Automatic handler and method of measuring devices using the same

Abstract

An automatic handler capable of conducting a precision visual inspection within substantially the same time as required for electrical characteristics of devices to be tested, and a method of measuring the devices using the same. A compact, high-precision automatic device visual inspection apparatus including an illumination device having a plurality of light emission devices capable of controlling luminance and a camera for converting an imaged screen to pixel data and output the data such as a CCD camera is disposed inside an automatic handler, and those devices whose electrical characteristics have been tested, and which are classified into a group requiring a visual inspection are subjected to the visual inspection by the automatic device visual inspection apparatus. The devices are classified on the basis of the result of the visual inspection and the result of the electrical test, and are transferred to corresponding device storage portions. In this way, not only the electrical characteristics but also the visual inspection can be carried out continuously, automatically and highly accurately in the same automatic handler, the time required for the visual inspection becomes extremely short, through-put can be improved, and the inspection cost can be reduced.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to an automatic device-handling apparatus (automated device-handling apparatus, often referred to as automatic handler or autohandler; these three are all translated as “(device) automatic handling apparatus”-annotation) in this paper, which is used for semiconductor devices, filters , oscillators and other electronic components (hereinafter collectively referred to as "devices") are transported from the loader part to the test part and manipulated or processed, and the tested devices are sorted on the basis of the test results after the test , the present invention also relates to a method for measuring a device by using the device manipulating device. More particularly, the present invention relates to an automatic device manipulator equipped with an appearance inspection portion for inspecting the appearance of the device, and a method of measuring a device using the device manipulator. Background ...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, such rigorous visual inspection takes a considerable amount of time, unsatisfactorily resulting in very low productivity and a significant increase in testing costs

What's more, even quite skilled technicians may mistake unqualified items as qualified items or cause missed inspections, such as misjudgment due to visual inspection by naked eyes

Second, the process of inspecting the appearance was previously performed as a separate step for electrically tested devices classified as "acceptable items", resulting in an increase in the number of test steps and the time required

At the same time, the test accuracy of the appearance inspection device is still not high enough

In addition, this extra step of inspecting the appearance requires an additional operation of conveying acceptable integrated circuits stored in a tray to an appearance inspection device and returning the integrated circuits to the tray after inspection, and thus there is an incidental problem in that During operation, the leads of the integrated circuit are easily deformed

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