KR100341494B1 - Apparatus for aligning laser diode bar - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an alignment device for a laser diode bar, wherein the alignment device includes a front end stage in which the laser diode bar is seated in an aligned state, a rear end stage in which the laser diode bar is seated in alignment, and a transport unit for moving the laser diode bar from the front end stage to the rear end stage. And an image processor which recognizes an initial position of the laser diode bar placed on the tip stage, and a controller which receives the image signal from the image processor and analyzes the position information of the laser diode bar to drive the tip stage, the rear stage stage, and the carrying unit. . Here, the alignment position of the laser diode bar is determined by the driving of the leading stage and the trailing stage. According to such an apparatus, the image processing unit recognizes the initial position of the laser diode bar, and in turn drives the leading stage stage, the carrying section and the rear stage stage according to the positional information so that the laser diode bar is aligned at the final alignment position. The diode bars can be aligned in the correct position.

Description

Laser diode bar alignment device {APPARATUS FOR ALIGNING LASER DIODE BAR}

The present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing a laser diode, and more particularly to an alignment apparatus for accurately aligning a laser diode bar.

Semiconductor laser diodes are widely used in information processing devices such as optical storage devices and optical printers, and are manufactured using compounds mainly composed of Group 3 or Group 5 elements. Unlike other semiconductor devices, the semiconductor laser diode has a mirror surface formed by processing both end surfaces of the laser diode. In order to manufacture such a mirror surface, a plurality of laser diode cells formed on a semiconductor wafer are cut into bars and then divided into individual laser diode cells. The method of processing the laser diode bar into individual laser diode cells proceeds by drawing a cutting line on the laser diode bar with scribing equipment and then breaking the laser diode cell along the cutting line by the brake equipment.

By the way, according to the prior art, the process of aligning the laser diode bar in the brake equipment has been performed by the operator's manual work. Therefore, it was not only difficult to align the laser diode bars correctly, but also it was impossible to process the laser diode bars in large quantities.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been proposed to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object thereof is to provide an alignment device capable of accurately aligning a laser diode bar for cutting the laser diode bar into individual laser diode cells.

1 is a schematic diagram showing an alignment device of a laser diode bar according to an embodiment of the present invention; And

2A and 2B are schematic diagrams showing the top surfaces of the leading end stage and the rear end stage of the alignment device to show the alignment of the laser diode bars.

* Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings *

10: tip stage 14: rear stage stage

20: carrying unit 24: image processing unit

28: image inspection unit 30: system control unit

Laser diode bar alignment apparatus according to the present invention for achieving the above object, the front end stage is installed so that the laser diode bar is retracted, and move in the X-axis and Y-axis; A rear end stage in which the laser diode bar is seated in an aligned state and installed to move in X and Y axes; A carrying part for moving said laser diode bar from said leading end stage to said rear end stage; An image processor for recognizing an initial position of the laser diode bar placed on the tip stage; A control unit for receiving the image signal from the image processor and analyzing the position information of the laser diode bar to drive the front end stage, the rear end stage, and the carrying unit, wherein the alignment position of the laser diode bar is the front end stage; It is determined by the driving of the rear end stage.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the front end stage and the rear end stage may each include a table on which the laser diode bar is placed and a driving motor for moving the table on the X and Y axes.

The image processing unit may further include an optical lens for accurately recognizing an image of the laser diode bar, a camera for photographing an image of the optical lens, and an image processor for processing the image photographed by the camera as image information. Do.

In addition, the carrying part includes a picker for moving the laser diode bar, a drive motor for rotating the picker, and a horizontal cylinder for moving the picker, wherein the picker rotates by the drive motor, It is desirable to correct the angle.

(Example)

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

1 is a schematic diagram showing an alignment device of a laser diode bar according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2A and 2B are schematic diagrams showing the top surfaces of the leading end stage and the rear end stage of the alignment device to show the alignment of the laser diode bars.

Referring to FIG. 1, the alignment device of the laser diode bar has a leading stage 10 in which the laser diode bar is initially introduced and a trailing stage stage 14 in which the laser diode bar is finally aligned. The front end stage and the rear end stage are composed of tables 11 and 15 on which the laser diode bar is placed and drive motors 12 and 16 for moving the table in the X-axis and Y-axis directions, respectively. Each stage 10, 11 is preferably provided with, for example, a plate planer in which a table and a drive motor are integrally formed.

As shown in FIG. 2A, when the laser diode bar is initially drawn, a plurality of bar holes 42 are formed on the top surface of the table 11 of the tip stage 10 to designate the positions of the respective laser bars. . The operator places the laser diode bar inside the bar hole 42 on the upper surface of the table 11. In addition, the upper surface of the table 15 of the rear end stage 14 is adhesive to maintain the final alignment of the laser diode bars when transferring the final aligned laser diode bars to the cutting device, as shown in Figure 2b With substrate 42, for example a blue tape.

An image processor 24 for detecting the initial position of the laser diode bar placed on the tip stage 10 is provided at an upper portion of the top portion opposite to the tip stage 10. The image processing unit 24 processes the image taken by the camera 25 and the image taken by the camera 25 and the image of the optical lens and the image of the optical lens to recognize the shape and position of the laser diode bar as an accurate image as an image signal. It consists of a processor. In addition, an upper portion of the rear stage stage 14 is provided with an image inspection unit 28 for checking the alignment state of the laser diode bars seated on the rear end table 15 by the image information recognized by the image processing unit 24. do. The image inspection unit 28 is composed of the same substrates as the image processing unit 24, that is, the optical lens, the camera 29 and the image processor.

A carrying unit 20 is provided for transferring the laser diode bars introduced into the leading end stage 10 to the rear end stage 14. The transport unit 20 is a horizontal cylinder for horizontally moving the picker 21 by being a moving shaft of the picker 21, which is a transport means for transporting the laser diode bar, the drive motor 22 for rotating the picker, and the picker 21 ( 20). The picker 21 is installed as a vacuum, for example, to suck and transport the laser diode bar using a vacuum. The pusher is installed to return to the initial position after adsorbing the laser diode bar close to the top of the laser diode bar on the tip table 11. In addition, the driving motor 22 is a device for rotating the picker 21 to correct the angle of the laser diode bar after the picker 21 adsorbs the laser diode bar, for example, to rotate the picker 21. It is desirable to install with a stepping motor that can be precisely adjusted.

A system control unit 30 is provided for analyzing the positional information recognized by the image processing unit 24 and controlling various driving devices in the alignment equipment. The standard size and reference position of the laser diode bar are input to the system controller 30, and the movement of the driving apparatus is controlled by comparing the input values with the position information transmitted from the image processor 24.

The operation of the alignment device of the laser diode bar constructed as described above according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

First, a certain amount of laser diode bars are artificially aligned inside the bar hole 40 on the tip stage 10, as shown in FIG. 2A. The image processing unit 24 recognizes the coordinates of the laser diode bars seated inside the bar hole 40 and the inclination angle from the horizontal line of the bar hole 40 as an image, processes the image signal, and transmits the image signal to the system control unit 30. . In this case, since the size and shape of the laser diode bars are also transmitted as an image signal, the laser diode bars are also discriminated from the standard dimensions input to the system controller 30 to determine whether the laser diode bars are defective.

When the image signal is transmitted to the system control unit 30, the system control unit 30 compares the current position of the laser diode bar with reference values which are input in advance. The tip stage 10 is driven first by the positional information analyzed by the system control unit 30. At this time, the tip stage 10 is driven in both X-axis and Y-axis so that the picker 21 is accurately positioned at the initial reference position where the laser diode bar is attracted.

When the tip stage 10 is fixed at the reference position, the picker 21 is close to the top of the laser diode bar to adsorb the laser diode bar. When the picker 21 which has absorbed the laser diode bar returns to its original position, the picker rotates by the drive motor 22 according to the positional information analyzed by the system control unit 30 to correct the angle of the laser diode bar.

Subsequently, the picker 21 is horizontally moved by the horizontal cylinder 20 to a position facing the rear end stage 14. The rear stage stage 14 is driven such that the laser diode bar can be seated in the final alignment position on the rear stage stage 14. When the position of the rear end stage 14 is fixed, the picker 21 approaches the top surface of the rear end stage 14 to seat the laser diode bar in its final alignment position. Then, as shown in FIG. 2B, the laser diode bars are bonded to the blue tape 42 on the rear end stage 14 in an aligned state.

These operations are repeated until a fixed number of laser diode bars are transferred to the rear stage 14. When the laser diode bars are seated on the rear end stage 14, the image inspection unit 28 confirms the final alignment.

According to such an alignment device, the image information on the initial position and angle of the laser diode bar recognized by the image processing unit 24 is transmitted to the system control unit 30, the system control unit 30 by the input image information Drives the leading stage 10, the carrying section 20 and the trailing stage 14 in turn so that the laser diode bar is seated in its final alignment position. At this time, since the final alignment position of the laser diode bar is determined by driving the front end stage and the rear end stage in the X-axis and the Y-axis, by accurately adjusting the driving of each stage, the alignment error can be reduced.

Although the configuration and operation of the laser diode alignment device according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention as described above are shown according to the above description and drawings, this is merely described for example and does not depart from the spirit of the present invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made within the scope.

According to the present invention as described above, since the laser diode bar is aligned at the correct position by using an imaging device, the reliability and productivity of the device can be prevented by a defect caused by misalignment in the process of cutting the laser diode bar into individual laser diode cells. Has the effect of improving. In addition, the plurality of laser diode bars can be accurately aligned, thus enabling mass production.

Claims (5)

A leading stage stage into which the laser diode bar is retracted and installed to move in the X and Y axes; A rear end stage in which the laser diode bar is seated in an aligned state and installed to move in X and Y axes; A carrying part for moving said laser diode bar from said leading end stage to said rear end stage; An image processor for recognizing an initial position of the laser diode bar placed on the tip stage; And A control unit for receiving the image signal from the image processor and analyzing the position information of the laser diode bar to drive the front end stage, the rear end stage, and the carrying unit, wherein the alignment position of the laser diode bar is the front end stage; Laser diode bar alignment device, characterized in that determined by the driving of the rear end stage. The method of claim 1, The alignment device further comprises an image inspection unit for confirming a final alignment state of the laser diode bar seated on the rear end stage. The method of claim 1, And the front end stage and the rear end stage each have a table on which the laser diode bar is placed and a drive motor for moving the table on the X and Y axes. The method of claim 1, The image processing unit includes an optical lens for accurately recognizing an image of the laser diode bar, a camera for photographing an image of the optical lens, and an image processor for processing the image photographed by the camera as image information. Laser diode bar alignment device. The method of claim 1, The carrying unit includes a picker for moving the laser diode bar, a drive motor for rotating the picker, and a horizontal cylinder for moving the picker, and the picker rotates by the drive motor to correct the angle of the laser diode bar. Alignment device for a laser diode bar.