Circuit board visual inspection equipment

Abstract

To solve a problem that it is not possible to efficiently inspect an appearance of both front and back surfaces of a board because a transportation of the board is temporarily stopped at the time of inspection.SOLUTION: Board visual inspection equipment 1 is configured so that a chamber 2 which forms a transport path for a board W, has a hollow interior and has numerous air ejection holes h on its upper surface, is divided into at least two parts in a transport direction with an interval S, and front and back sides of the board W pushed out by a pusher 5 and transported in a direction of the interval S are imaged without stopping once, by a transport surface side camera 4A that images the board W passing through the space S and an open surface side camera 4B that is arranged in front of the space S in the transport direction.EFFECT: The board W can be moved at high speed by being pushed out by the pusher 5 in a levitated state, and the transfer surface side and the open surface side of the board are imaged at the space S portion and before or after the space S portion, and therefore both sides of a large number of very small boards can be efficiently inspected for appearance.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a substrate appearance inspection device used in extremely small and delicate electronic devices. [Background technology]

[0002] For example, Patent Document 1 (JP Patent Publication No. 2001-41905) proposes the following configuration for the purpose of supporting a glass sheet without contacting its surface and attenuating vibrations of the glass sheet to move it at high speed.

[0003] That is, Patent Document 1 discloses a configuration comprising an inclined air table arranged on a plane parallel to a first axis which is inclined with respect to the vertical, means for moving the sheet material along the first axis and parallel to the air table and physically supporting the sheet material solely along its lower edge, air supply means for supporting the sheet material parallel to the air table and at a desired distance from the air table so as to avoid physical contact with the surface portion of the sheet material, scanning means, and means for moving a manipulation means along a second axis which crosses at least one surface of the sheet material.

[0004] Furthermore, for example, Patent Document 2 (JP Patent Publication No. 2003-270155) shows a configuration in which a glass plate is supported opposite a holder made of a glass member having an opening for holding a glass substrate, and the glass substrate is adsorbed and held on the rigid holder, for the purpose of aligning and moving the substrate while suppressing bending and vibration without blocking irradiation from the back surface of the substrate.

[0005] In the following explanation, the glass sheet in Patent Document 1 and the glass substrate in Patent Document 2 will be read as "substrate." Patent Document 1 describes a configuration in which the substrate is tilted during visual inspection and placed over an air gap to suppress vibration and to keep the substrate stationary in a non-contact state for a stable state, but this configuration has the problem that it takes a long time to perform visual inspection of a large number of substrates because the substrate must be stopped once.

[0006] Furthermore, in Patent Document 2, an opening for blowing the substrate up is formed in the center of a holder that is arranged on a step of a frame to maintain airtightness, as a configuration for suppressing vibration of the substrate and moving it in an aligned manner, and a number of air holes 10 for attaching suction pads that suction and hold the peripheral portion of the substrate are formed on the outer periphery of this opening. However, Patent Document 2 also has a configuration in which the substrate is temporarily stopped during inspection to allow position adjustment, which causes the problem that it takes a long time to perform visual inspection of a large number of substrates.

[0007] The substrate referred to in this application means an electronic component, but in recent years electronic components have become increasingly smaller, and the quantities handled for shipment are large. Furthermore, it is necessary to inspect both sides, not just one side. Therefore, if the substrate is stopped (intermittent movement) or the substrate is turned over after inspecting the front side and then inspected on the back side, it would take a very long time to complete the inspection of the entire substrate. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0008] [Patent Document 1] JP 2001-41905 A [Patent Document 2] JP 2003-270155 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0009] The problem to be solved is that since the transportation of the substrate is temporarily stopped during the inspection, it is not possible to efficiently inspect the appearance of both the front and back surfaces. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a substrate transport path and a hollow chamber, a porous plate having numerous air jet holes formed on the upper surface of the chamber or numerous air jet holes formed so as to close the open surface of the chamber with the open upper surface, an air pump that sends air jetted from the air jet holes through the chamber, the chamber being divided into at least two in the transport direction with a gap that is less than 1 / 2 the transport direction dimension of the substrate, a transport surface side camera that images the substrate passing through this gap, an open surface side camera that is arranged before or after the gap in the transport direction, and a pusher that pushes out substrates located in front of the gap on the transport path in the direction of the gap. Furthermore, the chamber is inclined so that the push-out initial position side of the pusher located in front of the gap in the substrate transport direction is downward. The configuration was as follows. Effect of the Invention

[0011] In the present invention, a chamber forms a transport path, and air is ejected from the chamber toward the upper surface, so that the substrate is in a levitated state, and the substrate moves at high speed along the transport path by pushing out the levitated substrate with a pusher. In addition, in the present invention, a backside camera captures the transport surface side of the substrate that moves while levitating without stopping at a location between chambers spaced apart by less than half the dimension in the transport direction of the substrate, and the open surface side of the substrate before or after the transport path at that interval. Thus, the present invention makes it possible to efficiently perform visual inspection of both sides of extremely small and large quantities of substrates. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0012] [Figure 1] 1A and 1B show a schematic configuration of a substrate visual inspection device of the present invention, in which (a) is a schematic view seen from above, and (b) is a schematic view seen from direction A in (a). [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of a substrate visual inspection device of the present invention, as viewed from the direction B in FIG. [Diagram 3] In order to explain the inclination of the substrate transport path in the substrate visual inspection apparatus of the present invention, (a) shows only the periphery of the chamber as viewed from direction A in Figure 1(a), and (b) shows only the periphery of the chamber as viewed from direction B in Figure 1(b). DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0013] The present invention solves the problem that the transportation of the substrate is temporarily stopped during the inspection, and therefore it is not possible to efficiently inspect the appearance of both the front and back sides, by providing a chamber which forms a transport path for the substrate and is hollow inside, a porous plate in which a countless number of air jet holes are provided on the upper surface of the chamber or a countless number of air jet holes are provided so as to close the open surface of the chamber with the open upper surface, an air pump which sends air jetted from the air jet holes through the chamber, the chamber being divided into at least two in the transport direction with a gap that is less than 1 / 2 the transport direction dimension of the substrate, a transport surface side camera which images the substrate passing through this gap, an open surface side camera which is arranged before or after the gap in the transport direction, and a pusher which pushes out substrates located in front of the gap on the transport path in the direction of the gap. Furthermore, the chamber is inclined so that the push-out initial position side of the pusher located in front of the gap in the substrate transport direction is downward. This improved the situation.

[0014] This invention is mainly used for inspecting the appearance of both sides of a board for electronic devices. The boards and electronic components of modern electronic devices have become extremely small, and manufacturing sites have had difficulty in shortening the time required to inspect both sides of one board per unit time.

[0015] In addition, when electronic equipment circuit boards are moved at high speeds with electronic equipment and wiring mounted on them, that is, when they are rubbed violently against the transport surface of the transport path, even normal circuit boards can be damaged. Therefore, the present invention makes it possible to move the circuit board at high speeds along the transport path by lifting the circuit board so that the circuit board is not in contact with the transport surface of the transport path and by taking advantage of this low frictional resistance state and pushing it out with a pusher.

[0016] The gap between the chambers is a portion where no air is ejected from the chambers, but by making the gap less than half the size of the substrate in the transport direction, problems such as the leading edge of the substrate in the transport direction dropping into the gap or getting caught and stopped do not occur. Therefore, the substrate is transported while being stably levitated.

[0017] In addition, a conveying surface side camera is provided on the opposite side of the air ejection direction in the gap between the chambers, and can capture an image of the conveying surface side of the substrate passing through the gap. The open surface side of the substrate may be provided at the front or rear position in the conveying direction across the gap.

[0018] The interval between the chambers may be changed within the above range according to the size of the substrate in the transport direction, but it is desirable to make the interval as wide as possible, at the upper limit of the above range, i.e., 1 / 2 the size of the substrate in the transport direction. The chamber may have numerous air jet holes pre-formed on its upper surface, but a configuration in which a porous plate with numerous air jet holes formed thereon is arranged on the upper surface has the advantage that cleaning when clogging occurs and changing the diameter and number of the air jet holes can be easily performed by changing the porous plate.

[0019] In the above-mentioned configuration of the present invention, a guide extending in the substrate transport direction may be provided on an edge of the chamber in a direction perpendicular to the substrate transport direction, and the chamber may be inclined so that the guide side faces downward.

[0020] In the above configuration, it is assumed that the substrates are aligned in advance and transported to the process of the substrate visual inspection device of the present invention, but in some cases, the substrates may be transported to the process without being particularly aligned. Even if the substrates are aligned, they may lose their alignment due to floating. Therefore, if a guide is provided in the chamber and the chamber is tilted so that the guide side is downward, the substrate will move toward the guide due to gravity and come into contact with the guide, thereby being aligned.

[0021] Furthermore, in the present invention, the chamber may be inclined downwards so that the push-out initial position side of the pusher located at the front of the gap in the substrate transport direction is directed downwards.

[0022] In the above configuration, it is assumed that the pusher first pushes out the substrate at the start of the transport path formed in the chamber, so that the substrate moves while floating, but in some cases the substrate may be transported to the process without being particularly aligned. Even if the substrate is aligned, the alignment may be disrupted due to floating.

[0023] Therefore, by tilting the chamber so that the pusher's initial push-out position side is downward, the substrate can be brought into contact with the pusher and transported in a stable, aligned state. However, in this configuration, although the substrate transport speed depends on the movement speed of the pusher, there is an advantage in that the number of visual inspection processes per unit time can be easily controlled because the movement speed of the pusher is constant. EXAMPLES

[0024] A specific embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to Fig. 1 to Fig. 3. A substrate visual inspection device 1 (hereinafter referred to as inspection device 1) of the present invention has the following configuration in order to efficiently perform visual inspection of both the front and back surfaces of a very small substrate W. In this embodiment, the substrate W will be described as one used in electronic devices.

[0025] Reference numeral 2 denotes a hollow chamber. In this example, two chambers 2 are provided in the transport direction with a gap S therebetween. In this example, the gap S is set to, for example, 1 / 2 the dimension of the substrate W in the transport direction. The two chambers 2, 2 provided with the gap S therebetween form a transport path for the substrate W. In this example, the chamber 2 has an open top surface, for example, and a porous plate 2A having countless air ejection holes h formed therein is provided to cover the open surface.

[0026] In this example, guides 2B are provided at the edges of the chambers 2, 2 in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the substrate W, spanning the interval S and extending in the transport direction. The chambers 2, 2 are tilted so that the guide 2B side faces downward. The inclination of the chambers 2, 2 is approximately 2° to 8°. If the inclination is less than 2°, the substrate W may not abut the guide 2B, and if the inclination is more than 8°, the substrate W may jump over the guide 2B. In the drawings, the angle is exaggerated.

[0027] Furthermore, in this example, the chambers 2, 2 are inclined so that the initial push-out position of the pusher 5, which will be described later, faces downward before the interval S in the transport direction of the substrate W, that is, on the upstream side in terms of the transport direction. The inclination of the chambers 2, 2 is approximately 5° to 15°. If the inclination is less than 5°, the substrate W may move with too much force during the initial push of the pusher 5 and may not come into contact with the pusher 5, whereas if the inclination is greater than 15°, the substrate W may be turned over and it may be difficult to adjust the height with the transport system of the next process (downstream process).

[0028] Reference numeral 3 denotes an air pump that is connected to each of the chambers 2, 2 via a valve and supplies air to the chambers. In this example, the air pumps 3, 3 are provided corresponding to each of the chambers 2, 2 and adjusted to provide the same amount of air ejected at the same pressure, but this is not limiting, and pipes may be branched from a single air pump 3 to connect to each of the chambers 2, 2.

[0029] Reference numeral 4 denotes a camera that images the substrate W. In this example, a transport surface side camera 4A that images the substrate W passing through the space S, and an open surface side camera 4B arranged, for example, on the front side of the space S in the transport direction are provided. The transport surface side camera 4A and the open surface side camera 4B are provided so that their optical axes are perpendicular to the transport surface, and are provided so that the entire width of the transport path is included in the viewing angle. In other words, in this example, since the chambers 2, 2 are provided so that the guide side, the push-out initial position side of the pusher 5, is tilted downward as described above, the transport surface side camera 4A and the open surface side camera 4B are also provided so as to be tilted with respect to the horizontal.

[0030] Numeral 5 denotes a pusher that pushes out the substrate W located in front of the space S of the transport path in the direction of the space S. This pusher 5 is composed of a push plate 5A that is provided in contact with the transport path and abuts against the substrate W, a movable part 5B that is connected to this push plate 5A outside the transport path beyond the guide 2B, a screw 5C in this example that moves this movable part 5B, a gear 5D that is provided coaxially with this screw 5C, and a motor 5F that applies rotational power via a pinion gear 5E that meshes with this gear 5D.

[0031] The inspection device 1 configured as above operates as follows. Air supplied from the air pump 3 is ejected into the chamber 2 from the air ejection holes h of the porous plate 2A. In the initial position, the push plate 5A of the pusher 5 is located at the left end of the paper in the state shown in Fig. 1(a). When a substrate W is transported from an upstream process in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction, that is, from below the paper in the state shown in Fig. 1(a), the substrate W immediately enters a levitated state and comes into contact with the guide 2B and the push plate 5A due to the inclination of the chambers 2, 2.

[0032] When the motor 5F is operated, the screw 5C rotates via the pinion gear 5E and the gear 5D, causing the movable part 5B and the push plate 5A connected to this movable part 5B to move, and the substrate W in contact with the push plate 5A is transported along the transport path.

[0033] When the substrate W reaches the position of the open surface side camera 4B during transport, the open surface side camera 4B images the open surface (upper surface) of the substrate W, and when the substrate W reaches the interval S, the transport surface side camera 4A images the transport surface (lower surface) of the substrate W. The image data of the camera 4 is sent to a control unit (not shown), which uses image processing technology to determine whether there is an abnormality in appearance.

[0034] When the substrate W passes through the gap S and reaches the end of the transport path, the substrate W is removed from the transport path by another mechanism in the downstream process. After the substrate W is no longer present in the transport path, the push plate 5A returns to its initial position by the high-speed reverse rotation of the motor 5F, and after the push plate 5A returns to its initial position, the next substrate W is transported from the upstream process.

[0035] In this way, with the present invention, the substrate W does not need to be temporarily stopped for visual inspection as it travels from the start to the end of the transport path, and visual inspection of both the upper and lower sides can be completed as it travels from the start to the end, thereby increasing processing capacity per unit time and making it possible to efficiently perform visual inspection of a large number of substrates W. [Explanation of symbols]

[0036] 1 (Board appearance) Inspection equipment 2 Chambers 2A Porous Plate 2B Guide 3. Air pump 4. Camera 4A Conveyor side camera 4B Open surface camera 5 Pusher 5A Push Plate h Air outlet S interval W substrate

Claims

1. A board visual inspection device for performing visual inspection of both the front and back sides of extremely small electronic boards, comprising: a chamber which forms a transport path for the board and is hollow inside; a porous plate which has countless air outlets on the top surface of the chamber or which has countless air outlets formed so as to cover the open surface of the chamber with the top surface open; an air pump which sends air emitted from the air outlets through the chamber; the chamber which is divided into at least two in the transport direction with a gap which is less than half the transport direction dimension of the board; a transport surface side camera which images the board passing through this gap; an open surface side camera which is positioned in front of or behind the gap in the transport direction; and a pusher which pushes out boards located in front of the gap on the transport path in the direction of the gap, and further wherein the chamber is tilted so that the initial push-out position side of the pusher located in front of the gap in the board transport direction is downward.

2. 2. A substrate visual inspection device according to claim 1, wherein said chamber is provided with a guide extending in the substrate transport direction on an edge portion in a direction perpendicular to the substrate transport direction, and is inclined so that the guide side faces downward.

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