JP2022177374A - Board visual inspection equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

To solve a problem that it is not possible to efficiently inspect an appearance of both front and back surfaces of a board because a transportation of the board is temporarily stopped at the time of inspection.SOLUTION: Board visual inspection equipment 1 is configured so that a chamber 2 which forms a transport path for a board W, has a hollow interior and has numerous air ejection holes h on its upper surface, is divided into at least two parts in a transport direction with an interval S, and front and back sides of the board W pushed out by a pusher 5 and transported in a direction of the interval S are imaged without stopping once, by a transport surface side camera 4A that images the board W passing through the space S and an open surface side camera 4B that is arranged in front of the space S in the transport direction.EFFECT: The board W can be moved at high speed by being pushed out by the pusher 5 in a levitated state, and the transfer surface side and the open surface side of the board are imaged at the space S portion and before or after the space S portion, and therefore both sides of a large number of very small boards can be efficiently inspected for appearance.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a substrate visual inspection apparatus used for extremely small and delicate electronic equipment.

For example, Patent Document 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-41905) proposes the following configuration for the purpose of supporting the surface of a glass sheet without contacting it, and attenuating the vibration of the glass sheet to move it at high speed. is doing.

That is, US Pat. No. 5,300,003 discloses an inclined air table arranged in a plane parallel to a first axis that is inclined with respect to the vertical, and moving the sheet material along the first axis and parallel to the air table, Means for physically supporting the sheet material solely along its lower edge and the sheet material parallel to and away from the air table as desired to avoid physical contact with the surface of the sheet material. , scanning means and means for moving the manipulating means along a second axis transverse to at least one side of the sheet material.

Further, for example, Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-270155) discloses a method for holding a glass substrate for the purpose of aligning and moving the substrate while suppressing deflection and vibration of the substrate without blocking irradiation from the back surface of the substrate. A configuration is shown in which a glass flat plate is supported facing a holder made of a glass member in which an opening is formed, and the glass substrate is held by suction on the highly rigid holder.

In the following description, the glass sheet of Patent Document 1 and the glass substrate of Patent Document 2 are replaced with "substrate". Patent document 1 is a configuration in which vibration is suppressed by arranging the substrate in a tilted state over the air gap during the appearance inspection, and the substrate is kept stationary in a non-contact state to be in a stable state. However, since the substrates are temporarily stopped, there is a problem that it takes time to inspect the appearance of a large number of substrates.

Further, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-200010, as a configuration for aligning and moving substrates while suppressing the occurrence of vibration, an opening is formed in the center of a holder that is provided on a step of a frame so as to maintain airtightness so as to blow up the substrate. A large number of air holes 10 for attaching suction pads for holding the periphery of the substrate by suction are formed in the outer periphery of the opening. Because of the configuration, there is a problem that it takes a long time to inspect the appearance of a large number of substrates.

In this application, the term "substrate" refers to electronic components, but electronic components in recent years have been miniaturized and handled in large quantities for shipping. If it is stopped (intermittently moved), or if the front side is turned over after the front side is inspected and the back side is inspected, it will take a very long time to complete the inspection of the entire quantity.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-41905 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-270155

The problem to be solved is that since the transport of the board is temporarily stopped during the inspection, it is not possible to efficiently inspect the appearance of both the front and back surfaces.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a chamber which forms a path for transporting substrates and has a hollow interior, and a countless number of air ejection holes provided on the upper surface of the chamber or an open surface of the chamber with an open upper surface. a porous plate formed with a large number of air ejection holes provided so as to block an air ejection hole; an air pump for sending air ejected from the air ejection holes through the chamber; A transport surface side camera that is divided into at least two parts in the transport direction with a space therebetween, and captures images of the substrate passing through the space, an open surface side camera that is arranged in front or behind the space in the transport direction, and the space in the transport path. and a pusher for pushing out the front substrate in the direction of the spacing.

In the present invention, the chamber forms a transport path, and air is blown upward from the chamber, so that the substrate is in a floating state. do. In addition, in the present invention, the transfer surface side of the substrate, which moves while floating without stopping, is transferred at a distance of less than 1/2 of the dimension in the transfer direction of the substrate between the chambers. The open side of the board is imaged by the backside camera before or after the path. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to efficiently inspect both sides of a large number of extremely small substrates.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The schematic structure of the board|substrate visual inspection apparatus of this invention is shown, (a) is the schematic seen from upper direction, (b) is the schematic seen from the A direction of (a). FIG. 1B is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of the substrate visual inspection apparatus of the present invention, as viewed from the direction B in FIG. 1B. In order to explain the inclination of the substrate transport path in the substrate visual inspection apparatus of the present invention, FIG. It is a figure which each shows only the chamber periphery seen from the B direction.

The present invention solves the problem that it is not possible to efficiently inspect the appearance of both the front and back surfaces of the board because the transport of the board is temporarily stopped at the time of inspection. a porous plate formed with countless air ejection holes provided on the upper surface or countless air ejection holes provided so as to block the open surface of the chamber with the upper surface open; and air ejecting from the air ejection holes through the chamber. an air pump for sending air, the chamber is divided into at least two parts in the transport direction with a space of less than 1/2 of the size of the substrate in the transport direction, and a transfer surface side camera for imaging the substrate passing through this space, This is improved by providing an open-side camera arranged in front or behind the transport direction, and a pusher for pushing out the substrate located in front of the space in the transport path in the direction of the space.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention is mainly used for visual inspection of both sides of substrates of electronic equipment. The substrates and electronic components themselves of recent electronic devices have been miniaturized, and manufacturing sites have struggled to shorten the time required for double-sided inspection of one substrate per unit time.

In addition, even a normal board may be damaged if the board of the electronic device is moved at high speed while the electronic device and wiring are mounted, that is, if the board is strongly rubbed against the transfer surface of the transfer path. Therefore, according to the present invention, the substrate and the transport surface of the transport path are made non-contact by floating the substrate, and the transport path is moved at high speed by pushing out with a pusher utilizing this state of low frictional resistance. became possible.

The space between the chambers is a portion where air does not blow out from the chamber. There are no troubles such as falling into or getting stuck and stopping. Therefore, the substrate is conveyed while stably floating.

In addition, a transfer surface side camera is provided on the opposite side of the space between the chambers to the air ejection direction, and can image the transfer surface side of the substrate passing through the space. The open surface side of the substrate may be provided at the front or rear position in the transport direction across this gap.

The space between the chambers may be changed within the above conditional range depending on the dimension of the substrate in the transport direction, but it is desirable to set the space as wide as possible at the upper limit of the above condition range, that is, 1/2 of the dimension in the transport direction of the substrate. . In addition, although the chamber may employ a chamber in which a large number of air ejection holes are formed in advance on its upper surface, it is possible to reduce the There is an advantage that cleaning when clogging or the like occurs and changing the diameter and number of air ejection holes can be easily performed by changing the porous plate.

Further, in the above configuration, the present invention may be configured such that the chamber is provided with a guide extending in the direction perpendicular to the direction in which the substrate is transported at the edge of the chamber, and the guide side is tilted downward.

In the above configuration, it is assumed that the substrates are aligned in advance and transported to the process of the substrate visual inspection apparatus of the present invention, but in some cases, they may be transported to the process without being particularly aligned. . In addition, even if they are aligned, they may lose their aligned appearance due to levitation. Therefore, if a guide is provided in the chamber and the chamber is tilted so that the guide side faces downward, the substrates are moved to the guide side by gravity and are aligned by coming into contact with the guide.

Further, in the present invention, the chamber may be tilted so that the pusher initial position side of the pusher located in front of the substrate in the transport direction is downward.

In the above configuration, it is assumed that the pusher first pushes the substrate at the beginning of the transport path formed in the chamber, and the substrate moves while floating. Sometimes it comes. In addition, even if they are aligned, they may lose their aligned appearance due to levitation.

Therefore, by tilting the chamber so that the pusher's initial position side of the pusher faces downward, the substrate can be brought into contact with the pusher and transported in a stable alignment. However, in the case of this configuration, although the transport speed of the substrate depends on the moving speed of the pusher, since the moving speed of the pusher is constant, the number of appearance inspection processes per unit time can be easily controlled. It has the advantage of being able to

A specific embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. FIG. A substrate visual inspection apparatus 1 (hereinafter referred to as an inspection apparatus 1) of the present invention has the following configuration in order to efficiently inspect both the front and back surfaces of a very small substrate W. As shown in FIG. In this embodiment, the substrate W will be described as being used in electronic equipment.

2 is a hollow chamber. In this example, two chambers 2 are provided with an interval S in the transport direction. The interval S is, for example, 1/2 of the transport direction dimension of the substrate W in this example. A transport path for the substrate W is formed by two chambers 2, 2 provided with a space S therebetween. In this example, the chamber 2 has, for example, a porous plate 2A having an open upper surface and a porous plate 2A formed with a large number of air ejection holes h so as to block the open surface.

In this example, guides 2B extending in the transport direction across a space S are provided at the edges of the chambers 2, 2 in the direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the substrate W. As shown in FIG. The chambers 2, 2 are tilted so that the guide 2B side faces downward. The inclination of the chambers 2, 2 is about 2° to 8°. If the inclination is smaller than 2°, the substrate W may not come into contact with the guide 2B, and if the inclination is larger than 8°, the substrate W may jump over the guide 2B.
In addition, in drawing, it is exaggerated and shown inclined.

Furthermore, in the present example, the chambers 2, 2 are located in front of the space S in the transport direction of the substrate W, that is, upstream in the transport direction, and are tilted so that the pusher initial position side of the pusher 5, which will be described later, is downward. . The inclination of the chambers 2, 2 is about 5° to 15°. If the inclination is smaller than 5°, the substrate W may move vigorously when the pusher 5 is first pushed out, and may not come into contact with the pusher 5. If the inclination is larger than 15°, the substrate W may turn over. In addition, it may become difficult to adjust the height with the conveying system in the next process (downstream process).

An air pump 3 is connected to each of the chambers 2, 2 via valves and supplies air to the chambers. In this example, the air pumps 3, 3 are provided corresponding to the respective chambers 2, 2 and are adjusted so that the same amount of air is jetted at the same pressure. may be branched and connected to each chamber 2,2.

A camera 4 captures an image of the substrate W. FIG. In this example, a transport surface side camera 4A that captures an image of the substrate W passing through the space S and an open surface side camera 4B that is arranged, for example, on the front side of the space S in the transport direction are provided. The transport surface side camera 4A and the open surface side camera 4B are provided so that their optical axes are orthogonal to the transport surface, and are provided so that the entire width of the transport path is included in the viewing angle. That is, in this example, since the chambers 2, 2 are provided with the guide side and the pusher 5 initial position side inclined downward as described above, the transfer surface side camera 4A and the open surface side camera 4B are also horizontal. It is set at an angle to the other.

A pusher 5 pushes the substrate W positioned before the space S in the transport path in the direction of the space S. FIG. The pusher 5 includes a push plate 5A which is provided in contact with the transfer path and contacts the substrate W, a movable portion 5B connected to the push plate 5A outside the transfer route beyond the guide 2B, and the movable portion 5B. In this example, it comprises a screw thread 5C for movement, a gear 5D provided coaxially with the screw thread 5C, and a motor 5F for imparting rotational power via a pinion gear 5E meshing with the gear 5D.

The inspection apparatus 1 configured as described above operates as follows. Air supplied from an air pump 3 is jetted from the air jetting holes h of the porous plate 2A into the chamber 2 . In the initial position, the push plate 5A of the pusher 5 is located at the left end of the drawing in the state shown in FIG. 1(a). In the state shown in FIG. 1A, when the substrate W is transported from the upstream process in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction, from below the plane of the drawing, the substrate W immediately floats, and the chambers 2, 2 are lifted. Due to the inclination, it comes into contact with the guide 2B and the push plate 5A.

When the motor 5F is actuated, the screw 5C rotates via the pinion gear 5E and the gear 5D, thereby moving the movable portion 5B and the push plate 5A connected to the movable portion 5B. The substrate W in contact with is conveyed along the conveying path.

When the substrate W reaches the position of the open surface side camera 4B while the substrate W is being transported, the open surface side camera 4B images the open surface (upper surface) of the substrate W, and when the substrate W reaches the space S, the transport surface The side camera 4A captures an image of the transfer surface (lower surface) of the substrate W. As shown in FIG. The imaging data of the camera 4 is sent to a control unit (not shown), and the control unit judges the presence or absence of an appearance abnormality by image processing technology.

When the substrate W passes through the space S and reaches the end of the transport path, the substrate W is removed from the transport path by another mechanism in the downstream process. After the substrate W is no longer present in the transport path, the push plate 5A is returned to the initial position by high-speed reverse rotation of the motor 5F, and after the push plate 5A returns to the initial position, the next substrate W is transported from the upstream process. .

Thus, according to the present invention, the substrate W is not temporarily stopped for appearance inspection from the start end to the end of the transport path, and the appearance of the upper surface side and the lower surface side is inspected from the start end to the end. Since the inspection can be completed, the throughput per unit time is increased, and a large number of substrates W can be efficiently inspected for appearance.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 (substrate appearance) inspection device 2 chamber 2A porous plate 2B guide 3 air pump 4 camera 4A transfer surface side camera 4B open surface side camera 5 pusher 5A push plate h air ejection hole S interval W substrate

Claims (3)

In order to inspect the appearance of both the front and back surfaces of extremely small electronic boards, a chamber having a hollow interior and forming a substrate transfer path, and a countless number of air ejection holes provided on the upper surface of the chamber or the chamber having an open upper surface. an air pump for sending the air ejected from the air ejection holes through the chamber; A transport surface side camera that is divided into at least two parts in the transport direction with an interval of less than /2, and captures images of the substrate passing through this interval, and an open surface side camera that is arranged in front or behind this interval in the transport direction, and transport and a pusher for pushing out the substrate located in front of the gap in the path in the direction of the gap. 2. A substrate visual inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said chamber is provided with a guide extending in the transport direction at an edge portion perpendicular to the transport direction of the substrate, and is inclined so that the guide side faces downward. 3. The substrate visual inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the chamber is inclined so that the pusher initial position side located in front of the gap in the substrate transport direction faces downward.

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