Coating processes – Electrical product produced – Integrated circuit – printed circuit – or circuit board
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-14
2003-06-10
Lorengo, Jerry A. (Department: 1734)
Coating processes
Electrical product produced
Integrated circuit, printed circuit, or circuit board
C427S207100, C427S331000, C427S372200, C427S424000, C156S246000, C118S314000, C118S315000, C264S272140, C029S855000, C438S127000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06576288
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Applications No. 11-372193, filed Dec. 28, 1999; and No. 2000-004343, filed Jan. 13, 2000, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a resin film forming method and a resin film forming apparatus employing said method, particularly, to a method and apparatus for simultaneously forming resin films in a plurality of resin film forming regions arranged on one surface of a film.
In, for example, a TAB (Tape Automated Bonding) system, which is one of mounting technologies of a semiconductor chip such as an IC or an LSI, a long base film is transferred by the so-called roll-to-roll method so as to coat semiconductor chips arranged at a predetermined interval in the longitudinal direction of the base film with resin, thereby forming a sealing resin film.
FIG. 6
schematically shows, as an example, the construction of a conventional resin film forming apparatus used in the TAB system. As shown in the drawing, the conventional resin film forming apparatus comprises a base film supply section
1
, a resin coating section
2
, a drying section
3
, a tension imparting section
4
and a base film take-up section
5
as viewed from the left side toward the right side. In this case, a laminate structure consisting of a long base film
11
and a protective spacer
12
is rolled about a reel
13
as shown in
FIG. 7
, and the resultant roll is arranged in the base film supply section
1
.
The base film
11
is constructed as shown in, for example, FIG.
8
. To be more specific, sprocket holes
21
are arranged at a pitch P on both sides in the width direction of the base film
11
. A device hole
23
and an outer lead hole
24
are formed in each device region
22
of the base film
11
. Also, a large number of input wirings
25
and a large number of output wirings
26
are formed in each device region
22
on the lower surface of the base film
11
. Further, a semiconductor chip
27
is mounted on the base film
11
by coupling wirings
25
and
26
within each device hole
23
.
If the base film
11
and the spacer
12
are released from the reel
13
in the base film supply section
1
, the spacer
12
, which is obstructive to the resin coating, is wound about a spacer reel
31
so as to be recovered. On the other hand, the base film
11
released from the reel
13
is supplied into the resin coating section
2
through a guide roller
32
.
Two nozzles
33
and
34
are arranged within the resin coating section
2
. These two nozzles
33
,
34
are moved in X, Y and Z directions by an XYZ robot (not shown), and that portion of the base film
11
in which two adjacent semiconductor chips
27
are mounted is coated with resin so as to form a resin film (not shown). The two nozzles
33
and
34
are used for improving the efficiency of the resin coating operation.
Then, the base film
11
is transferred into the drying section
3
. In the drying section
3
, the base film
11
passes through first and second guide rollers
35
and
36
, and the resin film coated in the resin coating section
2
is dried by a heater (not shown). The base film
11
further passes through two tension imparting rollers
37
and
38
arranged within the tension imparting section
4
so as to be transferred into the base film take-up section
5
. In the base film take-up section
5
, the base film
11
is superposed with another spacer
40
released from another spacer reel
39
and the resultant superposed structure is wound up about another reel
41
.
It should be noted that the pitch P of the sprocket holes
21
of the base film
11
is defined to be, for example, 4.75 mm in JIS (Japanese Industrial Standards), and the design and manufacture are performed on the basis of the sprocket holes
21
thus defined. In the case of
FIG. 8
, a single device region
22
corresponds to 6 sprocket holes
21
. The length of the base film
11
corresponding to the device region
22
, hereinafter referred to as a length LD of the device region
22
, is called a 6-pitch length. Also, where the base film
11
is transferred over a distance corresponding to the 6 sprocket holes
21
, it is stated that the base film
11
is transferred by 6 pitches.
In the resin coating section
2
, the base film
11
is intermittently transferred, and the base film
11
is coated with resin by using the nozzles
33
and
34
while the transfer of the base film
11
is stopped. In this case, the time required for a single resin coating step is equal to the sum of the resin coating time and the base film transfer time. However, the base film transfer time is very short, compared with the resin coating time. If the base film transfer time is neglected, the time required for a single resin coating step is determined by the resin coating time. Suppose the resin coating time is m seconds. It should be noted in this connection that, in the resin coating section
2
, the mounting portions of two semiconductor chips
27
are simultaneously coated with the resin in a single resin coating step. It follows that the base film
11
is transferred by 12 pitches in m seconds.
On the other hand, it is necessary for the base film
11
to be transferred through the drying section
3
over a time required for drying sufficiently the coated resin film. Suppose M minutes are required for sufficiently drying the coated resin film. In this case, the base film
11
transferred by 12 pitches in m seconds within the resin coating section
2
passes through the drying section
3
over M minutes. If the base film
11
is transferred by 6 pitches in m seconds, the time required for the base film
11
to pass through the drying section
3
is 2M minutes, i.e., twice M minutes noted above.
The length LD of the device region
22
is not limited to 6 pitch length. For example, it is possible for the length LD to be 3 pitch length. Even in the case of the 3 pitch length, the resin coating time of m seconds is required for stopping the transfer of the base film
11
and coating the base film
11
with resin by using the nozzles
33
and
34
. Therefore, where the length LD of the device region
22
is equal to the 3 pitch length, the transfer speed of the base film
11
within the resin coating section
2
is set such that the base film
11
is transferred by 6 pitches in m seconds in a single resin coating step. In other words, the transfer distance of the base film
11
transferred in a single resin coating step is half the transfer distance in the case where the length LD of the device region
22
is equal to the 6 pitch length. As a result, the base film
11
passes through the drying section
3
over 2M minutes.
As described above, in the conventional resin film forming apparatus, the time for the base film
11
to pass through the drying section
3
widely differs, if the length LD of the device region
22
differs. In the example described above, the time for the base film
11
to pass through the drying section is M minutes in the case where the length LD of the device region
22
is equal to the 6 pitch length. However, where the length LD of the device
22
is equal to the 3 pitch length, i.e., half the value noted above, the time for the base film
11
to pass through the drying section is 2M minutes. It should be noted that the coated resin film can be dried sufficiently in M minutes. It follows that, where the length LD of the device region
22
is equal to the 3 pitch length, the base film
11
is caused to take a considerably long time for passing through the drying section, leading to a low productivity. Also, it is conceivable in this case to increase the number of XYZ robots used as the resin coating devices. However, the XYZ robot is costly. In addition, it is necessary to set with a high accuracy the positions of the nozzles mounted to each XYZ robot. Such being the situation, it is substantially impossible to increase the number of XYZ robot
Casio Computer Co. Ltd.
Frishauf Holtz Goodman & Chick P.C.
Lorengo Jerry A.
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