TWI718064B - A method for conveying a group of electronic components during pick and place process - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for conveying a group of electronic components (102) during pick and place process (1) which perform in one-off action to overcome the low unit per hour (UPH) issue and to improve the process by reducing or eliminating the electronic components (102) conversion time as said method is capable of catering multiple size or type of electronic components (102) such as chips or die in a single pick and place process.

Description

Method of handling a group of electronic components in a pick and place program

The present invention relates to a method for transporting a group of electronic components in a pick-and-place procedure. The method is realized by: placing the group of electronic components at a specific position by a pick-and-place device including a plurality of pick-up heads; The specific position is a nest-shaped piece, and the nest-shaped piece is separated from at least four side walls of the nest-shaped piece by a predetermined XY offset value; at least one image of the group of electronic components is taken by at least one pre-aligned visual inspection system to Determine the XY position of each electronic component in the group of electronic components relative to the side walls of the nests; if the XY position of all the electronic components in the group of electronic components is a preset offset value relative to the side walls of the nests When internally, at least one aligner module is used to align each electronic component in the group of electronic components with each other; and if the XY position of any electronic component in the group of electronic components is not at a preset value relative to the side walls of the nests When the offset value is within the offset value, the group of electronic components is picked up by at least one picking mechanism and moved to at least one waste slot, or a user uses a different preset offset value to re-detect the affected electronic components in the group of electronic components.

It is well known that the traditional pick-and-place procedures and sorting procedures have serious shortcomings. For example, electronic components such as dies or single-molded packages are picked up and transferred by a pick-and-place mechanism. The problem of low unit production capacity (UPH). In addition, the time required to convert electronic components of different sizes or types can also lead to low-yield processes.

Zheng et al. disclosed a device and method for processing electronic components, such as semiconductor packages, in the US Published Patent No. 7,190,446B1. As pointed out in this patent, multiple single molded packages The bodies are individually picked up from a belt body and placed on a support body located in a certain section of a turntable. A first optical system located between the loading position and the unloading position is used to detect the first surface of the electronic device supported by the support, while or then a second optical system located between the loading position and the unloading position is used to detect the The second surface of the electronic device supported by the support is opposite to the first surface. Finally, the packages are rotated to a section to be picked up by an unloading arm, and the packages are transferred to different unloading devices. In this case, picking up and transferring the packages individually will slow down the entire process, resulting in the problem of low unit productivity per hour (UPH) and low-volume manufacturing processes.

For example, a processor system disclosed by Luo in the US Patent No. 6,446,354B1 is equipped with: a loading unit for loading at least one of the belts stored in the cassette; a tractor unit for The belt is supported by the loading unit at the suction holder of the tractor; a belt transmission unit is used to fix the holding head in a sucking manner after being supported, and to move the belt to a cutting device , The tape is cut into a plurality of individual packaging devices; a packaging cleaning unit is used to fix and maintain these individual packaging devices by a vacuum force, and then apply a brush and a gas nozzle to these A separate packaging device is used for cleaning; a packaging drying unit is used to dry these separate packaging devices after the cleaning is completed; a package storage unit is used to move and store after the drying is completed; a package pickup A unit for holding and arranging these individual packaging devices for quality inspection, the package picking unit is installed on one side of the package storage unit; a visual inspection means for testing the quality of these individual packaging devices; and a package The tray storage unit is used to hold the individual packaging devices C on the packaging storage unit by the vacuum force, so as to place the individual packaging devices on the packaging storage unit, and the packaging tray storage unit is used to transmit the test results that contain the basis The tray on which the individually packaged devices are classified. In this method, the design of the pick-up head is complicated and requires several motors to drive separate vacuum chucks in the Z-axis direction.

Therefore, if a method of transferring a group of electronic components in the pick-and-place process can be obtained, this method can overcome the problem of low unit productivity per hour (UPH) and by reducing or eliminating the time required to convert electronic components To improve the manufacturing process, this method can also cater to the needs of multiple sizes or types of electronic components (such as wafers or dies) in a single pick and place process, which will help alleviate these shortcomings.

Therefore, the main purpose of the present invention is to provide a method for handling a group of electronic components in a pick-and-place procedure, which aims to overcome the problem of low unit productivity per hour (UPH) by picking up the electronic components at once.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for handling a group of electronic components in a pick-and-place procedure, which can meet the needs of electronic components of different sizes and types in a single pick-and-place procedure.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for handling a group of electronic components in a pick-and-place procedure, which can improve throughput.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for handling a group of electronic components in a pick-and-place procedure, which can reduce or omit the time required to convert electronic components of different sizes or types.

Other objects of the present invention will become apparent after understanding the following detailed description of the present invention or after actually practicing the present invention.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the following content is provided: a method for handling a group of electronic components in a pick-and-place procedure (1) includes the following steps: (i) the group of electronic components is transferred by a pick-and-place device including multiple pick-up heads The component is placed in a specific position; it is characterized by The specific position is a nest, and the nest is separated from the side walls of at least four nests by a predetermined XY offset; after the step (i), the method further includes the following steps: (ii) by At least one pre-aligned visual inspection system shoots at least one image of the group of electronic components to determine the XY position of each electronic component in the group of electronic components relative to the side walls of the nest-shaped elements; (iii) if relative to the On the side wall of the nest, when the XY positions of all electronic components in the group of electronic components are at a preset offset value, at least one aligner module aligns each electronic component of the group of electronic components with each other; (iv) If the XY position of any electronic component in the group of electronic components is not a preset offset value relative to the side walls of the nest-shaped elements, at least one picking mechanism will pick up the group of electronic components and move to at least one waste slot, or A user re-detects the affected electronic components in the group of electronic components with different preset offset values.

102: electronic components

109: Nest

111: Nest side wall

2: Aligner module

201: First Y-axis aligner arm

203: Second Y-axis aligner arm

205: First X-axis aligner arm

207: Second X-axis aligner arm

209: Y-axis actuator

211: X-axis actuator

213: Z-axis actuator

401: S type end

403: S-type end

After studying the detailed description in conjunction with the following drawings, you will find other viewpoints and advantages of the present invention: Figure 1 shows an exemplary method flow of the present invention; Figure 2-A shows an exemplary schematic diagram of the present invention including an X-axis actuator ( Front view); Fig. 2-B shows an exemplary schematic diagram (side view) of the present invention including a Y-axis actuator; Fig. 3-A shows an exemplary method of aligning a group of electronic components in the pick-and-place procedure of the present invention; Fig. 3- B shows another exemplary method of aligning a group of electronic components in the pick-and-place procedure of the present invention; Figure 4-A shows an exemplary method of aligning a group of electronic components in the pick-and-place procedure of the present invention; and Fig. 4-B shows an exemplary method of aligning a group of electronic components in the pick-and-place procedure of the present invention.

In the following detailed description, many specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the present invention can be practiced without these specific details. In other cases, well-known methods, procedures and/or elements are not described in detail so as not to obscure the present invention.

The present invention will be understood more clearly from the following description of the embodiments of the present invention, which is made by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are not drawn to scale.

As used in the present disclosure and the scope of patent applications herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" may include plural indicators unless the context clearly dictates or otherwise indicates.

Throughout the scope of the disclosure and patent application of this specification, the word "including" and its variants, such as "including" and "including", means "including but not limited to" and is not used to exclude other elements, integers, or step. "Exemplary" means "an example," and is not intended to convey an indication of a preferred or ideal embodiment, "such as" is not limiting, but is used for illustrative purposes.

Please refer to FIG. 1, which shows the flow of an exemplary method (1) for handling a group of electronic components (102) in a pick-and-place procedure. This method (1) is performed by the following: (i) Place the set of electronic components (102) on a specific position (101) by a pick-and-place device including multiple pick-up heads; where the specific position It is a nest-shaped piece (109), the nest-shaped piece (109) is separated from at least four nest-shaped piece side walls (111) by a predetermined XY offset, relative to the predetermined XY offset of the nest-shaped side walls The shift is in the range of 200 μm to 300 μm (311); (ii) at least one image is taken of the group of electronic components (102) by at least one pre-aligned visual inspection system, so as to be relative to the side walls of the nests (111) , To determine the XY position of each electronic component (102) in the group of electronic components Set (103), wherein the side walls (111) of the nests have a fixed thickness ranging from 0.1mm to 1.0mm; (iii) relative to the side walls (111) of the nests, all the electronic components in the group of electronic components When the XY position of the component (102) is within the preset offset value, at least one aligner module (2) will align each electronic component (102) in the group of electronic components with each other (105), wherein the The size range of the electronic component (102) is between 2x2mm and 7x7mm; (iv) If relative to the side wall (111) of the nest-shaped element, the XY position of any electronic component (102) in the group of electronic components is not in the expected When the offset value is set, at least one picking mechanism will pick up the group of electronic components (102) and move to at least one waste bin, or a user will re-detect the group of electronic components (102) with a different preset offset value The affected electronic components (102)(107).

In this case, after re-detecting the electronic components (102), the XY position of any electronic component (102) in the group of electronic components is still not at the preset offset value with respect to the side walls (111) of the nest-shaped elements When it is internal, the user will review the preset offset value or actually adjust the alignment of the electronic components (102). The user can usually set the number of retest cycles. If the limit is reached, these electronic components will be automatically discarded (102).

As shown in Figure 2-A and Figure 2-B, the aligner module (2) includes at least one first and second Y-axis aligner arms (201, 203) that can move along the positive Y-axis direction And at least one first and second X-axis aligner arms (205, 207) that can move along the positive X-axis direction. The first and second Y-axis aligner arms (201, 203) are driven by a Y-axis actuator (209), and the first and second X-axis aligner arms (205, 207) are Driven by an X-axis actuator (211). The first and second Y-axis aligner arms (201, 203) and the first and second X-axis aligner arms (205, 207) can be arranged in a layout such that the first Y-axis is aligned The support arm (201) may face an opposite side of the second Y-axis aligner support arm (203), and the first X-axis aligner support arm (205) may face the second X-axis aligner support The opposite side of the arm (207). In addition, the first and second Y-axis aligner arms (201, 203) and the first and second X-axis aligner arms (205, 207) face the electronic components (102). The pair The aligner module (2) further includes a Z-axis actuator (213), and the Z-axis actuator (213) is used to drive the aligner module (2) to move along the Z-axis direction.

To further perform step (iii), that is, if the XY positions of all the electronic components (102) in the group of electronic components are within a preset offset value with respect to the side walls (111) of the nest-shaped elements, at least one The aligner module (2) aligns each electronic component (102) in the group of electronic components (105) with each other. Step (iii) further includes the following sub-steps: (a) By means of a Z-axis actuator (213) Drive the aligner module (2) from a first Z axis position to a preset second Z axis position, the preset second Z axis position is preferably lower than the electronic components ( 102) bottom surface (301), for example, the bottom surface of the S-shaped end (401) of the first and second Y-axis aligner arms and the S-shaped end (403) of the two X-axis aligner arms are lower On the bottom surface of the bottom surface of the group of electronic components (102), as shown in Figure 4-A and Figure 4-B; (b) Driven by a Y-axis actuator (209) above the nest (109) The first Y-axis aligner arm (201) of the first Y-axis aligner arm (201) allows the Y-axis offset and angular alignment of the electronic components (102) (303) (C) Drive the first X-axis aligner arm (205) on the left side of the nest (109) by an X-axis actuator (211), so that the first X-axis aligner supports The arm (205) allows the X-axis offset and angular alignment of the electronic components (102) (305); (d) the Y-axis actuator (209) drives the nest member (109) The second Y-axis aligner arm (203) enables the second Y-axis aligner arm (203) to offset and angularly align the Y-axis of the electronic components (102) (307); (e) The second X-axis aligner arm (207) located on the right side of the nest (109) is driven by the X-axis actuator (211) to make the second X-axis aligner arm (207) Make the X-axis offset and angular alignment of the electronic components (102) (309); (f) make the first and second Y-axis aligner arms (201, 203) and the first and second X The axis aligner arm (205, 207) returns to a preparation position (311); (g) returns the aligner module (2) to the first Z-axis position (313); finally, (h) If the electronic components (102) pass the one-to-one visual inspection, the multiple pickup heads are driven through an actuator (not shown), so that the multiple pickup heads pick up the electronic components (102) at a time and Place it on an output vehicle (315), as shown in Figure 3-A.

In another layout, as shown in Fig. 3-B, the step (e) (that is, the second X-axis aligned on the right side of the nest (109) is driven by the X-axis actuator (211) The second X-axis aligner arm (207) allows the X-axis offset and angular alignment (309) of the electronic components (102) to be performed in step (d)( That is, the second Y-axis aligner arm (203) located under the nest (109) is driven by the Y-axis actuator (209) to make the second Y-axis aligner arm (203) Before allowing the Y-axis offset and angular alignment (307) of the electronic components (102)), in step (b) (i.e., drive the nest member (109) through a Y-axis actuator (209) The first Y-axis aligner arm (201) is executed after the first Y-axis aligner arm (201) allows the Y-axis offset and angular alignment of the electronic components (102) (303)) . At the same time, step (d) (that is, drive the second Y-axis aligner arm (203) under the nest (109) through the Y-axis actuator (209), so that the second Y-axis is aligned The calibrator arm (203) allows the Y-axis offset and angular alignment (307) of the electronic components (102)), followed by step (c) (i.e., through an X-axis actuator (211) driving the nest-shaped The first X-axis aligner arm (205) on the left side of the component (109) enables the first X-axis aligner arm (205) to align the X-axis offset and angle of the electronic components (102) (305)), the following sub-steps are as shown in Figure 3-A. The first and second Y-axis aligner arms (201, 203) and the first and second X-axis aligner arms (205, 207) include spring-loaded aligner arms and pneumatic alignment Calibrator arm, voice coil actuator, etc. And, the method further includes converting the lengths of the first and second Y-axis aligner arms (201, 203) and the lengths of the first and second X-axis aligner arms (205, 207), To cater to electronic components (102) of multiple sizes or multiple types in a single pick-and-place procedure.

Claims (10)

A method for transporting a group of electronic components (102) in a pick-and-place procedure (1), the method includes the following steps: (i) the group of electronic components (102) is carried by a pick-and-place device including a plurality of pick-up heads Placed in a specific position; characterized in that: the specific position is a nest-shaped piece (109), and the nest-shaped piece (109) is separated from at least four nest-shaped piece side walls (111) by a predetermined XY offset value; The method further includes the following steps after the step (i): (ii) at least one image of the set of electronic components (102) is captured by at least one pre-alignment visual inspection system so as to be relative to the side walls ( 111), determine the XY position of each electronic component (102) in the group of electronic components (102); (iii) If the XY position of all the electronic components (102) in the group of electronic components (102) is relative to the When the side wall (111) of the nest member is within a preset offset value, at least one aligner module (2) aligns each of the electronic components (102) in the group of electronic components (102) with each other; (iv) ) If the XY position of any electronic component (102) in the group of electronic components (102) is not within a preset offset value relative to the side walls (111) of the nest-shaped elements, at least one picking mechanism will pick up the group The electronic component (102) is moved to at least one waste chute, or a user re-detects the affected electronic component (102) in the group of electronic components (102) with a different preset offset value. The method according to claim 1, wherein the aligner module (2) includes at least one first Y-axis aligner arm (201), at least one second Y-axis aligner arm (203), At least one first X-axis aligner arm (205) and at least one second X-axis aligner arm (207) are arranged in a layout, the first Y-axis aligner arm (201), the first Two Y-axis aligner arm (203), the first X-axis aligner arm (205) and the The second X-axis aligner arm (207) makes the first Y-axis aligner arm (201) face an opposite side of the second Y-axis aligner arm (203), and the first X The axis aligner arm (205) faces an opposite side of the second X axis aligner arm (207). The method according to claim 2, wherein the first and second Y-axis aligner arms (201, 203) and the first and second X-axis aligner arms (205, 207) face the Electronic components (102). The method according to claim 2, wherein the step (iii) includes the following sub-steps (3A): (a) using a Z-axis actuator (213) to make the aligner module (2) from a first A Z-axis position moves down to a preset second Z-axis position, the preset second Z-axis position is lower than the upper surface of the electronic components (102); (b) by a Y-axis actuator ( 209) Drive the first Y-axis aligner arm (201) located above the nest (109) to allow the electronic components (102) to be driven by the first Y-axis aligner arm (201) ) Y-axis offset and angular alignment; (c) An X-axis actuator (211) drives the first X-axis aligner arm (205) on the left side of the nest (109) to The X-axis offset and angular alignment of the electronic components (102) are aligned by the first X-axis aligner arm (205); (d) the Y-axis actuator (209) is used to drive the nest The second Y-axis aligner arm (203) below the shaped member (109) is used to offset the Y-axis of the electronic components (102) by the second Y-axis aligner arm (203) Align with the angle; (e) drive the second X-axis aligner arm (207) located on the right side of the nest (109) by the X-axis actuator (211), so as to use the second X The axis aligner arm (207) allows the X-axis offset and angular alignment of the electronic components (102); (f) makes the first and second Y-axis aligner arms (201, 203) and the The first and second X-axis aligner arms (205, 207) return to a ready position; (g) return the aligner module (2) to the first Z-axis position; (h) If the electronic components (102) pass the one-to-one visual inspection, the multiple pickup heads are driven by an actuator to pick up the electronic components (102) at one time and place them on an output carrier. The method according to claim 2, wherein the method further comprises the following steps (3B): (a) A Z-axis actuator (213) drives the aligner module (2) from a first Z-axis The position moves down to a preset second Z-axis position, which is lower than the upper surface of the electronic components (102); (b) Driven by a Y-axis actuator (209) The first Y-axis aligner arm (201) is located above the nest (109), so that the Y-axis aligner arm (201) of the electronic components (102) Axis offset and angular alignment; (c) The second X-axis aligner arm (207) on the right side of the nest (109) is driven by the X-axis actuator (211), so that the The second X-axis aligner arm (207) allows the X-axis offset and angular alignment of the electronic components (102); (d) the Y-axis actuator (209) drives the nested part ( 109) The second Y-axis aligner arm (203) below, so as to align the Y-axis offset and angle of the electronic components (102) by the second Y-axis aligner arm (203) (E) Drive the first X-axis aligner arm (205) on the left side of the nest (109) by an X-axis actuator (211) to align by the first X-axis Aligner arm (205) allows the X-axis offset and angular alignment of the electronic components (102); (f) makes the first and second Y-axis aligner arms (201, 203) and the first and The second X-axis aligner arm (205, 207) returns to a ready position; (g) returns the aligner module (2) to the first Z-axis position; (h) if the electronic components (102) When passing the one-to-one visual inspection, the multiple pickup heads are driven by an actuator to pick up the electronic components (102) at a time and place them on an output carrier. The method according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined XY offset with respect to the side walls of the nests is in the range of 200 μm to 300 μm. The method according to claim 1, wherein the side walls (111) of the nests have a fixed thickness in the range of 0.1 mm to 1.0 mm. The method according to claim 1, wherein the size range of the electronic components (102) is between 2x2mm and 7x7mm. The method according to claim 2, wherein the first and second Y-axis aligner arms (201, 203) and the first and second X-axis aligner arms (205, 207) comprise spring loading Aligner arm, pneumatic aligner arm or voice coil motor. The method according to claim 2, wherein the method further comprises converting the lengths of the first and second Y-axis aligner arms (201, 203) and the first and second X-axis aligner arms ( 205, 207) to cater to electronic components (102) of different sizes or types in a single pick-and-place procedure.

Images