JP3013213B2 - Apparatus and method for marking electronic components - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for marking electronic components, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for efficiently marking electronic components shipped on an embossed tape. About things.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art ICs
And small electronic components such as transistors, after all processing steps using the manufacturing frame are completed and separated from the manufacturing frame to become an electronic component alone, in a form supported by a so-called embossed tape Some are shipped.

A mark such as a maker name, a lot number, or a product number is formed on the upper surface of the electronic component main body. The mark is formed before the frame is separated from the manufacturing frame. It may be performed after being separated from the frame to be a single electronic component. In the latter case,
For example, in view of variations in characteristics of electronic components, there are cases where classification is performed for each stage of the characteristics, and components that fall into different classifications must be marked differently. This is because the characteristic measurement must be performed after being separated from the manufacturing frame.

[0004] Conventionally, marking on an electronic component through the above-described manufacturing process is usually performed by an independent marking device. In this case, the electronic component that has been marked in the marking device must be conveyed to a taping device for being held on an embossed tape after the marking ink has been dried. Then, in addition to the handling mechanism that transports the electronic components to the marking device, a handling mechanism that transports the electronic components from the marking device to the taping device is necessary, and the entire device becomes complicated when serializing the manufacturing process, Since the electronic component is transported and handled alone, a handling error is likely to occur. In addition, since it is necessary to wait for the marking ink to dry, a longer process time is required from the marking to taping, which also causes a reduction in the processing efficiency until the final shipping form of the electronic component. I have.

The present invention has been conceived under the circumstances described above, and it is necessary to make a mark after being separated from a manufacturing frame to become a single electronic component.
A new electronic component that can simplify handling from marking to taping, significantly reduce handling errors, and significantly improve processing efficiency for electronic components that are shipped in a form supported by embossed tape. An object of the present invention is to provide a marking device and a marking method.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems To solve the above problems, the present invention takes the following technical means. That is, the marking device for electronic components according to claim 1, while intermittently feeding an embossed tape in which component receiving recesses are formed at equal intervals, sequentially loading electronic components into the receiving recesses,
A taping mechanism for attaching a sealing tape to the upper surface of the embossed tape after the electronic component is loaded, and a tape transport direction front side of the electronic component loading unit in the taping mechanism,
A marking mechanism for marking the electronic components in the accommodating recess with ultraviolet-curable marking ink, and a tape transport direction front side of the marking portion in the taping mechanism,
An ultraviolet irradiation unit for irradiating the electronic component in the accommodating recess with ultraviolet light to cure the marking ink.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for marking electronic components, wherein the electronic components are sequentially loaded into the storage recesses while intermittently feeding the embossed tape having the component reception recesses formed at equal intervals; A step of sequentially marking the electronic components loaded in the receiving recesses on the embossed tape with an ultraviolet-curable marking ink, and a step of curing the marking ink by irradiating the marked electronic components with ultraviolet rays. Attaching a sealing tape to the upper surface of the embossed tape.

[0008]

The function and effect of the present invention is, in short, to make a mark on the electronic component loaded in each component receiving recess of the embossed tape in the taping mechanism. Therefore, as compared with the related art in which the marking device and the taping device are made independent from each other, a handling mechanism for transporting electronic components from the marking device to the taping device is completely omitted. This greatly simplifies the processing device from marking to taping as compared with the conventional one, and significantly reduces problems such as handling mistakes.

Further, the present invention uses an ultraviolet curable ink as the marking ink, so that the marking ink adhered to the electronic component on the embossed tape can be used immediately before the embossed tape is wound on a reel. To be cured by being irradiated with ultraviolet rays. Therefore, the uncured marking ink comes into contact with the sealing tape or the like and peels off without unnecessarily extending the distance from the position where the electronic component is loaded onto the tape to the position where the sealing tape is attached. It can be avoided conveniently.

As described above, according to the present invention, a type of electronic component that needs to be marked after being made into a single electronic component and that is finally shipped in a form supported by embossed tape, The processing equipment from the marking to taping is greatly simplified, which greatly contributes to a reduction in the manufacturing cost of electronic components. Also, the number of parts transport handling decreases,
The trouble of temporarily stopping or returning the apparatus due to the occurrence of a handling error is greatly reduced, and the processing efficiency is improved.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below.
This will be specifically described with reference to the drawings. The embodiment described below is applied to a case where the FET element P having the form shown in FIG. 3 is marked and shipped with the FET element P carried on an embossed tape Ta. The FET element P has a configuration in which four leads b extend in a cross shape from the lower part of a substantially cylindrical ceramic casing a for accommodating a chip. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 4, the component accommodating recesses C provided at equal intervals on the embossed tape Ta have a cross shape corresponding to the lead b in plan view. When the FET element P is housed in the housing recess C, its posture is stably held, so that the housing recess C exerts the function of positioning the FET element P.

According to the present invention, when the taping for supporting the electronic component P on the embossed tape Ta is performed, a mark is also made at the same time. Therefore, the taping mechanism 1 itself is an important component of the present invention.

First, an example of the taping mechanism 1 to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIG. Embossed tape Ta pulled out from embossed tape roll 2
Is a product tape take-up reel 4 via the horizontal transport portion 3
It is designed to be wound up. The embossed tape Ta is routed by appropriately arranging the guide pulley 5 and the feed sprocket 6, and by intermittently rotating the feed sprocket 6 engaging with the feed hole d (see FIG. 4) of the embossed tape Ta. The embossed tape Ta is intermittently fed at every pitch.

Above the horizontal transport section 3, a sealing tape roll 7 is disposed. This sealing tape roll 7
The sealing tape Tb drawn out of the tape is attached to the embossed tape Ta at the front end in the transport direction of the horizontal transport portion (a portion close to the take-up reel 4), for example, by heat fusion. In addition, a backup guide 9 for backing up the lower surface of the embossed tape Ta is provided at a predetermined position of the horizontal transport portion 3 to function as the marking portion 8.

Now, in the horizontal transport portion of the taping mechanism 1, the electronic components P are sequentially loaded into the component accommodating recesses C of the embossed tape Ta which is intermittently fed. The marking stamp 11 is combined with the handling mechanism 10 for loading the electronic component P, so as to further simplify the mechanism.

That is, as shown in FIG. 1, a slide support 13 is provided on a guide rail 12 which is disposed above the embossed tape Ta so as to extend in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the embossed tape Ta. The slide support 13 is supported so as to be slidable. A suction collet 14 which is operated up and down and a marking stamp 11 which is operated up and down are attached to the slide support 13.

The suction collet 14 and the marking stamp 11 are
In a plan view, they are arranged in a straight line parallel to the direction in which the guide rails 12 extend, and are appropriately driven up and down by actuators 15 and 16 such as an air cylinder or a cam mechanism which can be controlled by a control device (not shown). ing. The position of the slide support 13 in the guide rail direction can also be adjusted appropriately by a control device (not shown).

The electronic components P having undergone the measuring process are sequentially conveyed by a separate conveying mechanism (not shown) onto a receiving station 17 arranged at a position distant from the taping mechanism 1 in a direction along the guide rail 13. Come. The electronic components P on the receiving station 17 are
After moving the slide support 13 so that the suction collet 14 is located immediately above the electronic component P on the receiving station, the suction collet 14 is moved downward to apply a suction force, whereby the suction collet is moved. 14 is held by suction.

Next, the electronic component P is lifted by the upward movement of the suction collet 14, and the electronic component P is loaded with the electronic component P of the embossed tape Ta in the taping mechanism 1, that is, the embossed tape Ta of which the feeding is stopped. The slide support is moved so as to be located directly above one component accommodating recess C, and the suction collet 14 is moved downward, and the suction force is released, whereby the components on the embossed tape Ta are released. It is loaded into the accommodation recess C. While the slide support 13 moves from the receiving station 17 onto the embossed tape Ta as described above, the mark stamp 11
Is temporarily moved down toward the stamp table 18, and the ultraviolet curing type marking ink is attached to the lower surface of the stamp.

As described above, when the electronic component P held by the suction collet 14 is loaded into the recess C of the embossed tape Ta, the slide support 13 moves to the marking stamp 1.
1 is further moved so as to be located immediately above the electronic component P loaded as described above, and the marking stamp 11 is moved downward to perform a predetermined marking on the upper surface of the electronic component P. . With the above operation as one cycle, each time the embossed tape Ta is fed one pitch at a time, loading and marking of the electronic component P are sequentially performed.

In front of the electronic component loading section and the marking section in the transport direction of the embossed tape Ta, the ultraviolet curable marking ink attached on the electronic component P by the marking stamp 11 instantaneously. An ultraviolet irradiation unit 19 for curing is provided. This can be easily achieved by, for example, arranging the distal end of the glass fiber cable 20 connected to an ultraviolet light source (not shown) toward the electronic component P in the accommodating recess C when the feeding of the embossed tape Ta is stopped. Can be configured. In this case,
As shown in FIG. 1, a mask plate 22 having a window hole 21 is arranged so that the ultraviolet light emitted from the end of the glass fiber cable 20 is irradiated only on the mark of the electronic component P. This is preferable in order to prevent the embossed tape Ta, which is usually formed of a resin film, from being deformed by heat due to ultraviolet irradiation.

Thus, the embossed tape Ta in the taping mechanism 1 is intermittently fed forward while being subjected to the loading of the electronic component P, the marking on the loaded electronic component, and the curing of the marking ink by irradiation of ultraviolet rays. However, in the part after the curing process by the ultraviolet light,
The sealing tape Tb pulled out from the sealing tape roll 7 is attached to the embossed tape Ta by heat sealing or the like so as to cover each of the component accommodating recesses C in a series, and the mark loaded in each of the accommodating recesses C is provided. To prevent used electronic components from falling off. The product tape to which the sealing tape Tb is attached in this way is sequentially wound up on the take-up reel 4, and when the winding diameter reaches a predetermined value, the product tape is removed from the device and supplied for shipment.

As described above, the marking device for an electronic component according to the present invention performs the marking simultaneously when the electronic component is loaded on the embossed tape. Therefore, the transport mechanism of the electronic component alone is extremely simplified, and the processing device from marking to taping is significantly simplified as compared with the related art in which the marking device and the taping device are independent. In particular, the complete omission of the conventional transport handling mechanism for electronic components alone from the marking device to the taping device greatly contributes to the simplification of the processing device. In addition, with the simplification of the handling mechanism, handling mistakes and the necessity of recovery processing accompanying the handling errors are significantly reduced, and the processing efficiency is improved.

Of course, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. The configuration of the taping mechanism itself and the details of the handling mechanism for transporting the single electronic component from the receiving station to the taping mechanism can be variously modified, and are not limited to those shown in the embodiments.

Further, in the embodiment, in addition to the suction collet, the marking stamp is also supported on the slide support constituting the handling mechanism for transporting the electronic component alone from the receiving station to the taping mechanism. Needless to say, the marking mechanism may be configured separately from the handling mechanism. In this case, a marking stamp mechanism that reciprocates between the stamp base and the embossed tape is provided forward of the loading position of the handling mechanism in the transport direction of the embossed tape. Further, the electronic component to which the present invention is applied is not limited to the FET element, but may be any electronic component shipped in a form taped to an embossed tape.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing a main part of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an example of an electronic component.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of an example of an embossed tape.

[Explanation of symbols]

 P Electronic component C Containing recess Ta Embossed tape Tb Sealing tape 1 Taping mechanism 11 Marking stamp 19 Ultraviolet irradiation section

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An electronic component is sequentially loaded into an accommodating concave portion while intermittently feeding an embossed tape having component accommodating concave portions formed at equal intervals, and a sealing tape is attached to an upper surface of the embossed tape after the electronic component is loaded. A taping mechanism, a marking mechanism that performs marking with an ultraviolet-curable marking ink on an electronic component in the accommodating recess at a position forward of the electronic component loading unit in the tapeping mechanism in the tape transport direction, and a marking mechanism that performs the marking in the taping mechanism. A marking device for an electronic component, comprising: an ultraviolet irradiation unit that irradiates the electronic component in the housing recess with ultraviolet light to cure the marking ink at a position forward of the marking unit in the tape transport direction. 2. A step of loading electronic components sequentially into said receiving recesses while intermittently feeding an embossed tape having component receiving recesses formed at equal intervals, wherein said electronic components are loaded into said receiving recesses on said embossed tape. Sequentially applying a mark with an ultraviolet-curable marking ink, irradiating the marked electronic component with ultraviolet light to cure the marking ink, and attaching a sealing tape to the upper surface of the embossed tape. A marking method for an electronic component, comprising: