Assembly device

Details Assembly device Assembly device

2001-05-10

2003-05-13

Wilson, Pamela (Department: 3749)

Metal working

Means to assemble or disassemble

Means to assemble electrical device

C029S729000, C438S106000, C414S226040

Reexamination Certificate

active

06560857

ABSTRACT:

The present invention relates to an assembly device, in particular a fully automatic assembly device for producing microsystem technical products and for assembling components in the semiconductor industries, comprising an assembly table, at least one material transport system that transports the products to be placed with components, at least one transport system mounted on the assembly table, and at least one movable component transport unit with at least one assembly head. The present invention moreover relates to a method for assembling and producing microsystem technical products.
Such assembly devices are known from prior art. Known generic assembly devices can be classified in three main categories: Assemblers/inserters for producing electronic components, assembly automates for the semiconductor industry and laboratory devices for the assembly of samples of microsystem technical demonstration models. Such assembly devices, however, exhibit manifold disadvantages in particular for the production of microsystems.
Thus, with the production of functional units on the basis of microsystem technical component, the necessity exists increasingly to only use components of approximately identical quality for a determined production batch.
With the production of lighting fixtures based on LEDs, more and more care is taken that only those LEDs are processed together, which emit light in the same frequency spectrum and with the same intensity. Therewith, it is intended to be secured that with a posterior use in products, there do not arise any remarkable differences between the individual, adjacent and packed LEDs. The problem in this is that already on a single wafer as a standard delivery form of the LEDs, these emit lights in various bandwidths, so that even LEDs of one wafer do not exhibit the same characteristic features.
With the previous production of lighting fixtures based on LEDs, these are, as a rule, mounted from the wafer by so-called die bonders separately and into specific housings. Die bonders process the LED-carrying wafers without taking into account the differences in the physical characteristics of the individual LEDs. Previous die bonders moreover process only separate bands, which carry the housings of the LEDs either on a single track or on several tracks. In this processing form, LEDs possibly having quite different properties are put on one band. The consequences are quality leaps on the individual band. So as to avoid these quality differences and to be able to simultaneously use conventionally working die bonders in the assembly, sorting machines are increasingly used. Their task consists in taking the LEDs, which are identical with respect to their properties, over from the individual wafer, and to apply them on an intermediate carrier, e.g. an artificial wafer. For the implementation of the sorting process, basic information containing the information relative to the properties of the different individual LEDs is needed. This basic information may, for example, be provided as “wafer maps”, when components of the semiconductor industry such as LEDs are processed. Basic information, however, can be present in any optional format or can be made available in any optional manner. Thus, for example, LEDs having identical properties are localized. So as to generate these “wafer maps” the individual wafers are measured outside of the sorting machines, and the measured values are electronically stored. After the sorting machine has worked off one wafer, the next one is loaded. This sorting process continues until the first intermediate carrier or artificial wafer is filled and is substituted by a new intermediate carrier or artificial wafer, which is not yet charged. After a sufficient number of intermediate carriers or artificial wafers carrying LEDs each of the same class (quality) are present, commences the above-mentioned processing in a die bonder. The LEDs are mounted from the intermediate carriers or artificial wafers separately and on one separate band. Due to the pre-sorting process, only wafers of identical quality get on one band. Thereby, it is, however, disadvantageous that for processing a new quality class of LEDs, the respective artificial wafer, as well as the related band on the die bonder, have to be exchanged. It is true that by such a processing by means of a separate pre-sorting, the principal problem is solved by mounting only LEDs of one class on one band, it is, however, disadvantageous that a separate sorting machine is required, which is relatively expensive and works slowly. Moreover, a material handling between two different machine types is necessary, namely the sorting machine and the subsequent die bonder. Furthermore, the operator has to determine the allocation between the wafer, the intermediate carrier or artificial wafer, and the band. Hence, the risk of confusion increases with the increasing number of quality classes. Finally, various material implementations have to be carried out: On the sorting machine the various wafers and the various intermediate carriers, and on the die bonder the intermediate carriers and the bands. This necessity decelerates the production flow. A further disadvantage is that in particular for the intermediate carriers, additional carrier materials are used. In the light of ecology, this represents an additional environmental issue.
The die bonders used nowadays in the semiconductor industry do not satisfy the requirements of a quality-orientated assembly or an assembly and sorting in one working cycle. The known die bonder configurations do not offer sufficient space available due to their basic structure, so as to allow, for example, that several separately driven material transport units could be used. In particular, the basic structure of these die bonders is so selected that a sufficient assembly precision combined with a high assembly speed in combination with available space, entailing flexibility by a free configurability, is not possible.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide for a generic assembly device that allows the assembly and sorting of microsystem technical components in one working cycle with high productivity and assembly precision.
This task is solved by an assembly device having the features pursuant to claim
1
.
Advantageous configurations are described in the subclaims.
With an inventive assembly device, a component transport unit or component transport units is/are arranged on one or more carrier system/s, displaceable by means of a transport system in parallel to the direction of transport of the products to be placed with components, which products are in turn displaced by a material transport system/s, and the material transport system consists of at least two individual transport systems that run parallel, each individual transport system being provided with separately controllable drive systems, and the assembly device in addition comprising at least one information memory for receiving and processing component-specific data of a plurality of components within a component reservoir, and of data relative to the position thereof within the component reservoir, the control of the component transport unit/s and/or the assembly table and of the thereon attached material transport system ensuing on the basis of these data.
Due to the inventive arrangement of the carrier system and the material transport system, it is possible to mainly move only the assembly head and/or the assembly table for the material transportation. The carrier system itself thereby only carries out a short balancing movement in certain assembly modes, so that relatively small masses have to be moved. Thereby, the assembly head can be moved at a higher speed, which in turn leads to higher throughput rates at an increased assembly precision. It is moreover possible to execute larger transport movements by a displacement of the carrier systems, so that the entire available surface of the assembly table can be covered, hence enabling a high component or substrate variation. Furth

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