Apparatus and method for processing a carrier ring mounted with electronic devices

Abstract

Electronic devices supplied to a bonder for bonding are mounted on a carrier ring, and the carrier ring is stored in a storage station including a plurality of slots. The transfer arm is translatable along the plurality of bins to access the carrier rings supported by the bins. The transfer arm is also movable between a bin ring position in the bin slot and an exchange ring position. The swap arm assembly is movable between a swap ring position in which the swap arm assembly picks up the carrier ring from the transfer arm or places the carrier ring on the transfer arm, and a device supply platform at which the bonder is configured to receive the electronic devices supplied by the carrier ring.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the bonding of electronic devices and, in particular, to the efficient handling of a carrier ring having electronic devices mounted thereon when the electronic devices are supplied for a bonding operation. Background Art

[0002] When bonding electronic devices are bonded using bonding equipment such as a die bonder in the semiconductor packaging industry, the electronic devices are typically mounted on a carrier ring for batch processing. Electronic devices in the form of processed semiconductor chips or dies are introduced when mounted on a carrier ring as input. Such a carrier ring may be a wafer ring on which a wafer has been mounted, which is then separated into individual chips, such as light emitting diode ("LED") chips. The electronic devices are then sequentially picked up from a supply of electronic devices mounted on a carrier ring using a pick arm at one location, and the electronic devices are bonded to a substrate at another location.

[0003] In the current storage bins for storing and supplying a plurality of such carrier rings, a small bin box is provided to store a plurality of carrier rings. Each carrier ring is supported on an adapter ring plate in the bin box. Each adapter ring plate supporting each carrier ring is pulled out of the bin box using a movable fixture, and the carrier ring is placed on another platform to provide the electronic device to the bonding head.

[0004] In this conventional design, the magazine is supported on a workbench next to the bonding head because the magazine is relatively small. Therefore, the magazine can only accommodate a limited number of carrier rings. The limited size of this magazine has an adverse effect on the productivity of the bonding equipment because the magazine needs to be frequently manually replaced to insert new electronic device supplies. This is especially true when the electronic devices are LED devices and the bonding equipment is configured to bond multiple bin levels of LED devices. In addition, because only one movable arm is provided at a time to pick up and place one carrier ring for use by the bonding head, the carrier ring replacement operation is slow.

[0005] In order to optimize the productivity of the bonding equipment or bonding machine, it would be beneficial to provide a larger storage capacity to accommodate a larger number of carrier rings. Increasing the capacity to store more carrier rings would be particularly useful for bonding multiple grades of LED devices from different bins to a substrate. In addition to being able to store a larger number of carrier rings, productivity can be further improved by simultaneously supplying and retrieving carrier rings from the device supply platform. Enabling rapid exchange of carrier rings can significantly shorten changeover time. Therefore, the above-mentioned limitations of conventional carrier ring transport systems can be avoided. Summary of the invention

[0006] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for handling carrier rings which is capable of storing a greater number of carrier rings. In addition, it is also beneficial to provide a carrier ring handler with improved efficiency in the carrier ring transfer operation to increase the throughput of the bonding machine.

[0007] According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for supplying electronic devices mounted on a carrier ring to a bonding machine for bonding the electronic devices, the apparatus comprising: a bin station comprising a plurality of bin slots, each bin slot being configured to support a carrier ring; a transfer arm which can translate along the plurality of bin slots so as to approach the carrier ring supported by the bin slots, the transfer arm also being movable between a bin ring position and an exchange ring position, the bin ring position being located in the bin slot, the transfer arm being operable at the bin slot to pick up the carrier ring from the bin slot or place the carrier ring into the bin slot; and an exchange arm assembly which can move between the exchange ring position and a device supply platform, the bonding machine being configured to receive electronic devices supplied by the carrier ring at the device supply platform, the exchange arm assembly being operable to pick up the carrier ring from the transfer arm or place the carrier ring on the transfer arm at the exchange ring position, and to pick up the carrier ring from the device supply platform or place the carrier ring on the device supply platform.

[0008] According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for supplying electronic devices mounted on a carrier ring to a bonding machine for bonding the electronic devices, the method comprising the steps of: providing a storage station comprising a plurality of slots, each slot being configured to support a carrier ring; translating a transfer arm along the plurality of slots so as to approach a carrier ring supported by the slot; moving the transfer arm to a slot ring position located in the slot to pick up a carrier ring from the slot, and then moving the carrier ring and the transfer arm to an exchange ring position; moving the exchange arm assembly to the exchange ring position to pick up a carrier ring from the transfer arm, and then moving the carrier ring and the exchange arm assembly to a device supply platform; and receiving electronic devices supplied by the carrier ring located on the device supply platform using a bonding machine.

[0009] The invention will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings showing specific preferred embodiments of the invention. The particularity of the drawings and the related description should not be understood as superseding the generality of the broad recognition of the invention as defined by the claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] Examples of an apparatus and method for processing a carrier ring according to the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0011] Figure 1 is an isometric view of a silo station according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0012] Figure 2 is a side view of a transfer arm picking up a carrier ring from a slot of a storage station according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0013] Figure 3 An isometric view of a transfer arm with an empty transfer arm ring carrier and a transfer arm ring carrier supporting a carrier ring are shown respectively.

[0014] Figure 4A is a plan view of the transfer arm moving from the standby position to the bin ring position to pick up the carrier ring, Figure 4B It is a plan view of the transfer arm moving the carrier ring that has been picked up from the magazine ring position back to the standby position.

[0015] Figure 5 It is a plan view of the transfer arm's exchange ring position, standby position and bin ring position relative to the bin station.

[0016] Figure 6 is an isometric view of an exchange arm assembly for transferring carrier rings between an exchange ring position and a device supply station in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

[0017] Figure 7 is a plan view showing the relative positions of a storage station, a transfer arm, a swap arm assembly, and a bonding head according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0018] Fig. 8A is a plan view of the transfer arm moving from the standby position to the bin ring position to place the carrier ring into the bin slot, and Figure 8B It is a plan view of the transfer arm moving from the bin ring position back to the standby position after placing the carrier ring into the bin slot. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] Figure 1 is an isometric view of a storage bin station 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The storage bin station 10 has a plurality of bin slots 23, each of which is configured to support a carrier ring 24. Unlike conventional designs that only provide a limited number of bins for storing and supplying carrier rings, the storage bin station 10 is capable of storing a large number of carrier rings 24, such as more than eighteen bin slots 23 for storing a corresponding number of carrier rings 24. In the illustrated embodiment, 54 bin slots 23 for storing up to 54 carrier rings 24 are shown. Therefore, in order to meet the demand for large capacity, the storage bin station 10 may have a base 12 that is separately placed in a production workshop from a bonding machine to accommodate a large number of stacked bin slots 23 next to the bonding machine, rather than being supported on a workbench next to the bonding head of the bonding machine as in conventional designs.

[0020] A movable transfer arm 14 is mounted along the storage station 10 so as to access a large number of carrier rings 24 supported by the storage slots 23 and stacked in the storage station 10. The translation of the transfer arm 14 along the plurality of storage slots 23 is guided by a vertical linear guide 16, which allows the transfer arm 14 to access all of the carrier rings 24 stacked in the storage station 10. In addition to vertical movement along the vertically oriented linear guide 16, the transfer arm 14 is also capable of horizontal movement while being actuated to perform rotational movement. In particular, the transfer arm 14 is movable between an exchange ring position, a storage ring position 22, and a standby position 20, wherein the standby position 20 is located in an intermediate position between the exchange ring position 18 and the storage ring position 22 (see Figure 2 ).

[0021] exist Figure 1 , the transfer arm 14 is shown by the thick arrow as rotating from its exchange ring position 18 to its standby position 20 and then moving upward along the linear guide 16 to the height of the target carrier ring. Therefore, when the transfer arm 14 is in the standby position 20, the transfer arm 14 translates along the plurality of bin slots 23. Once the transfer arm 14 reaches the target vertical position, its transfer arm ring carrier 26 rotates from the standby position 20 to the bin ring position 22 below the target carrier ring 24 at the selected bin slot 23 in order to retrieve and pick up the target carrier ring 24 from the selected bin slot 23. In addition to the rotational movement of the transfer arm 14, it should be understood that the transfer arm 14 may also perform other movements, such as actuating the transfer arm 14 to perform linear movement between the exchange ring position 18, the standby position 20 and the bin ring position 22.

[0022] Figure 2 FIG. 1 is a side view of a transfer arm 14 picking up a carrier ring 24 from a slot 23 of a storage station 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 At the top of the conveyor arm 14, the conveyor arm 14 has been translated under the guidance of the linear guide 16 to the height of the target carrier ring 24, which has been inserted into one of the plurality of bin slots 23. The conveyor arm ring carrier 26 is positioned at the bin slot position 22 below the target carrier ring 24 to pick up the target carrier ring from the associated bin slot 23. Figure 2 At the bottom, before carrying the carrier ring 24 out of the magazine slot 23, the transfer arm 14 is lifted to support and raise the target carrier ring 24, wherein the transfer arm ring carrier 26 is located at the magazine ring position 22.

[0023] Figure 3 The top of FIG. 4 shows an isometric view of the transfer arm ring carrier 26 of the transfer arm 14 which is empty and without the carrier ring 24 . Figure 3 The bottom of the figure shows an isometric view of the transfer arm ring carrier 26 supporting the carrier ring 24. In the latter state, the carrier ring 24 can be moved between the exchange ring position 18, the standby position 20 and the bin ring position 22 of the transfer arm 14 by rotation or linear movement.

[0024] Figure 4A It is a plan view that the transfer arm 14, in particular its transfer arm ring carrier 26, moves from the standby position 20 to the bin ring position 22 to pick up the carrier ring 22. When the transfer arm 14 moves to the bin ring position 22, its transfer arm ring carrier 26 is located below the target carrier ring 24. Thereafter, the transfer arm 14 moves upward to lift the carrier ring 24 so that the carrier ring 24 is no longer supported by the bin slot 23.

[0025] Figure 4B FIG. 1 is a plan view of the transfer arm 14 supporting the raised carrier ring 24 and moving the carrier ring 24 that has been picked up from the magazine ring position 22 back to the standby position 20. In the standby position 20 of the transfer arm 14, the transfer arm 14 is raised or lowered as needed to transport the carrier ring 24 to the exchange ring position 18 so that the electronic devices mounted on the carrier ring 24 can be supplied to the bond head 42 (see FIG. 1 ). Figure 7 ).

[0026] Figure 5 1 is a plan view of the exchange ring position 18, the standby position 20 and the bin ring position 22 of the transfer arm 14 relative to the bin station 10. It should be understood that the exchange ring position 18 is generally located at a fixed height for transporting the carrier ring 24 to other platforms, although the standby position 20 and the bin ring position 22 may be located at different heights depending on the height of the target carrier ring 24 and the corresponding bin slot 23 supporting the target carrier ring 24.

[0027] Figure 6 is a device for transferring the carrier ring 24 from the exchange ring position 18 to the device supply platform 40 (see Figure 7 ), and an isometric view of an exchange arm assembly 30 transferred from a device supply platform 40 to an exchange ring position 18. The exchange arm assembly 30 generally includes at least two exchange tools, namely a first exchange tool 32 and a second exchange tool 34, which are located on opposite sides of a pivot point 35, and the pivot point 35 is located between the exchange ring position 18 and the device supply platform 40. The first exchange tool 32 and the second exchange tool 34 are configured to be simultaneously rotatable around the pivot point 35 between the exchange ring position 18 and the device supply platform 40. Each of the first exchange tool 32 and the second exchange tool 34 has a plurality of gripper fingers 33 for holding on to the side of the carrier ring 24.

[0028] The first exchange tool 32 and the second exchange tool 34 can be actuated and rotated by the rotation mechanism 35 to rotate around the pivot point 35, wherein the first exchange tool and the second exchange tool are located on opposite sides of the pivot point 35. The exchange arm assembly 30 and the rotation mechanism 36 are both mounted on the exchange arm assembly bracket 38. The benefit of the exchange arm assembly 30 having more than one exchange tool 32, 34 is that productivity is improved because one carrier ring 24 can be transferred for bonding while another used carrier ring 24 is transported back to the storage station 10 for storage. After rotation, the first exchange tool 32 and the second exchange tool 34 can be further moved toward the transfer arm 14 to place the carrier ring 24 on the transfer arm 14 or pick up the carrier ring 24 from the transfer arm 14.

[0029] Figure 7 A plan view of the relative positions of the storage station 10, the transfer arm 14, the exchange arm assembly 30 and the bond head 42 according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown. Starting from the storage ring position 22 of the transfer arm 14 in the storage station 10, the transfer arm 14 can be driven to rotate while carrying the carrier ring 24 to the standby position 20. Then, the transfer arm 14 moves vertically along the linear guide 16 while carrying the carrier ring 24 to the height of the exchange ring position 18. Then, the transfer arm 14 can be driven to rotate to the exchange ring position 18.

[0030] Each of the first exchange tool 32 and the second exchange tool 34 of the exchange arm assembly 30 can be reciprocated between the exchange ring position 18 and the device supply platform 40. When the carrier ring 24 is brought to the exchange ring position 18, the exchange arm assembly 30 moves downward toward the carrier ring 24 held on the transfer arm ring carrier 26. The clamping fingers 33 of the first exchange tool 32 or the second exchange tool 34 located above the carrier ring 24 will close around the periphery of the carrier ring 24 to clamp the carrier ring 24. Then, the first exchange tool 32 and the second exchange tool 34 move upward and rotate to exchange positions so that the carrier ring 24 is now located above the device supply platform 40 opposite to the exchange ring position 18 around the pivot point 35. At this time, while one exchange tool 32, 34 places the carrier ring 24 on the device supply platform 40, the other exchange tool 32, 34 can simultaneously pick up a new carrier ring 24 from the transfer arm ring carrier 26.

[0031] Thereafter, during the next rotation of the exchange arm assembly 30, unused carrier rings 24 can be picked up and transferred to the device supply platform 40, while used carrier rings 24 can be picked up and transferred to the transfer arm ring carrier 26, thereby increasing throughput compared to only one exchange arm for transfer.

[0032] The device supply platform 40 is located near the bonding head 42 of the bonding machine, so that electronic devices such as LED components can be received and picked up from the carrier ring 24 by the bonding head 42 for bonding to a substrate located below the bonding head 42. An imaging camera 44 can be located above the device supply platform 40 for identifying the position of a single electronic device to be picked up and for checking whether there is an electronic device at a predetermined position of the carrier ring 24.

[0033] Once all or a desired number of electronic devices have been picked up from the carrier ring 24 for bonding, the used carrier ring 24 is gripped by the first exchange tool 32 or the second exchange tool 34, and the first exchange tool 32 and the second exchange tool 34 are rotated to place the used carrier ring 24 back on the transfer arm 14 located at the exchange ring position 18. Subsequently, the used carrier ring 24 is moved in the opposite direction and placed back in the empty bin slot 23 of the bin station 10.

[0034] Fig. 8A It is a plan view that the transfer arm 14 moves from the standby position 20 to the bin ring position 22 to place the used carrier ring 24 back into the empty bin slot 23. In the bin ring position 22, the transfer arm ring carrier 26 carries the carrier ring 24 slightly above the support of the bin slot 23. Then the carrier ring 24 is lowered so that it is supported on the bin slot 23.

[0035] After the carrier ring 24 has been placed in the magazine slot 23 , the transfer arm 14 can be moved back to its standby position 20 . Figure 8B It is a plan view of the transfer arm 14 moving from the storage ring position 22 back to the standby position 20 after placing the carrier ring 24 into the storage slot. Thereafter, the transfer arm 14 can move vertically in an upward or downward direction at the standby position 20 to pick up another carrier ring 24 at the storage ring position 22, and then transfer the carrier ring 24 to the exchange ring storage position 18.

[0036] It should be appreciated that the relatively large capacity of the bin station 10 optimizes the productivity of the device bonder and increases its efficiency, especially when multiple grades of electronic devices from different bins need to be bonded. The described embodiment of the present invention includes a bin elevator with multiple slots, and an independently movable transfer arm that allows the next carrier ring 24 to be picked up in advance. This is effective in reducing the changeover time of new and used carrier rings 24.

[0037] Because the exchange arm assembly 30 includes more than one exchange tool 32, 34, the exchange arm assembly 30 is capable of simultaneously performing pick and place operations for different carrier rings 24. Thus, this design can significantly reduce changeover time compared to conventional systems.

[0038] The invention described herein is susceptible to variations, modifications and / or additions besides those specifically described, and it is to be understood that the invention includes all such variations, modifications and / or additions which fall within the spirit and scope of the foregoing description.

Claims

1. An apparatus for processing electronic devices mounted on a carrier ring, the carrier ring to be supplied to a bonding machine for bonding the electronic devices, the apparatus comprising: A bin station including a plurality of bin slots, each bin slot being configured to support a carrier ring; a transfer arm that is translatable along the plurality of bin slots to access the carrier rings supported by the bin slots, the transfer arm being further movable between a bin ring position and a ring exchange position, the bin ring position being located at a bin slot, the transfer arm being operable at the bin slot to pick up a carrier ring from the bin slot or place a carrier ring into the bin slot; as well as An exchange arm assembly is capable of moving between the exchange ring position and a device supply platform, where the bonding machine is configured to receive the electronic device supplied by the carrier ring, and the exchange arm assembly is capable of operating to pick up the carrier ring from the transfer arm or place the carrier ring on the transfer arm at the exchange ring position, and to pick up the carrier ring from the device supply platform or place the carrier ring on the device supply platform.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a linear guide for guiding the transfer arm as the transfer arm translates along the plurality of bin slots to access the carrier ring supported by the bin slots.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the linear guide is vertically oriented and the bin ring position and the exchange ring position of the transfer arm are horizontally spaced apart at the exchange ring position.

4. The device according to claim 1 further includes a standby position of the conveying arm, which is located at an intermediate position between the bin ring position and the exchange ring position, wherein when the conveying arm is in the standby position, the conveying arm translates along the multiple bin slots.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transfer arm is movable between the bin ring position and the exchange ring position when the transfer arm is actuated to perform a rotational movement.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transfer arm includes a transfer arm ring carrier for lifting and supporting the carrier ring in the bin ring position when the transfer arm picks the carrier ring from the bin slot.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the transfer arm ring carrier is located below the carrier ring when the transfer arm ring carrier is located at the bin ring position so as to lift the carrier ring.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the bin ring position is located at a plurality of heights corresponding to the heights of the plurality of bin slots, and the exchange ring position is located at a fixed height so as to transport the carrier ring from the exchange ring position to the device supply platform.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the exchange arm assembly comprises a first exchange tool and a second exchange tool, the first exchange tool and the second exchange tool being located on opposite sides of a pivot point and being rotatable about the pivot point, the pivot point being located between the exchange ring position and the device supply platform.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein each of the first exchange tool and the second exchange tool has a plurality of gripper fingers for holding onto a side surface of the carrier ring.

11. The apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising an exchange arm assembly bracket on which the exchange arm assembly is mounted; and a rotation mechanism mounted on the exchange arm assembly bracket, the rotation mechanism being operative to rotate the first exchange tool and the second exchange tool around the pivot point.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the first exchange tool and the second exchange tool are further movable toward the transfer arm to place the carrier ring on the transfer arm or pick up the carrier ring from the transfer arm.

13. The device according to claim 9, wherein the first exchange tool and the second exchange tool are capable of rotating to exchange positions, thereby simultaneously transferring the first carrier ring carried by the first exchange tool from the exchange ring position to the device supply platform, and transferring the second carrier ring carried by the second exchange tool from the device supply platform to the exchange ring position.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the bin station includes more than eighteen stacking bin slots.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the bonding machine is placed on the floor, and the storage station further comprises a base, which is placed in the workshop separately from the bonding machine and is used to accommodate more than eighteen stacking slots beside the bonding machine.

16. A method for supplying an electronic device mounted on a carrier ring to a bonding machine for bonding the electronic device, the method comprising the steps of: providing a bin station including a plurality of bin slots, each bin slot being configured to support a carrier ring; translating a transfer arm along the plurality of bin slots to access the carrier rings supported by the bin slots; moving the transfer arm to a bin ring position located at a bin slot to pick up a carrier ring from the bin slot, and then moving the carrier ring and the transfer arm to a ring exchange position; moving the exchange arm assembly to the exchange ring position to pick up the carrier ring from the transfer arm, and then moving the carrier ring and the exchange arm assembly to the device supply platform; as well as The electronic devices supplied from the carrier ring located on the device supply platform are received by the bonding machine.

17. The method according to claim 16 further includes, when the transfer arm is in the standby position, moving the transfer arm to the standby position located at an intermediate position between the bin ring position and the exchange ring position before the transfer arm translates along the plurality of bin slots.

18. A method according to claim 16, wherein the exchange arm assembly includes a first exchange tool and a second exchange tool, the first exchange tool and the second exchange tool are located on opposite sides of a pivot point between the exchange ring position and the device supply platform, and the step of moving the carrier ring and the exchange arm assembly also includes rotating the first exchange tool and the second exchange tool around the pivot point.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising moving the first exchange tool or the second exchange tool toward the transfer arm to pick up the carrier ring from the transfer arm using the first exchange tool or the second exchange tool.

20. The method according to claim 18 further includes rotating the first exchange tool and the second exchange tool around the pivot point to exchange positions, thereby simultaneously transferring the first carrier ring carried by the first exchange tool from the exchange ring position to the device supply platform, and transferring the second carrier ring carried by the second exchange tool from the device supply platform to the exchange ring position.

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