Methods and apparatus for transferring electrical components

Abstract

A mechanism for handling semiconductor wafers includes a feed section which comprises a vertically movable elevator able to hold a number of vertically spaced carriers. Each carrier has a film frame mounted thereon for supporting a wafer. A pulling mechanism pulls a selected carrier out of the elevator along a first axis and into a pick and place section. A transfer mechanism removes individual dies from the wafer and moves them to a flip station along a second axis oriented perpendicularly to the first axis. The transfer mechanism can move different distances along the second axis to be able to remove dies arranged in a row along the second axis. The flip station is driven by a single motor to both lower and invert the dies.

Description

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention[0002] The present invention relates generally to the transfer of electrical components and in particular to methods and apparatus for handling semiconductor wafers, particularly the removal of individual dies from semiconductor wafers and a transferring of such dies.[0003] 2. Description of Related Art[0004] In the manufacture of electrical devices, it is conventional to pre-cut a semiconductor wafer into rows of individual components called "dies." The dies are then individually removed and transferred for assembly into a chip package or multi-chip module.[0005] It is conventional to perform such die removal and transfer operations by an automated machine. Such a machine can include a wafer feed section where a plurality of wafers are stored, a pick and place section for transferring individual dies from the wafers, and a receiver section in the form of a flip station which receives and inverts the dies.[0006] At the feed section each wafer is adhes...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Since wafers and dies are not of uniform size, it may be necessary to change to a larger or smaller vacuum spindle tip when picking up larger or smaller dies.

For example, the elevator accepts only one size of film frame, which means that wafers of different size cannot be simultaneously accommodated in the machine.

As a result, a machine utilizing such an elevator cannot easily switch from one size wafer to another size wafer in order to manufacture a package or module with different types of dies.

Yet another area which results in extra complexity and cost is the provision of two motors for operating the flip mechanism.

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