include one or more anomalies, adjustments may be made to the manufacturing process such that the system 100 is able to again produce flexures 106A-106L that do not include any anomalies, or such that the one or more manufacturing processes are operating within desired tolerances. For example, one or more of the following items used in manufacturing the flexures 106A-106L and the coupons 108A-108H may be adjusted: the substrate 102 is translated through the conveyor speed of the fabrication machine 112, the chemical temperature of the photolithography process, the concentration of the chemicals used in the photolithography process, the bake and/or cure temperature used in the photolithography process, and/or the manifold pressure of the fabrication machine 112, or other processes including those known in the art. Additionally, any flexures 106A-106L with errors or defects may be removed from the process and may be trimmed or discarded so that the flexures 106A-106L with errors or defects are not sent to the user of the flexures 106A-106L.

In an embodiment, the threshold value may be used to determine whether a flexure 106A-106L with an error or defect has been formed and/or whether the process of manufacturing the flexures 106A-106L is adjusted. For example, assume that a feature of the test pieces 108A-108H includes an aberration from an expected design of the feature. Further assume that the aberration of this feature varies by only +/-5% from the intended design. With this magnitude of aberration (i.e., +/-5%), it was determined that no flexures 106A-106L were produced with errors or defects. Additionally, in embodiments, such magnitude of aberration may be indicative of: although aberrations are present in the characteristics of the test pieces 108A-108H, there may not yet be a need to adjust the process of making the flexures 106A-106L. However, if the magnitude of the aberration is +/-10%, it may be determined that the flexures 106A-106L are not being produced with errors or defects, but that the process of manufacturing the flexures 106A-106L may need to be adjusted. Alternatively, if the magnitude of the aberration is +/-15%, it can be determined that the flexures 106A-106L have been produced with errors or defects and that the process of manufacturing the flexures 106A-106L needs to be adjusted. The threshold values used to make each of these determinations can be configured based on the process steps and/or the type of features of the test piece 108A-108H being tested. However, these are merely examples and are not meant to be limiting.

Fig. 2 is an illustration of a top-down view of an exemplary assembly sheet 200, according to an embodiment. According to some embodiments, the assembly sheet 200 may be about 250 x 300 mm. However, this is merely an example and is not meant to be limiting. A plurality of flexures, such as the flexures 106A-106L shown in fig. 1, are formed in a column 202 of the assembly sheet 200. Each assembly sheet 200 includes one or more edge portions 204. The edge portions 204 are used in the manufacturing process to assist in moving the component piece 200 through the process and to protect flexures such as the flexures 106A-106L by adding a stiffening structure around the plurality of flexures 106A-106L to limit excessive bending or movement of the flexures 106A-106L and thus minimize damage to the flexures 106A-106L. Adjacent to and/or included within one or more of the rim portions 204 are various sections in which a trial, such as the trials 108A-108H shown in fig. 1, may be formed. As described above, tests may be performed on the test pieces 108A-108H via sensors (e.g., the sensors 114A-114D depicted in FIG. 1) to determine whether the flexures 106A-106L include anomalies.

Additionally or alternatively, the coupons 108A-108H may also be formed at other locations of the component piece 200 other than the rim portion 204. For example, the coupons 108A-108H may be formed between one or more columns 202 of the flexures 106A-106L. As another example, the coupons 108A-108H may be formed between rows of the flexures 106A-106L, including but not limited to, on carrier strips (carrier strips) to which the flexures 106A-106L are attached.

Fig. 3 is an illustration of a top-down view of a portion 300 of a rim, such as the rim 204 shown in fig. 2. The portion 300 includes a plurality of different types of specimens 302A-302E. Each of the different types of specimens 302A-302E includes one or more different features for performing tests by various sensors, such as the sensors 114A-114D shown in FIG. 1. Various embodiments of the specimens 302A-302E are described in more detail below with respect to FIGS. 4-8. The collection of different types of coupons 302A-302E shown in FIG. 3 may be a single coupon, such as one of the coupons 108A-108H shown in FIG. 1, that is formed near an edge portion of a component piece, such as the component pieces 104A-104I shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of an

exemplary test piece

402, 404 according to some embodiments. Each of the

specimens

402, 404 may be incorporated into a single specimen of the specimens, such as the specimens 108A-108H shown in fig. 1. The test piece 402 includes one or more long conductors 406. To test the test piece 402, an electrical probe may probe each end of the one or more elongated conductors 406 to measure the resistance of the test piece 402. The change in conductor width can cause a large change in the resistance of the test piece 402. That is, the measured resistance may be used to determine the uniformity of the height and width of the one or more long conductors 406. According to various embodiments, the height and width of the conductor may also be determined using visual testing (e.g., using a sensor as a camera). The results of these tests may determine the conductive portion quality status of the flexures 106A-106L (of fig. 1) being formed. If the aberrations of the test piece 402 are determined, the process of manufacturing flexures (such as the flexures 106A-106L shown in FIG. 1) may be adjusted to prevent the formation of flexures 106A-106L with errors or defects and/or to determine whether flexures 106A-106L with errors or defects have been manufactured.

The test piece 404 includes a plurality of grounding features coupled together. When manufacturing flexures such as the flexures 106A-106L shown in fig. 1, each flexure 106A-106L may have multiple grounding features 408 (e.g., 2 to 10 grounding features) at any location. The ground feature or features 408 of the flexures 106A-106L are designed to have a very low resistance. According to various embodiments, the grounding feature 408 can be plated from a first layer (e.g., a trace layer) of the flexure through a hole in a second layer (e.g., a dielectric layer) of the flexure and in contact with a third layer (e.g., an SST layer) of the flexure. Additionally or alternatively, the grounding feature 408 may also be a conductive adhesion hole (adhesion hole). The grounding feature is explained in detail in U.S. patent No. 9,093,117 entitled "grounding feature for disk drive head suspension flexure," which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.

Although the grounding feature of the flexure is designed to have a very low resistance, the resistance of the grounding feature gradually increases during the manufacture of flexures such as the flexures 106A-106L shown in fig. 1. By coupling together multiple grounding features (e.g., 10-30 grounding features) in the test piece 404, sensors, such as the sensors 114A-114D (e.g., electrical probes) shown in FIG. 1, may be used to determine: whether the resistance of the grounding feature begins to increase, whether there is an error due to insufficient plating, and/or a high resistance. If there is an error in any of the grounding features, it is likely that one or more of the grounding features of the flexures 106A-106L will also include an error.

FIG. 5 illustrates a

test piece

502, 504 according to various embodiments. The test piece 502 is a spectrometer strip. In an embodiment, the light splitting bar can be used to fabricate flexures such as the flexures 106A-106L shown in fig. 1 using a wet coating process. During the wet coating process, a substrate, such as substrate 102 shown in fig. 1, is being translated through a fabrication machine, such as fabrication machine 112 shown in fig. 1, at a translation speed. Using a spectrometer, the thickness of the test piece 502 and any residue on the test piece 502 may be determined. By determining the thickness of the test piece 502, it may be determined whether one or more layers (e.g., bars and/or a dielectric layer) are applied to the appropriate thickness by the manufacturing machine 112 at the translation speed of the substrate 102. If the test piece 502 does not have the proper thickness, the translation speed of the substrate 102 may be reduced. Additionally, the manufacturing process step may include cleaning one or more surfaces of the flexure. Thus, by determining whether there is any residue on the test piece 502, it can be determined whether one or more surfaces of the flexures 106A-106L are sufficiently cleaned.

Fig. 5 also includes a plurality of specimens 504, which are shown to indicate that different specimens may have different proportions relative to other specimens, such as the various embodiments described in more detail with respect to fig. 7 and 8.

FIG. 6 illustrates a test piece 602 according to one embodiment. The specimen 602 may include a plurality of features 604A-604E, where the surface profiles (e.g., thicknesses and/or widths) of the plurality of features 604A-604E are determined using interferometry (e.g., white light interferometry). The test piece 602 may include a plurality of coating fluids formed on the various layers used to produce the flexures 106A-106L. For example, a lotion ("CL") can be applied to the conductive and/or dielectric layers of a flexure, such as the flexures 106A-106L shown in FIG. 1. According to various embodiments, the CL may flow away from the layer of flexures 106A-106L that the CL is intended to coat. The amount of CL that flows away may depend on one or more of the following: such as the size of the layer being coated, the type of layer being coated, the liquid being used as the CL, the temperature of the CL, and the ambient temperature of the layer and CL, etc. By applying a CL to different widths of the features 604A-604E made of different types of materials and determining the surface profile of the CL (i.e., the features 604A-604E), according to some embodiments, it can be determined whether the ongoing application or removal of one or more CL layers of the flexures 106A-106L can form features having the appropriate width, height, or depth.

FIG. 7 illustrates a test piece 702 according to various embodiments. The test piece 702 includes a plurality of

features

704 and 718. If one or more of the features 704-718 include aberrations sensed by sensors, such as the sensors 114A-114D shown in FIG. 1, the manufacturing process may be adjusted and/or it may be determined whether one or more of the flexures, such as the flexures 106A-106L shown in FIG. 1, has an error or defect.

The features 704 include a series of holes having a series of different diameters that may be formed in, for example, polyimide, photoresist, copper, SST layer, nickel, gold, etc., by additive and/or subtractive processes used in fabricating the flexures 106A-106L. According to various embodiments, the features 704 are configured to indicate a minimum adhesion resist (adhesion resist) or a minimum cleaned plating (cleaning) for the process. According to various embodiments, the sensors 114A-114D may sense the smallest hole that is being consistently cleaned, which provides an indication of the operational status of the manufacturing process used to produce the flexures 106A-106L. As described above, if the flexures 106A-106L include 10 micron holes, the holes of the features 704 may be less than 10 microns to determine if the manufacturing process is drifting before the flexures 106A-106L with errors or defects are produced.

The features 706 comprise a series of dots that may be formed on the test piece 702 from, for example, polyimide, copper, nickel, gold, etc., by the additive and/or subtractive processes used in fabricating the flexures 106A-106L. According to various embodiments, the feature 706 is configured to indicate a minimum cleaned resist (clearresist) or minimum adhesion plating (adhesion plating) for the process. Sensors 114A-114D may sense a minimum point mass condition adhered to the surface of test piece 702 using techniques including those described herein, as determined by the presence of the minimum point on the surface of test piece 702.

The

features

708, 712 include longitudinal (vertical) and transverse (horizontal) grooves, respectively, having a series of different widths and spacings formed in, for example, polyimide, photoresist layer, copper, SST layer, nickel, gold, etc., by additive and/or subtractive processes used in fabricating the flexures 106A-106L. According to various embodiments, the

features

708, 712 are configured to indicate minimal cleaned resist or minimal longitudinal and lateral adhesion plating, respectively, for the process. The sensors 114A-114D can sense the

smallest slots

708, 712 being consistently cleaned using techniques including those described herein, which provides an indication of the manufacturing process operating conditions for producing the flexures 106A-106L.

The

features

710, 714 each include longitudinal (vertical) and transverse (horizontal) lines having a series of different widths and spacings formed on the test piece 702 from, for example, polyimide, copper, nickel, gold, etc. by additive and/or subtractive processes used in the manufacture of the flexures 106A-106L. According to various embodiments, the

features

710, 714 are each configured to indicate a minimum resist line or minimum cleaned plating for the process. The sensors 114A-114D may sense the minimum line being consistently applied to the test piece 702 using techniques including those described herein, which provides an indication of the operating conditions of the manufacturing process used to produce the flexures 106A-106L. According to various embodiments, the width of the features 704-718 may range from 5 microns to 80 microns, for example.

Since a substrate, such as substrate 102 shown in fig. 1, is being translated through a fabrication machine, such as fabrication machine 112 shown in fig. 1, the chemicals may be applied to substrate 102 in the same direction or in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the substrate is being translated. As such, according to some embodiments, the differences between the longitudinal and

transverse features

708, 710, 712, 714 being cleaned and/or applied may be different, which is why tests are performed on the longitudinal and transverse slots and

lines

708, 710, 712, 714 according to some embodiments. Similar to the features 704, if the flexures 106A-106L include 10 micron wide slots or holes, the slots or holes of the

features

708 and 714 may be less than 10 microns to determine if the manufacturing process is drifting before the flexures 106A-106L with errors or defects are produced.

Feature 716 is a registration feature of the previous layer. Feature 716 includes an outer margin 722 from one layer and an inner loop 724 from a different layer. The features 716 are measured using the sensors 114A-114D to determine the condition of the two layers in registration with each other. The condition for registration of one layer with another is the extent to which the inner circle 724 of the feature 716 is offset from the expected center position of the outer edge 722 of the registration feature.

The features 718 are a star pattern that magnifies the lateralization of the features of the flexures 106A-106L. The skew of a feature is the angle of the side of the feature. That is, features of the flexures 106A-106L (e.g., polyimide layers) etched by the additive and/or subtractive processes used to produce the flexures 106A-106L may not have sides that are perpendicular to the substrate surface. The angle relative to the perpendicular to the feature is called skew. Thus, by performing a test on the skew of the features 718 that magnify the skew of the flexures 106A-106L, it can be determined that the skews of the features of the flexures 106A-106L are consistent. To sense a lateral tilt, a vision system, which is a type of sensor such as sensors 114A-114D shown in FIG. 1, may be used.

Feature 720 is a calibration pad that can be used to calibrate a vision system, which is a type of sensor, such as those included in sensors 114A-114D. The features 720 (i.e., the calibration pad) can be used to determine the focal height and light intensity of the vision system based on the reflectivity of the calibration pad. The features 720 may be made of the same material as the layer being formed on a substrate, such as the substrate 102 shown in fig. 1. For example, the features 720 may be made of a dielectric, conductive layer, or other materials known in the art including those described herein. This will increase the likelihood that the features 720 have the same reflectivity calibration (which may change due to topography variations, surface oxidation conditions, etc.) as the layer being formed on the substrate 102. In an embodiment, the vision system may be a grayscale vision system.

FIG. 8 illustrates a plurality of test pieces 800 according to various embodiments. For some embodiments, the plurality of coupons 800 includes features similar to those described with reference to FIG. 7. As described above, when fabricating flexures such as flexures 106A-106L shown in FIG. 1, multiple layers may be applied to a substrate such as substrate 102 shown in FIG. 1. After each layer of the flexures 106A-106L, one of the plurality of

coupons

800, 802A-802O, may be added to the layer. Each of the coupons 802A-802O formed may correspond to a particular manufacturing process for the layer of the flexures 106A-106L. For example, if the first layer of the flexures 106A-106L is a polyimide layer, a first trial (e.g., trial 802A) may be formed on the edge portion 204 (of fig. 2) of the assembly sheet 200 (of fig. 2) using the same manufacturing process steps as the polyimide layer from which the flexures 106A-106L were made. That is, the test piece 802A may include polyimide features similar to the polyimide layers of the flexures 106A-106L but with different dimensions (e.g., a series of holes with different diameters, a series of dots with different diameters, a series of grooves with different widths, a series of lines with different widths, etc.). As such, a respective test piece 802A-802O may be used for each layer to determine the resolution/adhesion of each layer. The number 804A-O of each respective test piece 802A-802O may represent the layer to which the test piece 802A-802O belongs. For example, the test piece 802A may be a test piece included on a first layer, the test piece 802B may be a test piece included on a second layer, and so on.

In addition, it may also be determined that for each layer produced during the manufacture of a flexure such as the flexures 106A-106L shown in FIG. 1, including the corresponding test pieces 802A-802O: whether the resolution/adhesion of the test pieces 802A-802O is affected when the test pieces 802A-802O are combined with other layers produced during the manufacture of the flexures 106A-106L. For example, the coupons 802A-802O that are fabricated on a conductive layer formed on top of a polyimide layer may have such defects: when a test piece is formed on top of a conductive layer that is not formed on top of a polyimide layer, defects cannot be detected. As such, because the flexures 106A-106L include multiple layers stacked on top of each other, the stacked coupons 802A-802O on the multiple layers may provide a better indication of the quality of the flexures 106A-106L produced during fabrication of the flexures 106A-106L.

Additionally or alternatively, after each layer, all of the manufacturing process steps used to produce the flexures 106A-106L may be used to form the test pieces 802A-802O. For example, the coupons 802A-802O may include features corresponding to a conductive trace layer, even though a polyimide layer may be formed during one layer.

Fig. 9 is a diagram of a data management process flow 900 according to an embodiment. According to various embodiments, the process flow 900 may include receiving an identification signal identifying a component piece including the formed test piece (902). Each component piece may have its own bar code that is scanned using sensors including those described herein. After each manufacturing process step, the bar code for each component piece may be read by a bar code scanner (904). According to various embodiments, one or more of the sensors 114A-114D may be a barcode scanner.

The results of any scans/tests performed by the sensors on the test piece may also be received each time the bar code of the component piece is scanned (906). From each test, it may be determined whether the received results indicate that one or more test pieces include aberrations, and thus whether the flexure may include a flexure with an error or defect. All this information can be tracked during the process of producing the flexure. If it is determined that the component piece may include a flexure with an error or defect, additional inspection of the component piece may be performed and/or the component piece may be rejected. In this manner, each component piece can be tracked during the entire process.

Various modifications and additions may be made to the exemplary embodiments discussed without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, although the embodiments described above refer to particular features, the scope of the present invention also includes embodiments having different combinations of features and embodiments that do not include all of the described features. Accordingly, the scope of the embodiments is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications, and variations as fall within the scope of the claims, and all equivalents thereof. While the disclosed subject matter is amenable to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and have been described herein. However, it is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments described. On the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims.

As the terms "about" and "approximately" are used interchangeably herein with respect to a measurement range (such as those directly disclosed above) to refer to a measurement that includes the stated measurement and also includes measurements that are reasonably close to the stated measurement, but that may differ by a reasonably small amount, such as would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the relevant art and readily determined so as to be attributable to measurement errors, differences in measurement and/or manufacturing equipment calibration, human errors in reading and/or setting measurements, adjustments that take into account differences in measurements associated with other components, particular implementation scenarios for optimizing performance and/or structural parameters, imprecise adjustments and/or manipulations of objects by humans or machines, and so forth.

Claims

1. A method for fabricating a device, the method comprising:

forming a test piece on a section of an assembly sheet for manufacturing a device to include at least one first feature using a manufacturing process step, the manufacturing process step being used to produce at least a portion of at least one device, the at least one first feature including a physical characteristic common to the portion;

forming the test piece to include at least one second feature including at least one physical characteristic different from the physical characteristic of the portion;

performing a test on the at least one first feature;

determining whether the manufacturing process step would produce a device having an anomalous portion based on the performed test;

adjusting the manufacturing process steps; and

fabricating the portion of the at least one device using the adjusted fabrication process steps.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the testing is performed before or after at least one of the following manufacturing steps: applying a dielectric layer, applying a conductive layer, applying a backing layer, etching the base layer, etching the dielectric layer, etching the conductive layer, and etching the backing layer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the manufacturing process step comprises at least one of: adjusting conveyor speed, adjusting manifold pressure, adjusting chemical concentration, adjusting chemical temperature, adjusting baking temperature, and adjusting curing temperature.

4. A method for determining anomalies of a device, the method comprising:

receiving an assembly sheet comprising a formed portion of a device and a formed test piece, wherein the formed test piece comprises at least one first feature and at least one second feature, the at least one first feature being formed using manufacturing process steps used to produce at least the formed portion of the device, the at least one first feature comprising a physical characteristic in common with the portion, the at least one second feature comprising at least one physical characteristic different from the physical characteristic of the portion;

performing a test on the at least one first feature; and

determining whether the formed portion includes an exception based on the performed test.

5. The method of claim 1 or 4, wherein the common physical characteristic comprises at least one of: size, height, thickness, width, diameter, conductivity, resistance, reflectivity, adhesion, skew, and color.

6. The method of claim 1 or 4, wherein the physical characteristic different from that of the portion of the device comprises at least one of: the at least one feature has a size, height, thickness, width, diameter, conductivity, resistance, reflectivity, adhesion, sidedness, and color.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the at least one first feature comprises a set of similar features having a range of different sizes, the set of similar features being at least one of: a set of holes, a set of dots having a series of different diameters, a set of transverse rectangles having a series of different widths, a set of transverse rectangular slots having a series of different widths, a set of longitudinal rectangles having a series of different widths, and a set of longitudinal rectangular slots having a series of different widths; and/or

The at least one second feature comprises a varying size of at least one of: a plurality of dots, a plurality of circular holes, a plurality of transverse rectangles, a plurality of transverse rectangular slots, a plurality of longitudinal rectangles, a plurality of longitudinal rectangular slots, a registration layer, a star pattern, a plurality of ground features, and a spiral conductor.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the test piece is formed adjacent to at least one of: edge portions of the component pieces, between rows of devices, between columns of devices, and on carrier strips of the component pieces.

9. A test piece on a component piece, the component piece including at least one first section with a device and at least one second section with the test piece, the test piece comprising:

at least one first feature formed on the at least one second section of the assembly sheet, the at least one first feature comprising a physical characteristic in common with the formed portion of the device, the at least one first feature configured to be tested to indicate whether the formed portion of the device would be abnormal; and

at least one second feature formed on the component piece, the at least one second feature comprising a physical characteristic different from a physical characteristic of the portion of the device.

10. The test piece of claim 9, wherein the common physical property comprises at least one of: size, height, thickness, width, diameter, conductivity, resistance, reflectivity, adhesion, skew, and color.

11. The test piece of claim 9, wherein the physical property different from the physical property of the portion of the device comprises at least one of: the at least one feature has a size, height, thickness, width, diameter, conductivity, resistance, reflectivity, adhesion, sidedness, and color.

12. The test piece of claim 9, wherein the common physical property is configured to be tested using at least one of a visual test, an electrical test, a spectral test, and a white light interferometer test.

13. The test piece of claim 9, wherein the at least one second feature comprises a varying dimension of at least one of: a plurality of dots, a plurality of circular holes, a plurality of transverse rectangles, a plurality of transverse rectangular slots, a plurality of longitudinal rectangles, a plurality of longitudinal rectangular slots, a registration layer, a star pattern, a plurality of ground features, and a spiral conductor.

14. The test piece of claim 9, wherein the at least one second feature comprises a set of similar features having a range of different dimensions.

15. The test piece of claim 14, wherein the set of similar characteristics is at least one of: a set of holes, a set of dots having a series of different diameters, a set of transverse rectangles having a series of different widths, a set of transverse rectangular slots having a series of different widths, a set of longitudinal rectangles having a series of different widths, and a set of longitudinal rectangular slots having a series of different widths.

16. The test piece of claim 9, wherein the at least one first feature is formed on the component piece using at least one of: applying a dielectric layer, applying a conductive layer, applying a backing layer, etching the base layer, etching the dielectric layer, etching the conductive layer, and etching the backing layer.

17. The test piece of claim 9, wherein the at least one second section in which the test piece is located is formed adjacent to at least one of: edge portions of the component pieces, between rows of devices, between columns of devices, and on carrier strips of the component pieces.

18. An assembly sheet for manufacturing a device, characterized in that the assembly sheet comprises at least one test piece according to any one of claims 9 to 17.

19. A method for tracking process variations of a fabricated device, the method comprising:

receiving an identification signal identifying an assembly sheet comprising a formed test piece, wherein the assembly sheet is used to manufacture a device, at least one feature of the formed test piece is produced by a manufacturing process step for producing a portion of a device, a physical characteristic of the feature comprises at least one physical characteristic different from a physical characteristic of the portion, and the identification signal is based on a marker associated with the assembly sheet, the at least one feature being configured to be tested to indicate when the formed portion comprises an anomaly;

receiving results of a test performed on the at least one feature;

determining when the received results indicate that the formed portion includes an anomaly; and

storing a determination of whether the formed portion includes an exception.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising performing a check on a component tile when it is determined that the component tile includes an anomaly.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the physical characteristic is associated with at least one of: size, height, thickness, width, diameter, conductivity, resistance, reflectivity, adhesion, skew, and color.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the test measures at least one of: the at least one feature has a size, height, thickness, width, diameter, conductivity, resistance, reflectivity, adhesion, sidedness, and color.

23. The method according to any one of claims 1, 4 and 19, wherein the testing comprises at least one of: visual testing, electrical testing, spectral testing, and white light interferometer testing.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein the at least one feature comprises a set of similar features having a range of different sizes.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the set of similar features are at least one of: a set of holes, a set of dots having a series of different diameters, a set of transverse rectangles having a series of different widths, a set of transverse rectangular slots having a series of different widths, a set of longitudinal rectangles having a series of different widths, and a set of longitudinal rectangular slots having a series of different widths.

26. The method of claim 19, wherein the manufacturing process step comprises at least one of: applying a dielectric layer, applying a conductive layer, applying a backing layer, etching the base layer, etching the dielectric layer, etching the conductive layer, and etching the backing layer.

27. The method of claim 19, wherein the test piece is formed adjacent to at least one of: edge portions of the component pieces, between rows of devices, between columns of devices, and on carrier strips of the component pieces.