Special receptacle or package – Holder for a removable electrical component – Bar or tapelike carrier for plural components
Reexamination Certificate
1997-10-14
2001-01-30
Gehman, Bryon P. (Department: 3728)
Special receptacle or package
Holder for a removable electrical component
Bar or tapelike carrier for plural components
C206S725000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06179127
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a carrier tape for receiving therein electronic components, and more particularly to a carrier tape suitable for receiving therein small-sized area types of semiconductor packages such as ball grid array packages (BGA), micro ball grid array packages (&mgr;BGA), chip scale packages (CSP), bare chips or the like and a die apparatus for forming the same.
A semiconductor package such as a &mgr;BGA or the like includes electrode terminals such as a plurality of electrodes, e.g. solder balls or solder bumps, or the like which are arranged in a matrix-like manner on a bottom surface of a chip mounting substrate or a bottom surface of a chip mold section. Such a semiconductor package, when the electrode terminals of the package are brought into direct contact with a carrier tape while receiving the package in the carrier tape, causes contamination of the electrode terminals, as well as deformation of the electrode terminals due to local application of load to the package. Such contamination of the electrode terminals leads to a failure in soldering of the electrode terminals during mounting of the semiconductor package. Such a failure in soldering is hard to be found because the electrode terminals of the semiconductor package are arranged on the bottom surface of the package which is hard to be observed.
In view of the foregoing, the assignee proposed a carrier tape which is constructed so as to prevent electrode terminals of a semiconductor package such as a &mgr;BGA or the like from being brought into direct contact with the carrier tape when the semiconductor package is received in the carrier tape, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 11930/1996. The proposed carrier tape is formed on a surface thereof with a plurality of receiving depressions or recesses. The receiving recesses are each formed at a periphery thereof with shelf sections, so that a peripheral edge of a bottom surface of each of the semiconductor packages is supported on the shelf sections of the carrier tape while a side of the semiconductor package is abutted against a side surface of one of the receiving recesses to position the semiconductor package on the carrier tape.
In the proposed carrier tape, the shelf sections each include a shelf surface which has a groove formed by an edge of the side surface of a corresponding one of the receiving recesses, to thereby avoid any disadvantage due to a restriction on molding which causes a connection between the shelf surface and the side surface to be formed into an arcuate shape. More particularly, the carrier tape is made by pressure forming, vacuum forming, pressing or the like. Unfortunately, such forming techniques substantially fail to form the shelf surface of the shelf section in a manner to be perpendicularly contiguous to the side surface of the receiving recess due to a restriction on processing or machining accuracy of a forming die, so that the connection between the shelf surface and the side surface is inevitably formed into an arcuate shape. This causes a flat portion on the shelf surface to be decreased in area when the semiconductor package is received in the receiving recess, leading to a disadvantage that each of peripheral edges of the semiconductor package rides on each of the arcuate surfaces, resulting in looseness of the semiconductor package in the receiving recess being produced. Thus, the proposed carrier tape is intended to permit the groove formed on the shelf surface to remove an adverse effect of the arcuate surface, to thereby prevent such looseness of the semiconductor package.
Nevertheless, the carrier tape thus proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 11930/1996 requires that a strip-like projection for formation of the groove is formed on the forming die by fine processing or machining, so that manufacturing of the forming die is highly difficult and troublesome. Also, the strip-like projection is readily worn due to repeating of the forming, resulting in durability of the forming die being deteriorated.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made in view of the foregoing disadvantages of the prior art.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a carrier tape which is capable of being formed by means of a forming die which is readily manufactured and exhibits increased durability.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a carrier tape which is capable of stably receiving semiconductor packages therein while keeping electrodes thereof from being brought into contact therewith.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a die apparatus which is capable of providing such a carrier tape as described above while being readily manufactured and exhibiting increased durability.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a carrier tape is provided which is formed with a plurality of receiving recesses in a manner to be open on one surface thereof and be spaced from each other at predetermined intervals in a longitudinal direction thereof so as to receive therein electronic components each having electrodes provided on a bottom surface thereof, respectively. The receiving recesses are each provided on a periphery thereof with shelf sections of which a height upwardly rising from a bottom surface of the receiving recess is greater than a height of the electrodes of the electronic component and which are adapted to support thereon an outer peripheral portion of the bottom surface of the electronic component. The shelf sections are arranged so as to be spaced from each other in a peripheral direction of the receiving recess and so as to be expanded outwardly from the receiving recess in a plane direction. The receiving recesses are each provided with positioning sections for positioning the electronic component in the plane direction while keeping sides of the electronic component in contact therewith. The positioning sections are respectively arranged between an adjacent two of the shelf sections.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the receiving recesses are each formed with a rectangular shape in plan, wherein the shelf sections are provided at four corners of the receiving recess, respectively, and the positioning sections are respectively arranged in a manner to be contiguous to an adjacent two of the shelf sections. The side surface of the receiving recess is desirably constructed so as to act as the positioning sections.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the positioning sections are each arranged in a manner to extend over the whole depth of the receiving recess.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the positioning sections are each formed at an upper portion thereof with an inclined surface which spreads toward the one surface of the carrier tape at a predetermined angle with respect to a vertical direction perpendicular to the one surface of the carrier tape.
The carrier tape of the present invention thus constructed may be formed by subjecting a sheet of thermoplastic resin such as polystyrene, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene resin, polyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, polycarbonatle or the like to vacuum forming, pressure forming, pressing or the like, wherein a plurality of sprocket perforations are formed on at least one of opposite sides of the carrier tape in a manner to be spaced from each other at predetermined intervals in a longitudinal direction of the carrier tape and in juxtaposition to the receiving recesses. The carrier tape is covered with a cover tape, resulting in the openings of the receiving recesses being closed after the electronic components are received in the respective receiving recesses.
The electronic component to which the present invention is applied may have electrode terminals for electrodes such as solder balls, solder bumps or the like and typically represented by a small-sized area type of semiconductor package such as a &mgr;BGA, C
Kato Hiroshi
Kato Tomoyasu
Takao Yasuyuki
Gehman Bryon P.
Lerner David Littenberg Krumholz & Mentlik LLP
Shin-Etsu Polymer Co. Ltd.
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