Stone working – Tools
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-14
2001-09-04
Banks, Derris H. (Department: 3723)
Stone working
Tools
C451S339000, C029S239000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06283113
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to semiconductor fabrication, and more particularly, to a tool for use in the fabrication of semiconductor devices.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
End-of line (EOL) fabrication of semiconductor devices includes processing at mold, post mold cure, plating, and trim and form stations. A magazine holding a stack of strips including lead frames with die thereon is loaded onto the mold station. The strips are fed one at a time from the magazine into the mold station for processing, and are loaded one at a time from the station into another magazine after such processing. The loaded magazine is then moved to and placed in a cure oven at the post mold cure station. After curing, the magazine containing the strips is loaded onto the next (plating) station. The strips are fed one at a time from the magazine into the plating station for processing, and are loaded one at a time from the station into another magazine after such processing. This loaded magazine is transported to a trim and form station, where again the strips are fed one at a time from the magazine into the trim and form station for processing.
A typical magazine
20
for use in this environment is shown in FIG.
1
. The magazine
20
includes a back portion
22
, side portions
24
,
26
, front edges
28
,
30
and a bottom support plate
32
on which a plurality of strips
34
is stacked. The magazine
20
as shown in
FIG. 1
contains, for example, a stack of strips
34
(
FIG. 2
) each of which is made up of a lead frame
36
and a plurality of die (not shown) packaged in molding compound
38
. As noted, the bottom portions of packages
38
of a strip
34
lie on and contact the top portions of the packages
38
of the strip
34
therebelow.
After, for example, post mold cure, which is undertaken at a very high temperature for an extended time, it will be readily understood that with the strips
34
stacked as shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2
, the packages
38
, and thus the strips
34
, may become attached to or stuck to each other. In this state, when the magazine
20
holding these strips
34
is installed at the next (plating) processing station, the mechanism for feeding strips
34
into that processing station may pick up two or more (stuck together) strips
34
at the same time, causing jamming of the processing station and undesirable process down time.
In attempting to deal with this problem, prior to installation of the magazine
20
at a processing station, an attempt can be made to separate the stuck-together strips
34
manually, i.e., using one's fingers. This is time-consuming and has proven to be ineffective, as some strips
34
may remain attached or stuck together. As an alternative, tweezers or other sharp objects have been used in an attempt to separate the strips
34
, but it has been found that this method has great potential for causing strip damage.
Therefore, what is needed is a method/tool for separating strips that may have become attached together, to insure that a magazine loaded onto a processing station contains only separated or free strips which can be fed one at a time from the magazine into the processing station.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a tool for separating stacked strips of semiconductor structures. The tool includes first and second elongated members in side-by-side relation. Each member defines a plurality of teeth along an edge thereof, the first and second members being positioned so that the teeth of the first elongated member are adjacent and lie along the teeth of the second elongated member. The first and second members are mounted together to allow relative reciprocal movement therebetween, so that relative reciprocal movement between the first and second pluralities of teeth is provided. The tool is held with the teeth thereof against strips carried by a magazine, and the operator squeezes and releases member handles to provide relative reciprocal movement of the teeth. This back-and-forth, reciprocal movement causes the teeth to rub against and force apart the edges of the strips, to in turn separate them.
The present invention is better understood upon consideration of the detailed description below, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. As will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description, there is shown and described an embodiment of this invention simply by way of the illustration of the best mode to carry out the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other embodiments and its several details are capable of modifications and various obvious aspects, all without departing from the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and detailed description will be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5966790 (1999-10-01), Meedt
Advanced Micro Devices , Inc.
Banks Derris H.
Winters Paul J.
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