HK1036689B - Method of and apparatus for molding resin to seal electronic parts - Google Patents

Description

Method and apparatus for sealing electronic component with molding resin

The application is a divisional application of Chinese patent application with application number 94108214.8, which is filed on 22/7 in 1994.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for sealing an electronic component with a molding resin, which uses a resin material for sealing the electronic component mounted on a lead frame, such as: an integrated circuit, a large scale integrated circuit, a diode, or a capacitor.

Background

Generally, electronic parts are sealed with a molding resin by an automatic transfer molding method by a resin molding/sealing apparatus having a basic structure described below;

the sealing device for resin molding 1 includes a mold having a fixed mold and a movable mold arranged oppositely, a resin material supply groove provided in the mold, a plunger mounted on the mold for pressurizing resin, cavities provided in the fixed groove and the mold surface of the movable mold respectively facing each other, and a resin passage provided between the groove and the cavities.

When an electronic component mounted on the guide frame is supplied and set at a predetermined position in the cavity, a resin block is added to the groove. And closing the mold, and heating and pressurizing the resin block in the groove, thereby injecting and filling the resin material melted in the groove into the cavity located at the side wall position of the groove through the resin passage, respectively. Thus, the resin mold 1 is molded to seal the electronic parts in the cavities, respectively.

With the above apparatus, when mass production is performed using one mold, the following problems are caused:

for example, it is difficult for a mold, which necessarily increases in weight and size, to maintain a stable 1-mold working viscosity. Therefore, the mold parts are different from each other under different resin molding conditions. Particularly, in the production of a product requiring high quality and high reliability in which an electronic part is sealed with a mold 1 resin, there is a possibility that part of the cavity is not pressed with the resin or that voids or defective portions are formed inside and outside the green compact due to a difference in molding/sealing conditions of the resin, thereby extremely deteriorating the quality of the product. Further, in order to keep the same accuracy of the mold, the cost of the mold and the apparatus is increased.

In addition, a large amount of resin flashes sticks to the surface of the mold, which increases the overall molding time due to the time required to remove these resin flashes, resulting in an extreme drop in productivity.

In addition, for the mold for mass production mounted on the above-mentioned conventional apparatus, since it is necessary to consider the size of the mold closing mechanism and the like in this case, the size and yield of the mold are inevitably limited.

The molds used in the above conventional apparatus are generally suitable for simultaneously molding compacts of the same type. Therefore, it is not possible to mold different types of green compacts, and it is necessary to exchange a die mounted on a molding device. And in order to mold different types of green compacts simultaneously with the same molding apparatus, it is necessary to change the shape of the mold itself or to install different types of molds on the apparatus at the same time.

However, when the mold mounted on the molding device is frequently changed to mold different types of green compacts, the mold exchange work is troublesome and the yield is lowered. When the position of a mold mounted on a molding device is changed so as to enable different types of green compacts to be molded simultaneously, the design of the mold is complicated and the use of the mold is restricted by the shape, resulting in deterioration of the entire molding work and increasing the costs of the mold and the molding device.

When a plurality of different types of molds are simultaneously mounted on a molding apparatus, the molds themselves must be miniaturized due to the limitation of the size of space, which leads to complication in mold design and reduction in productivity. In order to solve this problem, for example, a plurality of molding devices are used independently of each other corresponding to the number of different types of green compacts, which disadvantageously increases the cost of production equipment.

On the other hand, in the conventional method of sealing an electronic component with a molding resin, the following processes are generally continuously performed independently of each other: an unsealed guide frame conveying process of conveying the unsealed guide frame into a specified position of a mold cavity, a resin block conveying process of conveying a resin block into a mold groove, a sealed guide frame taking-out process of taking out the sealed guide frame from the mold, and a mold surface cleaning process of cleaning the mold surface after molding/sealing of the resin 1.

Moreover, in such a conventional method of sealing the electronic component with the molding resin, the entire molding time is increased, so that the productivity is extremely lowered.

Disclosure of Invention

An object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for molding resin to seal an electronic component, which can seal the electronic component with a small amount and a large amount of molding resin easily and with high quality and high reliability of the molded product, and which is provided with a void or a defective portion in the inside and outside of the sealed green compact.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for sealing an electronic component with a molding resin, which can easily and simultaneously produce different types of high-quality, high-reliability sealing green compacts.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method of sealing an electronic component with a molding resin, which is capable of efficiently producing a sealing compact of an electronic component by reducing the total time for sealing the electronic component with the molding resin.

In order to achieve the above object, according to a first feature of the present invention, an electronic component is sealed by a method of molding a resin-sealed electronic component mounted on a lead frame with a molding resin material and sealed by molding parts, the molding units each having a mold, a resin supply groove provided in the mold, a resin pressurizing plunger provided on the groove, a cavity provided on a surface of the mold, and a resin passage provided between the cavity and the groove. According to the method, the number of the molding parts can be adjusted by detachably mounting the additional molding part with respect to the molding part already provided, thereby sealing the electronic component with the molding resin. Then, an unsealed guide frame on which the electronic component is mounted and a resin block are fed into each molded part. Then, the electronic component is sealed with the molding resin by each molding unit, and is taken out of the mold.

According to the method, it is possible to seal the electronic component with a minimum of molded part molding resin using the part, and it is possible to achieve the same effect as that of an apparatus having a plurality of molded parts by a simple measure of detachably adding an additional molding unit with a minimum of molded parts.

Therefore, it is possible to easily form a device in which electronic components are not sealed with a molding resin, which can be mass-produced without increasing the size of the mold itself. Further, it is possible to easily form a device for sealing an electronic component with a molding resin, in which a small number of mass productions can be performed without increasing the size of the mold itself since an additional molding unit can be removed as needed.

That is, the number of molding units provided on the molding device can be arbitrarily and easily adjusted according to the required throughput. Therefore, the small-volume production and the mass production of the molded resin sealed electronic component can be easily performed as needed.

Further, according to the method, it is possible to easily form an apparatus for sealing electronic components with a molding resin, which can be mass-produced without increasing the size of the mold itself, thereby efficiently producing a product having high quality and high reliability without forming a void or a defective portion in the inside and outside of the electronic component sealing green compact.

In a preferred embodiment, the steps of the method of molding a resin-sealed electronic component according to the first feature of the present invention are as follows:

in the process of feeding the unsealed guide frame and the resin block with the electronic components mounted thereon to each molding unit, a plurality of unsealed guide frames with the electronic components mounted thereon are fed and set at prescribed positions of the guide frame supply unit, and then fed to the guide frame aligning unit to be aligned with each other in a prescribed direction. After a prescribed number of resin blocks are fed into a resin block discharging unit and aligned with each other, an unsealed guide and the resin blocks are fed into a gap between a fixed die and a movable die in a molding unit, whereby the unsealed guide and the resin blocks are fed into prescribed positions of a cavity and a groove in the molding unit, respectively.

In the process of molding resin to seal electronic components, the fixed mold and the movable mold are closed while the resin block in the groove is heated and pressurized to be melted, so that the molten resin material is granulated through the resin passage and fills the cavity, and is molded to seal the electronic components in the cavity.

In the process of taking out the sealed electronic component from each molding unit, the guide frame which has been sealed by the above molding/sealing process is taken out from the fixed mold and the movable mold, and the fixed mold and the movable mold surface are cleaned. The sealed guide frame is then brought to the degating unit position to remove the sprue portion therefrom. The sealing guides are then sent to a guide storage unit, so as to be taken out and stored in the storage unit independently of each other.

In a more preferred embodiment of the method of sealing electronic components with a molding resin according to the first feature of the present invention, the molding unit and another molding unit that have been provided are used to mold the resin to seal different types of electronic components, so that the different types of products can be simultaneously sealed by using the molding resin in parallel by these molding units.

According to the method, the molding units can be connected with each other according to the number of different models of products, thereby simultaneously sealing various types of products in parallel. Therefore, mass production of various electronic components can be performed.

According to a second feature of the present invention, a method of sealing an electronic component with a molding resin includes. The method includes a step of conveying an unsealed guide frame, a step of supplying a resin block, a step of closing an upper die and a lower die, a step of sealing an electronic component with a molding resin, a step of taking out the unsealed guide frame, and a step of cleaning the surfaces of the respective dies of the upper die and the lower die. The method is characterized in that several processes of cleaning the surface of the mold, conveying the unsealed guide frame and supplying the resin block are simultaneously performed in parallel with the process of taking out the sealed guide frame.

According to this method, the step of cleaning the surface of the mold and the step of removing the seal guide are performed simultaneously, and the step of supplying the unsealed guide and the resin block are performed simultaneously. Therefore, the steps of taking out the sealing guide and cleaning the surface of the mold can be performed in parallel with each other, and the steps of conveying the unsealed guide to be sealed later and conveying the resin block can also be performed in parallel with each other. Accordingly, the waiting time for the continuous operation for sealing the electronic component with the molding resin is reduced, whereby the total molding time can be reduced.

In a preferred embodiment of the method of sealing an electronic component with a mold resin according to the second feature of the present invention, a plurality of processes are performed as follows: in the process of taking out the seal guide, the discharged part is introduced into a gap between the upper and lower dies to be connected to the seal guide, and then withdrawn to take out the seal guide from the upper and lower dies.

On the other hand, in the step of conveying the unsealed guide, when the unloaded member is withdrawn, the feeding unit is introduced into the gap between the upper and lower dies, and the unsealed guide is fed into the predetermined positions of the cavities of the upper and lower dies.

In the process of conveying the resin block, when the unloading unit is withdrawn, the feeding unit is introduced into a gap between the upper die and the lower die, so that the resin block is added into the groove. In the step of cleaning the mold surface, the cleaning member is moved along the gap between the upper and lower molds to clean the mold surface.

According to this method, the step of conveying the charging member into the gap between the upper die and the lower die to seal the guide frame and the resin block can be performed.

And simultaneously, when the discharging part is withdrawn, the cleaning part is used for cleaning the surface of the mould.

Further, the step of cleaning the surface of the mold may be performed simultaneously with the step of taking out the seal guide.

The step of cleaning the mold surface may be performed by withdrawing the seal guide and simultaneously withdrawing the cleaning member attached to the discharge member in the step of removing the seal guide.

An apparatus for realizing the method for sealing an electronic component with a molding resin according to the first feature of the present invention comprises: a mechanism for conveying the molded part, the unsealed guide frame on which the electronic element is mounted and the resin block to the molded part, and a mechanism for taking out the sealed electronic part from the molding unit. The apparatus is characterized in that another molded member can be detachably mounted according to the set molded member, thereby increasing/decreasing the number of molding units.

According to a second feature of the present invention, an apparatus for a method of sealing an electronic component with a molding resin includes: a molded part, an unsealed guide frame conveying mechanism, a resin block conveying mechanism, a mold closing mechanism and a mechanism for taking out the sealed guide frame, and a mold surface cleaning mechanism for cleaning each mold surface of the mold. The resin block conveying mechanism is interlocked with a mechanism for taking out the sealed guide, so that the unsealed guide can be supplied while the sealed guide is taken out.

Drawings

The above and other objects, features, characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIGS. 1A and 1B are a schematic plan view and a schematic front view of an apparatus for sealing electronic components with a molding resin according to the present invention, which shows a combination of minimum molded parts for sealing electronic components with a molding resin;

FIG. 2 is a simplified plan view showing the apparatus for encapsulating electronic components with molding resin shown in FIG. 1, in which an additional molding member is incorporated;

FIG. 3 is a simplified front view showing an apparatus for encapsulating electronic components with a molding resin, in accordance with FIG. 2;

fig. 4 is a simplified plan view showing the apparatus for sealing electronic components with a molding resin shown in fig. 1A to 1B, with a plurality of additional molded parts;

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic side view of an apparatus for encapsulating electronic components with a molding resin consistent with FIGS. 1A and 1B;

fig. 6A to 6D show a process of taking out the seal guide and storing it in the storage hopper;

fig. 7 is a simplified plan view showing a joining portion between the apparatus for sealing an electronic component with a molding resin shown in fig. 1A to 1B and another molded member, and a joining method of the joining portion between the molded members.

Detailed Description

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to fig. 1A and 1B, an apparatus for sealing an electronic component with a molding resin according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a lead frame transfer part 1 for supplying an unsealed lead frame on which an electronic component is mounted; an inter-frame aligning member 2 for aligning the unsealed guides in a predetermined direction with each other and for conveying the resin blocks; a resin block discharging part 4 for aligning the resin blocks and discharging them; a molding member 5 for sealing the electronic component with a molding resin; a feeding unit 6 for feeding the guide frame and the resin block aligned with each other into the molding unit 5; a discharging part 7 for taking out the sealed guide frame and a cleaning part 8 for the mould; a transfer part 9 for transferring the seal guide; a sprue removing part 10 for removing the sprue from the sealing guide; pick-up members 11 for picking up the sealing guides that have been depalletized independently of each other; a guide storage part 12 for storing the sealing guides, from which the gates have been removed, in the respective charges independently of each other; and a controller section 13 for continuously and automatically controlling the operations of the above-mentioned sections.

The above-mentioned guide frame conveying member 1 is provided with a rack 16 for storing a feeding device 15 for storing a plurality of unsealed guides 14 on which electronic components are mounted; and a suitable advancing mechanism 17 by means of which the unsealed guides 14 are transferred independently of one another from the storage and feed device 15 to the guide row 2.

The guide straightening means 2 are provided with suitable straightening means 18 with which unsealed guides 14 from the guide conveying means 1 are aligned with respect to one another in a defined direction.

Two unsealed guides 14 are aligned parallel to each other and a reverse/alignment mechanism is provided, by which one of the unsealed guides 14 is reversed with respect to the configuration of the mould profile of the moulding unit 5 in figures 1A and 1B, without the need to invert any unsealed guide when the mould profile is adapted to provide a single unsealed guide 14.

The resin block transfer part 3 is provided with resin block transfer assemblies 19, the number of which corresponds to the number of grooves provided in the mold part 5.

For ease of handling, the resin block transfer units 19 are arranged in a manner corresponding to the number of grooves provided in the mold member 5 and the intervals therebetween, and are all stored in a desired resin block storage box 20.

When the mold profile in the molded part 5 is changed, the resin block feed unit 19 may be replaced with an appropriate unit according to the new modulus and the number of intervals therebetween.

As shown in fig. 3, the resin block discharging unit 4 is provided with a suitable pushing mechanism 22 for pushing out the resin blocks 21, and the resin blocks 21 are stored in the resin block transfer unit 19 provided in the resin block transfer unit 3 in a line with each other.

The molded part 5 has a fixed plate 25 fixed to the upper portion of the device case 23 by a bar 24, a fixed upper die 26 mounted on the fixed plate 25, a movable lower die 28 vertically pulled by a desired die opening and closing mechanism 27 disposed below the fixed upper die 26 in opposition, and a groove (7 in fig. 1A) provided on the movable lower dies 27, 28.

Further, a plunger for pressurizing the resin 21 is connected in each groove, and heating means such as a heater is provided on the upper die 26 and the lower die 28, while a desired number of resin molding cavities are oppositely provided in the die surfaces of the upper and lower dies 26 and 28, and a resin passage (not shown) is provided between the groove 29 and the cavities.

Therefore, when the upper mold 26 and the lower mold 28 are closed and the resin block 21 in each groove 29 is heated and pressurized, the molten resin material can be injected/filled into each cavity through the resin passage.

The charging section 6 is provided with a feeder 30 for simultaneously conveying two unsealed guides 14 and a plurality of (7 in fig. 1A) resin blocks 21, said guides 14 being aligned with each other by the guide aligning section 2, the resin blocks being aligned with each other by the resin block discharging section 4 and being fed toward the molding section 5.

The feeder 30 is adapted to reciprocate between the positions of the guide aligning member 2 and the mold member 5 to pick up the two unsealed guides 14 by a suitable mechanism (not shown) and to pick up the respective resin blocks 21 fed out by the resin block discharging member 4 by a suitable mechanism (not shown) at the positions of the guide aligning member 2 (see fig. 3).

At this time, the two unsealed guide frames 14 and the respective resin blocks 21 are picked up by the feeder 30 in the same pattern as the outer shape of the mold in the molded part 5. Therefore, by transferring the two unsealed guides 14 and the respective resin blocks 21 to the upper portion of the movable lower die 28 of the molded component 5 and taking them out of the pick-up state, they can be sent to the prescribed positions of the cavities and the grooves 29, respectively.

Since the feeder 30 simultaneously conveys the unsealed guide 14 and each resin block 21, the overall structure of the apparatus can be advantageously simplified and the entire molding time can be reduced, and further, the mechanisms for conveying the guide 14 and the resin blocks 21 can be provided independently of each other so that the conveying mechanisms can be driven independently of each other.

The stripper unit 7 is provided with a stripper 31 for removing the guide 14 from the upper and lower dies 26 and 28, said guide being sealed with the molding resin in the mold unit 5.

Enabling the unloader 31 to move reciprocally with respect to the position of the molded part 5 while, in the condition of picking up, using suitable means (not shown), being able to extract the two sealed guides 14 and the sprue portions integral therewith.

The cleaning member 8 is provided with an air blowing mechanism for blowing air onto the mold surfaces of the upper and lower molds 26 and 28 in the molded member 5 and a suction mechanism (not shown) for sucking dust from the mold surfaces.

Furthermore, the cleaning member 8 is integrated with the discharger of the discharging member 7. Thus, the cleaning member is simultaneously reciprocated together with the discharging member 7 according to the position of the molding member 5.

Further, when the discharging member 7 of the pick-up seal guide 14 is retracted to the outside, for example, the cleaning member 8 is driven, dust is sucked from the mold surface by the air blowing and dust sucking mechanism, and the dust is stored in the appropriate dust collecting portion 32, so that the mold surface can be cleaned easily and efficiently before the next resin molding.

Due to the integral structure of the discharging part 7 and the cleaning part 8, it is possible to simplify the entire structure of the apparatus and to reduce the total molding time, and it is also possible to arrange the parts 7 and 8 independently of each other and to drive them independently of each other.

Furthermore, the cleaning unit 8 may be provided with, for example, a brush assembly for strongly removing resin flash adhering to the mold surface and an actuator provided therefor.

As shown in fig. 6A, 6B and 6D, the above-mentioned transfer means 9 for the sealed guide 14 carries a suitable tray 33 which is reciprocated to transfer the sealed guide 14 taken out by the discharge means 7 to the position of the degating means 10 and the guide storage means 12.

As shown in fig. 6B, the sprue removing member 10 is provided with a sprue crushing mechanism 34 for removing the sprue portions between the respective seal guides 14, the guides 14 being conveyed by the tray 33 of the conveying member 9. For example, the sprue breaker mechanism 34 can be used to pick up two seal carriers 14 as shown in FIG. 1A that are integrally connected/bonded to each other by sprue portions 35, and to cut them off in this state by applying pressure to the sprue portions 35 between the carriers 14 by a suitable mechanism (not shown).

Furthermore, as shown in fig. 6C and 6D, the pick-up unit 11 is provided with a pick-up mechanism 36 for picking up two sealing guides 14, said guides 14 being conveyed from the degating unit 10 by means of trays 33 of the conveying unit 9 which are independent of each other.

As shown in fig. 6C, the pickup mechanism 36 can pick up the two seal guides 14 transferred from the trays 33 of the transfer parts 9 independently from each other.

The guide storage part 12 is provided with a magazine 37 capable of storing two seal guides 14 picked up independently by the pick-up mechanism 36 of the pick-up part 11 independently of each other.

When the tray 33 of the conveying unit 9 is retracted to its original position, the two seal guides 14 picked up by the pickup mechanism 36 of the pickup unit 11 independently of each other are released from the pickup mechanism 36, so that it can be stored in a prescribed magazine 37 placed below it independently of each other, as shown in fig. 6D.

The control means can be used to continuously and automatically control the operation of the above-mentioned means to seal the electronic component with the molding resin, for example, in the following manner.

The two unsealed guides 14 in the feed hoppers of the guide conveyor part 1 are transferred to the guide straightening part 2 by the pusher mechanism 17 independently of each other.

Subsequently, the unsealed guide frames 14 are aligned with each other in a predetermined direction by the aligning mechanism 18 of the guide frame aligning member 2.

After or simultaneously with the above-described step of conveying the two unsealed guides 14 and aligning them with each other, 7 resin blocks 21 are aligned with each other and fed out by the resin block feeding means 3 and the resin block feeding means 4.

Subsequently, it passes through the feeder 3 of the feeding section 6. Two unsealed guides 14 in the lead frame straightening part 2 and seven resin blocks 21 in the block transfer part 3 are fed to a gap between the upper and lower dies 26 and 28 of the mold part 5 and removed from the feeder 30 so that the unsealed guides 14 are pulled into a prescribed position in the cavity of the movable lower die 28 as each resin block 21 is fed into the slot 29.

Subsequently, the resin block 21 received in the groove 29 is heated and pressurized to be melted, and at this time, the upper and lower molds 26 and 28 are closed by the mold opening and closing mechanism 27, whereby the melted resin material is injected/filled into the cavity through the resin passages, respectively, and the electronic component located in the cavity is sealed.

Subsequently, the sealed guide 14 is taken out of the upper and lower dies 26 and 28 of the molded part 5 by the unloader 31 of the unloader part 7, and the die surfaces of the upper and lower dies 26 and 28 are cleaned by the air blowing mechanism and the dust suction mechanism of the cleaning part 8 while the unloader 31 is retracted, thereby sucking dust from the die surfaces.

Subsequently, the sealing guide 14 taken out by the discharging unit 7 is carried to the position of the degating unit 10 by the tray 33 of the conveying unit 9.

Then, the sprue portion 35 between the seal guides 14 is cut and removed by the sprue breaker mechanism 34 of the sprue removing member 10.

Subsequently, the two seal carriers 14 are carried to the position of the carrier storage part 12 by the tray 33 of the conveying part 9, at which time the two seal carriers 14 have removed the sprue portions 35 and are separated from each other.

Then, the picking mechanism 36 picks up the two seal guides 14, which have been separated from each other, independently of each other by the picking member 11.

Subsequently, the tray 33 of the transfer unit 9 is withdrawn and the two sealing guides 14 are removed from the pick-up mechanism 36 of the pick-up unit 11, and they are stored in the respective hoppers 37 independently of each other.

At the right end portion of the base 39 of the mould part 5, there is arranged a coupling device 38 for coupling with another mould part as described below.

As described above, the apparatus for sealing an electronic component with a molding resin shown in fig. 1A and 1B is assembled from a minimum number of molded parts, and the electronic component is sealed with the molding resin.

Further, in such an apparatus for sealing an electronic component with a mold resin, a series of processes is continuously and automatically performed by the control part 13.

Fig. 2 and 3 show an apparatus for sealing an electronic component with a molding resin, which is combined from the minimum number of parts shown in fig. 1A and 1B, and which combines an additional molding part 5a having the same function as the molding part 5, and fig. 4 shows an apparatus which combines a plurality of additional molding parts 5B and 5 c.

The additional molding parts 5a, 5B and 5c are identical in structure to the above-described molding part 5, and are detachably mounted on the side wall part of the molding part 5 in the device, thereby sealing the electronic component with a molding resin in a combination of the minimum parts as shown in fig. 1A and 1B.

Therefore, it is possible to form an apparatus for sealing an electronic component with a molding resin by significantly increasing the size of a mold for mass production by continuously mounting the additional molding members 5a, 5B and 5c on the side wall portions of the molding member 5, thereby sealing the electronic component with the molding resin with a combination of the minimum number of parts as shown in fig. 1A and 1B.

That is, the number of molded parts in the above apparatus can be arbitrarily and easily adjusted according to the required production volume. Therefore, production of a small amount or a large amount of sealed electronic components can be easily performed as needed.

When the apparatus for sealing an electronic component with a molding resin incorporates an additional molding part, most of the components provided in the apparatus, which is combined with a minimum number of parts as shown in fig. 1A and 1B, can be used, which seals the electronic component with the molding resin.

That is, the unsealed guide frame conveying part 1, the guide frame straightening part 2, the resin conveying part 3, the resin block discharging part 4, the charging part 6, the discharging part 7, the cleaning part 8, the transfer part 9, the degating part 10, the pick-up part 11, the guide frame storage part 12 and the control part 13 can be basically used, and thus the control condition is changed by the control part 13 according to the number of molding parts used.

The connecting device 38 is placed between the mould part 5 of the device and the additional mould part 5 a. The molding part 5 seals the electronic component with a molding resin, which is combined with a minimum number of parts as shown in fig. 1A and 1B, and the additional molding part 5a is coupled to or separated from the molding part 5, thereby simply and reliably positioning and coupling the molding parts 5 and 5a to each other.

The connecting means 38 may be formed by a number of irregular connecting members which may be formed, for example, on the base 39 of the moulded parts 5 and 5a as shown in figures 3 and 7.

In the mode shown in fig. 2 to 4, the apparatus for sealing electronic components with mold resin can seal the same type of products with mold resin at the same time, using substantially the same process as the mode shown in fig. 1A and 1B, with the addition of the following process:

in addition to the steps performed by the apparatus for sealing electronic components with molding resin, which is composed of the minimum number of parts, the same type of product is sealed in the additional molding members 5a, 5b, and 5c by the steps of conveying the sealing guide 14 and the tree 21 from the guide straightening member 2 and the resin block transfer member 3 to the additional molding members 5a, 5b, and 5c and setting them at a predetermined position by the feed member 6, molding resin by the additional molding members 5a, 5b, and 5c to seal the electronic components, taking out the sealed guide by the take-off member 7, cleaning the mold surface by the cleaning member 8, and conveying the sealing guide 14 to the position of the cast-off port removing member 10 by the conveying member 9. A step of cutting/removing the gate portions 35 between the sealing lead frames 14 by using the gate removing member 10; a process of transferring the decapsulated seal carriers 14 to the position of the carrier storage section 12 by the transfer section 9, a process of picking up the sealed carriers 14 from the position of the carrier storage section 12 by the pick-up section 11, and a process of storing the sealed carriers 14 picked up by the pick-up section 11 in the storage hopper 37.

At this time, as described above, most components in the apparatus for sealing the electronic component with the mold resin, which is combined with the minimum number of parts shown in fig. 1A and 1B, are used. Therefore, the period of the starting process of sealing the electronic components with the mold resin in the respective mold members 5, 5a, 5b, 5c can be set to a predetermined time interval.

Also, as shown in fig. 2 to 4, in the apparatus for sealing an electronic component with a molding resin using the additional molding parts 5a, 5B and 5c, when the mold profiles of the molding parts 5, 5a, 5B and 5c are different from each other so that different types of products are molded in the molding parts 5, 5a, 5B and 5c, most of the apparatus shown in fig. 1A and 1B can be used.

In this case, the unsealed guide carriage part 1 may be provided with a corresponding number of feed hoppers 15 according to the number of different mould profiles, and the guide storage part 12 may be provided with a corresponding number of storage hoppers 37 according to the number of feed hoppers 15.

When the number of all the slots 29 and the number and shape of the guides 14 in the molded parts 5, 5a, 5b and 5c are different from each other, the parts can be provided with functions that can be changed/adjusted according to each situation, except for the feed hoppers 15 and the storage hoppers 37, the number of which corresponds to the number of different mold profiles.

For example, the resin-block conveying means 3, the resin-block discharging means 4, the charging means 6, the discharging means 7, the degating means 10 and the picking means 11 may have functions that can be changed/adjusted corresponding to the changes in the number of the grooves 29 and the number and shape of the guides.

On the other hand, the additional molding parts 5a, 5b and 5c may be provided with dedicated charging parts, dedicated discharging parts, dedicated sprue removing parts and dedicated pick-up parts, respectively.

Although the additional molding members 5a, 5b, 5c are the same as the molding member 5, in order to produce different types of green compacts in the molding members 5, 5a, 5b, and 5c, the shapes of the molds thereof may be different from each other depending on the green compacts to be formed. Further, the additional mold members 5a, 5B and 5c can be detachably mounted on the side wall portions of the mold member 5 of the apparatus which is assembled with a minimum number of parts as shown in fig. 1A and 1B and which seals the electronic components with the mold resin.

Therefore, it is possible to easily form an apparatus for sealing an electronic component with a molding resin, which mainly comprises a plurality of molds formed by successively mounting the additional molding parts 5a, 5b and 5c on the apparatus for sealing an electronic component with a molding resin composed of a minimum number of parts.

On the other hand, an apparatus for sealing an electronic component with a molding resin with a small number of molds can be constructed by lifting the additional molding members 5a, 5b, and 5c or stopping their operation.

In other words, the apparatus described above allows the number of molded parts to be arbitrarily and easily adjusted according to the desired production volume, thereby allowing a small number or a large number of different types of products to be simultaneously produced easily and quickly, and also allowing a small number or a large number of the same type of products to be simultaneously produced easily and easily.

In the mode shown in fig. 2 to 4, the apparatus for sealing an electronic component with a molding resin is adapted to simultaneously form different types of products, and a process of forming an additional product in the additional molding parts 5a, 5b and 5c may be added to the above-described process performed by the apparatus for sealing an electronic component with a molding resin with a minimum number of parts.

When the step of sealing the electronic component with the molding resin is continuously and automatically performed, the steps of conveying and taking out the components and cleaning the surface of the mold are performed in parallel with each other, so that the total molding time can be reduced and a green compact for sealing the electronic component can be efficiently produced.

The resin block transfer process of transferring the resin block 21 into the gap between the upper and lower molds 26 and 28 of the molded part 5 and into the groove 29 of the lower mold portion 28 is performed while transferring the unsealed guide 14 into the prescribed position of the cavity between the upper and lower molds 26 and 28 of the molded part 5 to seal the guide transfer process and transferring the unsealed guide 14 into the cavity of the upper and lower molds 26 and 28, so that these processes can be completed substantially in one process time, thereby reducing the total molding time.

Further, the total molding time can be reduced by performing a process of cleaning the mold surfaces of the upper and lower mold portions 26 and 28 simultaneously with the seal guide removing process of inserting the discharging member 7 into the gap between the upper and lower molds 26 and 28, engaging the sealed guide 14, and withdrawing the discharging member 7, thereby removing the sealed guide 14 from the upper and lower molds 26 and 28.

In this case, the mold surface cleaning process may be performed while withdrawing the discharging member 7, so that these processes may be performed substantially within one process time.

Further, the charging member 6 is fed into the gap between the upper and lower dies 26 and 28 while withdrawing the discharging member 7 as described above, and an unsealed guide frame to be subsequently subjected to sealing treatment is fed into a prescribed position of a cavity provided in the upper and lower dies 26 and 28.

Further, a resin transfer process of feeding the resin block 21 used in the next sealing operation into the groove 29 of the lower mold 28 may be performed simultaneously with the feeding of the charging member 6 described above.

That is, it is possible to feed the charging member 6 substantially simultaneously when withdrawing the discharging member 6, and to perform the process of conveying the unsealed guide 14 and the resin block 21 by the charging member 6 at the same time.

Therefore, the seal carrier take-out process, the mold surface cleaning process, the unsealed carrier conveyance process, and the resin block conveyance process can be performed substantially in parallel with each other in a short time, thereby further reducing the total molding time.

As described above, the unsealed guide conveyance step and the resin block conveyance step can be performed together with the sealed guide removal step, and the mold surface cleaning step can be performed at the same time.

Therefore, the total molding time can not be reduced by simultaneously performing the seal carrier take-out process, the mold surface cleaning process, the unsealed carrier conveying process, and the resin block conveying process substantially in parallel with each other.

The above embodiment is adapted to remove the seal guides from the upper and lower dies 26 and 28 by the unloader 31 while cleaning the die surfaces of the upper and lower dies 26 and 28 by sucking 1 dust from the die surfaces by the air blowing and dust sucking mechanism in the cleaning part 8 when the unloader 31 is withdrawn. Further, this embodiment is also known for performing the conveying process of the unsealed guide frame and the resin block with the charging member 6 substantially simultaneously when exiting the unloader 31.

That is, the conveying process of supplying the unsealed guide and the resin block is performed simultaneously with the mold surface cleaning process of exiting the unloader 31. Therefore, according to this embodiment, the seal carrier take-out process, the mold surface cleaning process, the unsealed carrier conveying process, and the resin block conveying process can be simultaneously performed in a short time substantially in parallel.

However, for example, in actual work, if the unsealed guide 14 is connected in parallel by dust on the mold surface due to the above-described process of conveying the unsealed guide 14 and the resin block 21 being performed simultaneously with the mold surface cleaning process, in order to solve this problem, the unsealed guide and the resin block conveying process may be continuously performed after the mold surface cleaning process.

In the case where the unsealed guide and the resin block transfer process cannot be performed simultaneously with the mold surface cleaning process, it is possible to minimize the loss of molding time while manufacturing a product with high quality and high reliability by performing the unsealed guide and the resin block transfer process immediately after the mold surface cleaning process.

Although the present invention has been described in detail herein, it is clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration and example only and is not to be taken by way of limitation, the spirit and scope of the present invention being limited only by the terms of the appended claims.

Claims (14)

1. A method of sealing electronic components with molding resin by molding the electronic components with a resin material mounted on a lead frame through a molding part (5) having a mold (26, 28) in which a resin supply groove (29) is disposed, a resin pressurizing plunger is disposed on the groove, a cavity is disposed on a mold surface of the mold, and a resin passage is disposed between the cavity and the groove, characterized in that the method comprises:

a step of adjusting the number of molded parts by detachably mounting additional molded parts (5a, 5b, 5c) with respect to the molded part (5) that has been provided in an apparatus for sealing an electronic component with a molding resin;

a step of feeding an unsealed guide frame (14) and a resin block (21) into each of the molded parts and the additional molded parts (5, 5a, 5b, 5 c); electronic components are mounted on the guide frame (14);

a step of sealing the electronic component with a molding resin by each of the molding member and the additional molding member (5, 5a, 5b, 5 c); and

a step of removing the electronic components sealed from each of the molded parts and the additional molded parts (5, 5a, 5b, 5 c).

2. A method of sealing electronic components with a molding resin according to claim 1, wherein said step of feeding said unsealed guide frame (14) having mounted thereon the electronic components and said resin block (21) into each of said molding parts and additional molding parts (5, 5a, 5b, 5c) comprises:

a step of feeding and disposing a plurality of the unsealed guide frames (14) having electronic components mounted thereon at predetermined positions on a guide frame conveying member;

a step of transferring the unsealed guide (14) provided in the guide conveying member (1) to a guide straightening member (2);

a step of aligning the unsealed guides (14) conveyed to the guide alignment member (2) in a predetermined direction;

feeding a predetermined amount of the resin blocks (21) to a resin block discharging member (4) and aligning them with each other; and

a step of transferring the resin blocks (21) arranged in line with each other in the unsealed guide (14) provided in the guide aligning member (2) and the resin block discharging member (4) into a gap between the fixed mold (26) and the movable mold (28) in the molding member and the additional molding member (5, 5a, 5b, 5c) while feeding the unsealed guide (14) into a prescribed position of the cavity of each of the molding member and the additional molding member (5, 5a, 5b, 5c) and feeding the resin blocks (21) into the groove;

the step of sealing the electronic component with a molding resin includes:

a step of closing the fixed mold (26) and the movable mold (28), melting the resin block (21) in the groove by heating and pressurizing, injecting the molten resin material into the cavity through the resin passage, and filling the cavity with the molten resin material, thereby sealing the electronic component in the cavity with molding resin, and a step of sealing the electronic component in the cavity with molding resin

The procedure of removing the sealed electronic components from each of the molded parts and additional molded parts (5, 5a, 5b, 5c) comprises:

a process of taking out the sealing guide having undergone the resin molding/sealing process from the fixed mold part (26) and the movable mold (28),

a step of cleaning the mold surfaces of the fixed mold (26) and the movable mold (28),

a step of transferring the sealing guide to a position of a degating part (10),

a step of removing a sprue portion from the sealed guide in the sprue removing member (10),

a step of transferring the seal carriers subjected to the sprue removing portion removing step to a carrier storage part (12),

a process of picking up the seal carriers having passed through the sprue removing process in the carrier storage part (12) independently of each other; and

storing the sealing guides picked up independently of each other.

3. A method of sealing an electronic component with a molding resin according to claim 1, wherein the set molding part (5) and the additional molding part (5a, 5b, 5c) are adapted to seal products of different types from each other with a molding resin,

the process of sealing the electronic component with the molding resin by the molding member and the additional molding member (5, 5a, 5b, 5c) includes a process of simultaneously sealing different types of products with the molding resin in parallel with each other.

4. A method of sealing an electronic component with a molding resin, comprising:

an unsealed guide conveying process of conveying an unsealed guide (14) into a gap between an upper die (26) and a lower die (28) above a molded part, thereby conveying the unsealed guide (14) to a prescribed position of a cavity in the upper and lower dies (26, 28);

a resin block feeding step of feeding resin blocks (21) into the gaps between the upper and lower dies (26, 28) in the molded component and the additional molded component (5, 5a, 5b, 5c) and into the grooves provided in the lower die (28);

a mold closing process of closing the upper and lower molds (26, 28) in the molded component and the additional molded component (5, 5a, 5b, 5 c);

a resin molding/sealing process of heating, pressurizing and melting the resin block (21) charged into the groove, and simultaneously injecting and filling the melted resin material into the cavity through a resin passage provided between the groove and the cavity, thereby sealing the electronic component mounted on the lead frame engaged in the cavity with molding resin;

a sealing guide removing step of removing the sealed guide having undergone the resin molding/sealing step from the upper and lower molds (26, 28); and

a mold surface cleaning step of cleaning each mold surface of the upper and lower molds (26, 28),

the mold surface cleaning step and the seal guide removal step are performed simultaneously in parallel,

and the step of conveying the unsealed guide frame (14) and the resin block (21) is performed simultaneously in parallel with the sealed guide frame taking-out step.

5. A method for sealing an electronic component with a mold resin according to claim 4, wherein the seal guide removing process comprises a process of: -feeding stripper elements (7) into the gap between the upper and lower dies (26, 28) to engage said sealing guide and withdrawing said stripper elements (7) to remove said sealing guide from said upper and lower dies (26, 28),

the step of conveying the unsealed guide frame (14) comprises the following steps: -feeding feeder elements (6) into the gap between the upper and lower dies (26, 28) while withdrawing the stripper elements (7) so as to feed the unsealed guide (14) into a defined position in the cavities of the upper and lower dies (26, 28),

the step of conveying the resin block (21) includes one of the following steps: feeding said feeder member (6) into said gap between the upper and lower dies while withdrawing said unloader member (7) to thereby feed said resin (21) into said tank, and

the mold surface cleaning process includes one of the following processes: moving a cleaning member (8) along the mold surfaces of the upper and lower molds (26, 28) to clean the mold surfaces of the upper and lower molds (26, 28).

6. A method of encapsulating electronic components with a molding resin according to claim 5, wherein the step of conveying the unsealed guide (14) and the resin block (21) is performed simultaneously with the step of feeding the charging member (6) into the gap between the upper and lower molds (26, 28).

7. A method for sealing an electronic component with a molding resin according to claim 5, wherein a mold cleaning process is performed with the cleaning member (8) while retracting the discharging member (7).

8. A method for sealing an electronic component with a mold resin according to claim 4, wherein the mold surface cleaning process is performed simultaneously with the seal guide removing process.

9. The method for sealing electronic components with mold resin according to claim 8, wherein the cleaning member (8) mounted on the unloader member (7) is ejected together with the unloader member (7) at the time of withdrawing the unloader member (7) in the seal guide removing process, thereby completing the mold surface cleaning process.

10. An apparatus for sealing an electronic component with a molding resin, comprising:

a molded part having a mold (26, 28), a resin material supply groove provided in the mold, a resin pressurizing plunger provided on the groove, a cavity provided on a mold surface of the mold, and a resin passage provided between the groove and the cavity;

an additional molding member (5a, 5b, 5c) detachably mounted with respect to the molding member (5) already provided, thereby increasing/decreasing the number of the molding members as desired;

means for feeding an unsealed guide frame (14) having an electronic component mounted thereon and a resin block (21) into the molded part and the additional molded part (5, 5a, 5b, 5 c); and

means for removing the encapsulated electronic components from the molded part (5).

11. An apparatus for sealing electronic components with a molding resin according to claim 10, wherein the means for feeding the unsealed guide (14) and the resin block (21) having the electronic components mounted thereon into each of the mold parts and the additional mold part (5, 5a, 5b, 5c) comprises:

a conveying device which conveys a plurality of unsealed guide frames (14) on which electronic components are mounted,

and a guide aligning member (2) which aligns the unsealed guides with each other in a predetermined direction. The straight line is formed by the straight line,

a resin block conveying component (3),

a resin block discharging part (4) which discharges the resin blocks (21) in a line with each other, and

a feeder unit (6) with which said guide (14) and said block (21) are fed straight to each of said mould units and additional mould units (5, 5a, 5b, 5c), and

the means for removing the encapsulated electronic elements from each of the molded parts and additional molded parts (5, 5a, 5b, 5c) comprises:

a discharger part (7) for taking out the sealed guide frame,

a mold cleaning member (8),

a sealed guide frame transfer part (9),

a nozzle removing member (10) for removing the nozzle from the seal guide,

pick-up members (1) for picking up said sealing carriers after removal of the nozzle independently of each other, and

a guide storage part (12) for storing the picked sealing guides independently of each other,

the device also comprises a control unit (13) for continuously and automatically controlling the operation of each of said units.

12. An apparatus for sealing electronic components with molding resin according to claim 10, wherein the provided molding member (5) and the additional molding members (5a, 5b, 5c) are adapted to seal different types of products with molding resin, respectively.

13. An apparatus for sealing an electronic component with a molding resin, comprising:

a molded part with a pair of mold portions (26, 28), a resin material supply groove provided in the mold, a resin pressurizing plunger provided on the groove, a cavity provided on each mold surface of the mold, and a resin passage provided between the groove and the cavity;

an unsealed guide conveyor (1) which conveys unsealed guides (14) into the gap between said pair of dies (26, 28) of said molded part (5) and delivers them to a defined position of said impression;

a resin block transfer device (3) with which a resin block (21) is transferred into a gap between the pair of molds (26, 28) of the molded part (5) and fed into the groove;

a mold closing device (27) with which the pair of molds (26, 28) in the molded part (5) is closed;

seal guide removal means for removing said seal guide from said pair of molds (26, 28); and

a mold surface cleaning device (8) for cleaning each of said mold surfaces of said pair of molds (26, 28),

the resin block transfer device (3) is formed to interlock with the guide removing device so that the unsealed guide (14) can be provided at the same time as the sealed guide removing operation.

14. An apparatus for sealing electronic components with molding resin according to claim 13, wherein said mold surface cleaning means (8) and said seal guide removing means are interlocked with each other so that said operation of removing said seal guide is simultaneously with said operation of removing said mold surface cleaning means (8) to clean said mold surface.