Apparatus and method for selectively inspecting component sidewalls

Abstract

The present invention relates to a component inspection process that includes positioning a component (e.g., a semiconductor component or other object) such that the sidewalls of the component are positioned along an optical path corresponding to a sidewall beam splitter configured to use for receiving sidewall illumination provided by a set of sidewall illuminators and passing the sidewall illumination therethrough toward and to the component sidewall. Sidewall illumination incident on the sidewall of the part is reflected back from the sidewall of the part towards the sidewall beam splitter which reflects or redirects along an optical path corresponding to the image capture device used for image capture of the sidewall This reflected sidewall illumination allows part sidewall inspection. The side wall illuminators and side wall beam splitters may form part of five side inspection rigs including bright field illuminators, dark field illuminators and image capture beam splitters, such that five side inspection rigs may be configured for use in Optional / alternative way to inspect part bottom surface and / or part sidewall.

Description

technical field [0001] Aspects of the present disclosure relate to apparatus and methods for inspecting exterior surfaces or sides of a part including part sidewalls, where sidewall inspection may be associated with selectively directing illumination to some or all of the part sidewalls along a light travel path This occurs so that the illumination is normally incident on the side walls and the light reflected from the side walls is directed so that an image capture device can capture images of the side walls. Background technique [0002] Optical inspection for defects on the extrinsic, external or outer surfaces and / or structures of components of semiconductor devices, such as semiconductor dies or packages, may be performed by "five-side inspection". Five-side inspection involves directing lighting toward five sides of a part, such as the part bottom surface and the four part side walls, when the part is held on a sixth side (e.g., by pick-and-place equipment), according ...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

This extraneous brightfield illumination is sufficiently strong or bright that its presence in the captured sidewall image can cause "optical crosstalk" which can visually "wash out" the appearance of shadows or very small Defects (e.g., microdefects such as tiny cracks or fissures) that interfere with or limit the extent to which image processing algorithms can detect microdefects on part sidewalls

In other words, this extraneous brightfield illumination can reduce the contrast and sharpness of the captured sidewall images

Images