JPH11111767A - Device and method for transferring conductive balls - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device and method for transferring conductive balls by which the conductive balls can be transferred correctly onto electrodes of a work by removing excessive conductive balls adhered to the underside of a sucking head due to pickup errors. SOLUTION: A sucking head 31 picks up conductive balls 7 through vacuum suction from a ball-supplying part 10 and shifts to a positioning table 2 for a work. A removing part 40 is disposed on the path of the sucking head 31 for removing excessively adhered conductive balls 7. The removing part 40 is provided with an air blow nozzle 42 for jetting air towards the underside of the sucking head 31. The sucking head 31 is moved relatively with respect to the air blow nozzle 42 for jetting air. In this way, only excessive conductive balls adhered to the underside of the sucking head 7 in an unstable state can be removed by the action of the jet of air.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for transferring conductive balls to a workpiece.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A flip chip or a BGA (Ball G
2. Description of the Related Art As a method for manufacturing an electronic component with a bump such as a lid array, a method using a conductive ball such as a solder ball is known. Further, as a method of transferring the conductive balls to a work such as a chip or a substrate, a method using a suction head has been implemented.

In this method, conductive balls stored in a container or the like are vacuum-adsorbed and picked up in a large number of suction holes formed in the lower surface of a suction head, and the suction head is moved above a workpiece to move these conductive balls. Since the conductive balls are transferred onto the electrodes of the work, a large number of conductive balls can be collectively transferred to the work, and thus there is an advantage that workability is good.

[0004]

However, in the method in which the conductive balls are transferred to the work by using the suction head, when the conductive balls are vacuum-sucked, a pickup error as described below is likely to occur. . That is, when vacuum suction of the conductive balls is performed by the suction head, the suction head is lowered into the supply section of the conductive balls in which a large number of conductive balls are stacked and stored. However, it is not always true that one conductive ball is vacuum-sucked. For example, when a plurality of conductive balls are vacuum-adsorbed to one suction hole, and a large number of conductive balls are continuously attached to the lower surface of the suction head, or when the conductive balls are attached to positions other than the suction holes. The suction head may rise. In the method using the suction head as described above, a pick-up mistake in which extra conductive balls adhere to the lower surface of the suction head is likely to occur, and the conductive balls may not be correctly transferred one by one on the electrode of the work. There was a problem.

Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a conductive ball transfer apparatus capable of removing a conductive ball excessively attached to the lower surface of a suction head due to a pick-up error and correctly transferring the conductive ball to an electrode of a work. And a transfer method.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for transferring a conductive ball, comprising: a suction head having a plurality of suction holes formed on a lower surface thereof for sucking the conductive ball; and a ball for supplying the conductive ball. A supply unit, a positioning unit for positioning a work, a vertical moving unit for vertically moving the suction head, a moving unit for moving the suction head between the ball supply unit and the positioning unit, and the suction head being a suction hole. And a removing unit for removing, by air blowing, excess conductive balls attached to portions other than the suction holes on the lower surface of the suction head in a state where the conductive balls are picked up by vacuum suction.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for transferring a conductive ball from a ball supply unit to a workpiece by a suction head having a plurality of suction holes formed on a lower surface thereof for sucking the conductive ball. A method of transferring a conductive ball, wherein the suction head having a conductive ball suctioned on a lower surface thereof is positioned relatively at a predetermined distance from an air blow nozzle of a conductive ball removal unit, and the air blow nozzle More air is blown out to remove extra conductive balls attached to the lower surface of the suction head.

According to the present invention having the above structure, the suction head having the conductive balls vacuum-adsorbed on the lower surface thereof is positioned relatively to the air blow nozzle of the conductive ball removing section at a predetermined distance, and By jetting air to the lower surface of the head by the air blow nozzle, conductive balls extraly attached to the lower surface of the suction head can be removed.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a front view of an apparatus for transferring conductive balls according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are partial cross-sectional views of a ball supply unit of the apparatus for transferring conductive balls. FIG. 4
5A and 5B are partial cross-sectional views of a conductive ball removing unit of the conductive ball transfer device, and FIG. 5 is a partial front view of a positioning table of the conductive ball transfer device.

First, the overall structure of the conductive ball transfer device will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, a positioning table 2 is provided on a base 1. The positioning table 2 includes a Y table 3 and an X table 4.
A holder 5 is provided on the X table 4, and the holder 5 holds a work 6. Therefore, by driving the positioning table 2, the work 6 is positioned at a predetermined position.

A supply section 10 for the conductive balls 7 is provided at an end of the base 1 opposite to the positioning table 2. The ball supply unit 10 includes a ball tank 11, and a plurality of layers of mesh plates 12 are horizontally spread inside the ball tank 11. The mesh plate 12 is provided with a myriad of openings having a size that the conductive balls 7 cannot pass through. The conductive balls 7 are stored on the uppermost mesh plate 12. A nozzle 14 is provided at the bottom of the ball tank 11, and the nozzle 14 is connected to a gas supply source (not shown). By supplying the gas to the nozzle 14, the gas blown upward from the nozzle 14 passes through the openings of the mesh plate 12 and is blown into the layer of the conductive balls 7 to fluidize the conductive balls 7.

Next, the suction head 31 for transferring the conductive balls 7 will be described. Reference numeral 20 shown in FIG. 1 denotes a moving unit that moves the suction head 31 between the ball supply unit 10 and the positioning table 2. The suction head 31 is held by a block 30, and a plurality of suction holes 31 a are provided on a lower surface of the suction head 31. The block 30 includes a vertical guide rail 2 provided on the front surface of the bracket 24.
5 is mounted to be movable up and down. In block 30,
A nut 28 is provided integrally, and a vertical feed screw 26 is screwed to the nut 28. Therefore, when the Z-axis motor 27 is driven forward and reverse to rotate the feed screw 26 forward and backward, the suction head 31 is guided by the guide rail 25 and moves up and down. Therefore, the Z-axis motor 27 and the feed screw 26 serve as a vertical moving means for moving the suction head 31 up and down.

A nut (not shown) provided on the back of the bracket 24 is screwed to the horizontal feed screw 22.
Reference numeral 21 denotes a holding table for the feed screw 22. Therefore, when the X-axis motor 23 rotates forward and backward, the feed screw 22 rotates forward and backward, and the suction head 31 held by the bracket 24 moves horizontally between the positioning table 2 and the ball supply unit 10.

In FIG. 1, a ball supply unit 1 on a base 1
On the side of 0, a removing portion 40 of the conductive ball 7 is provided. The removing unit 40 removes the conductive balls 7 that are excessively attached to the lower surface of the suction head 31. As shown in FIG. 1, on the box 41, an air blow nozzle 42 is disposed obliquely upward (toward the ball supply unit 10). The air blow nozzle 42 is connected to an air source (not shown) via a flow control valve 44 (FIG. 4). The air blow nozzle 42 is formed by arranging a number of slit nozzles having an air blow width corresponding to the depth length of the lower surface of the suction head 31 or a large number of small diameter circular nozzles on one straight line to have the nozzle width.

From the air blow nozzle 42, the conductive balls 7
When the air is ejected to the lower surface of the suction head 31 that has sucked the air, the conductive balls 7 on the lower surface of the suction head 31 receive the force of the air blow. At this time, the air blow nozzle 4
By properly setting the size, arrangement position, jetting air pressure, and the like of the second, the conductive ball 7 normally sucked into the suction hole 31a does not exert a force that causes the conductive ball 7 to fall out of the suction state. Only the extra conductive balls 7 stuck in an unstable state other than the suction holes 31a can be dropped off by the action of the air blow. Then, the dropped conductive balls 7 are blown off by air blow and collected in the ball receiving portion 43 shown in FIG. The ball receiving portion 43 also serves to prevent the blown conductive balls 7 from scattering in unexpected directions.

This device for transferring conductive balls has the above-described configuration, and the operation will be described next. First, in FIG. 1, the suction head 31 is moved above the ball supply unit 10 by driving the X-axis motor 23. Then, the suction head 31 is lowered by driving the Z-axis motor 27, and the lower surface of the suction head 31 is slightly sunk into the layer of the conductive balls 7 as shown in FIG. At this time, the nozzle 14 of the ball tank 11
More gas is blown upward (see arrow a), and the conductive balls 7 are fluidized by the flow of the gas. Therefore, the conductive ball 7 is relatively easily vacuum-sucked into the suction hole 31a.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 3, the suction head 31 may rise with the extra conductive balls 7 attached to positions other than the suction holes 31a on the lower surface of the suction head 31. FIG. 3 shows an example in which one extra conductive ball 7 is attached. However, in addition to this example, when a plurality of conductive balls 7 are attached in
There are various modes for the adhesion of sapphire.

The extra conductive balls 7 thus adhered
Is removed by the removing unit 40. First, the suction head 31 that has sucked the conductive ball 7 is moved above the removing section 40, and then the suction head 31 is lowered with respect to the air blow nozzle 42. Then, as shown in FIG. 4A, the suction head 31 is positioned above the air blow nozzle 42 with a predetermined interval S therebetween. When air is ejected from the air blow nozzle 42 while horizontally moving the suction head 31 to the right in the drawing (see arrow c), the jet of air acts on the conductive balls 7. At this time, the conductive ball 7 correctly sucked is firmly sucked into the suction hole 31a and does not fall off by air blow.
The conductive balls 7 excessively adhering to the lower surface of 1 are removed from the lower surface of the suction head 31 by air blowing, fall into the ball receiving portion 43 (see arrow d), and are collected.

As described above, the suction head 31 picked up by correctly suctioning the conductive balls 7 into all the suction holes 31a one by one ascends from the removing section 40 and then moves horizontally above the positioning table 2. Next, the suction head 31 descends onto the work 6 held by the holder 5, releases the vacuum suction, transfers the conductive ball 7 onto the electrode 6a as shown in FIG. Ball 7
Complete the transfer.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 6 is a partial sectional view of a conductive ball removing portion of a conductive ball transfer device according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. In FIG. 6, a slit-type air blow nozzle 47 is vertically disposed on a box 46 of the removing unit 40. The suction head 31 having the conductive ball 7 vacuum-sucked on the lower surface is positioned on the air blow nozzle 47 and moved horizontally to the right while the air blow nozzle 4 is moved.
When air is blown upward from the suction head 7, a jet of air (see arrow e) acts on the conductive balls 7 on the lower surface of the suction tool 31 at right angles, and the suction head 3 is unstable.
The conductive balls 7 attached to the lower surface of the suction head 1 are blown off by the jet and fall from the lower surface of the suction head 31 (see arrow f), fall into the ball receiving portion 48, and are collected.

At this time, the jet is made to act on the lower surface of the suction head 31 at right angles to the suction hole 31a.
The force exerted by the jet on the conductive ball 7 correctly sucked into the nozzle can be reduced. On the other hand, since the conductive balls 7 that are excessively attached to the lower surface of the suction head 31 are attached in an unstable state, the conductive balls 7 are easily dropped from the suction head 31 even by a small force due to a jet flow from a right angle direction. be able to. By arranging the air blow nozzles 47 in a direction perpendicular to the lower surface of the suction head 31 in this way, it is possible to prevent the conductive balls 7 correctly sucked by the air blow from falling off by mistake.

(Embodiment 3) FIG. 7 is a partial sectional view of a conductive ball removing portion of a conductive ball transfer device according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. 7, the removing unit 40 includes:
A direct-type air blow nozzle 49 having a circular hole is provided in the horizontal direction (Y direction in FIG. 1). A ball receiving portion 50 is provided on an extension of the direction of the jet of the air blow nozzle 49. The suction head 31 is moved so that the lower surface of the suction head 31 on which the conductive ball 7 is vacuum-sucked on the lower surface is located on the ejection line of the air blow nozzle 49, and the suction head 31 is horizontally moved in the X direction (the vertical direction in FIG. 7). The air is blown from the air blow nozzle 49 while moving. Thereby, the jet of air acts on the conductive balls 7 on the lower surface of the suction head 31 from the horizontal direction,
The conductive ball 7 attached to the lower surface of the suction head 31 in an unstable state is blown off in the jet direction by the jet, and falls into the ball receiving portion 50 on the jet direction line to be collected.

At this time, since the jet acts on the conductive ball 7 from the lateral direction, the force of the jet can be applied to the conductive ball 7 most efficiently with a small amount of air jet. , Direct-type air blow nozzle 49
Can be used, so that the entire removing unit 40 can be accommodated in a small space.

(Embodiment 4) FIG. 8 is a partial sectional view of a ball supply section of a conductive ball transfer device according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention. 8, an air blow nozzle 51 is disposed in the ball supply unit 10 obliquely upward (inward of the ball supply unit 10). Air blow nozzle 51
Is connected to an air source (not shown) via a flow control valve as in the first embodiment. The air blow nozzle 51 includes a slit nozzle having an air blow width corresponding to the depth length of the lower surface of the suction head 31 or a circular nozzle having a small diameter.
A plurality of nozzles are arranged on a straight line to have the nozzle width. A ball receiving section 52 is provided on the ball supply section 10 on the side opposite to the air blow nozzle 51.

When the suction head 31 that has vacuum-suctioned the conductive balls 7 in the ball supply unit 10 rises from the ball supply unit 10 and moves horizontally to the right, air is blown from the air blow nozzle 50 to the lower surface of the suction head 31. Is ejected, the conductive balls 7 adhering to the lower surface of the suction head 31 are removed from the lower surface of the suction head 31 by air blow as in the first embodiment, and fall into the ball supply unit 10. Collected. At this time, the conductive balls 7 scattered in the horizontal direction by the jet of air are also blocked by the ball receiving portion 52 and fall into the ball supply portion 10 to be collected.

As described above, by integrating the ball removing section with the ball supply section 10, space saving can be achieved as compared with the case where the ball removing section is separately provided.
Further, since the removed excess conductive balls 7 are directly collected by the ball supply unit 10, the recovery rate of the conductive balls 7 can be improved, and the conductive balls 7 can be reused without waste.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. For example, in each of the above embodiments, the conductive ball removing section 40 is fixed, and the suction head 31 is moved with respect to the removing section 40. However, the removal unit 40 may be movable, and the removal unit 40 may be moved with respect to the suction head 31 that is stationary on the ball supply unit 10 to remove excess conductive balls 7. It is.

[0028]

According to the present invention, the suction head, which vacuum-sucks the conductive balls of the ball supply unit, is lowered with respect to the conductive ball removing unit and is positioned relatively to the air blow nozzle provided in the removing unit. Then, air is blown out from the air blow nozzle, so that the conductive balls excessively adhered to the lower surface of the suction head can be quickly removed from the lower surface of the suction head by the force of the air blow, and therefore, the conductive ball can be removed on the electrode of the work. The conductive balls can be reliably transferred one by one.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a conductive ball transfer device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view of a ball supply unit of the conductive ball transfer device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view of a ball supply unit of the conductive ball transfer device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view of a conductive ball removing portion of the conductive ball transfer device according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a partial front view of a positioning table of the conductive ball transfer device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional view of a conductive ball removing portion of the conductive ball transfer device according to the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a partial cross-sectional view of a conductive ball removing portion of the conductive ball transfer device according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a partial cross-sectional view of a ball supply unit of a conductive ball transfer device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 base 2 positioning table 6 work 7 conductive ball 10 ball supply unit 11 ball tank 23 X-axis motor 27 Z-axis motor 31 suction head 31a suction hole 40 removal unit 42, 47, 49, 51 air blow nozzle

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI H01L 23/12 L

Claims (2)

[Claims] A suction head having a plurality of suction holes formed on a lower surface thereof for sucking conductive balls; a ball supply unit for feeding conductive balls; a positioning unit for positioning a work;
A vertically moving means for vertically moving the suction head, a moving means for moving the suction head between a ball supply portion and a positioning portion, and a state in which the suction head vacuum-adsorbs and picks up the conductive ball in the suction hole A removing unit for removing, by air blow, conductive balls that are extraly attached to the lower surface of the suction head other than the suction holes. 2. A method for transferring a conductive ball from a ball supply unit to a work by a suction head having a plurality of suction holes for sucking the conductive ball on a lower surface, the method comprising: The suction head that has sucked the conductive ball is positioned relatively to the air blow nozzle of the conductive ball removing section at a predetermined distance, and air is blown out from the air blow nozzle to cause an excess on the lower surface of the suction head. A method for transferring a conductive ball, comprising: removing a conductive ball attached to a substrate.