Material or article handling – Device for emptying portable receptacle – Nongravity type
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-19
2001-09-04
Olszewski, Robert P. (Department: 2167)
Material or article handling
Device for emptying portable receptacle
Nongravity type
C414S811000, C414S935000, C198S346100, C198S347300, C209S573000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06283695
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tray conveying apparatus and method, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for removing deficient components or parts and replacing these deficient components or parts with satisfactory parts in accordance with inspection results in an external appearance inspection system for semiconductor parts (semiconductor packages, etc.).
2. Prior Art
Various types of manufacturing apparatuses and inspection apparatuses are used in manufacturing processes for semiconductor components or semiconductor parts. In such apparatuses, the semiconductor parts are generally held in a row on trays and are supplied and conveyed in tray units.
For example, in the final process in semiconductor manufacturing, a package external appearance inspection apparatus is utilized, and the external appearance of the respective packages held on the trays is inspected by means of this apparatus. Afterward, the trays are fed to a tray conveying apparatus which is linked to the inspection apparatus. In addition to the function of conveying trays, this tray conveying apparatus has the function of replacing deficient parts (defective parts and reclaimable parts (semi-defective parts), etc.) with satisfactory parts. In other words, based on the external appearance inspection results, deficient parts are removed from the trays, and the trays are replenished instead with satisfactory parts that have been prepared beforehand. After it has thus been insured that the packages on the trays consist exclusively of satisfactory parts, the trays filled with satisfactory parts are conveyed to an unloader stacker, and the respective trays are stacked in a stack configuration.
FIG. 14
is a diagram which shoes an example of one of the above-described trays
10
. This tray
10
has a plurality of pockets, and a semiconductor part is accommodated in each of these pockets
12
. Various types of trays other than the tray
10
shown in
FIG. 14
may be used.
FIG. 15
shows one example of a conventional package external appearance inspection system. This system is constructed from an in-tray type inspection apparatus
16
, which performs an inspection of the external appearance of the parts while the respective parts are accommodated in the trays, and a conveying apparatus
14
, which conveys the trays in which the parts whose external appearance has been inspected are accommodated.
FIG. 15
shows the appearance of the conveying apparatus
14
as seen from above.
In
FIG. 15
, the conveying apparatus
14
is constructed from a conveying section
17
which conveys inspected trays
10
D that have been discharged from the inspection apparatus
16
, an unloader staker
18
which is installed on the rear stage of the conveying section
17
, a first sliding mechanism
20
which causes a table
20
A on which a defective-parts tray
10
B is carried top slide in the X direction, a second sliding mechanism
22
which causes a table
22
A on which a reclaimable-parts tray
10
Cis carried to slide in the X direction, a third sliding mechanism
24
which causes a table
24
A on which a satisfactory parts tray (or satisfactory-part replenishment tray)
10
A is carried to slide in the X direction, and a transfer mechanism
26
which transfer the parts.
The conveying section
17
constitutes the conveying line. The front end of this conveying section
17
is adjacent to the rear end of the conveying section (not shown) of the inspection apparatus
16
, and the inspected trays
10
D are fed into the conveying section
17
from the inspection apparatus
16
. After all of the defective parts and reclaimable parts contained in the trays
10
D have been removed, satisfactory parts are replenished in the trays
10
D. Then, the trays
10
D filled with satisfactory parts are sent to the unloader stacker
18
, where a plurality of trays
10
D are stacked in a stack configeration. The conveying section
17
has a pair of belts
30
A and
30
B, and the trays
10
D are conveyed using these belts
30
A and
30
B.
In the conventional example, the sliding mechanisms
20
,
22
and
24
respectively have the same structure, and have a structure which causes the respective tables
20
A,
20
B and
20
C to slide in a direction parallel to the conveying line (i. e., in the X direction). The transfer mechanism
26
transfers defective parts from the trays
10
D to the defective-parts tray in accordance with the inspection results and likewise transfers reclaimable parts from the trays
10
D to the reclaimable-parts tray
10
C. Here, defective parts are semiconductor parts judged to be defective in the inspection of external appearance, and reclaimable parts are semiconductor parts judged to be re-utilizable or semiconductor parts judged to require re-inspection in the inspection of external appearance. Of course, it is also possible to handle all deficient parts (or defective parts) in the same manner. As a result of the removal of defective parts and reclaimable parts, one or more empty pockets are generated in the trays
10
. Accordingly, these empty pockets are replenished with satisfactory parts from the satisfactory-parts tray
10
A.
The transfer of parts between trays is accomplished by the transfer mechanism
26
. In this conventional example, the transfer mechanism
26
comprises a suction chucking nozzle
28
which chucks the parts by vacuum suction, and a mechanism which moves the nozzle
28
in the direction (Y direction) perpendicular to the direction of the conveying line (X direction). The coordinates at which the parts transfer operation is performed are determined by the Y-direction position of the nozzle
28
and the X-direction positions of the respective tables
20
A,
22
A and
24
A.
Thus, in the conveying apparatus
14
shown in
FIG. 15
, defective parts and reclaimable parts are removed from the trays in accordance with the inspection results, the trays are replenished with satisfactory parts, and the resulting trays filled exclusively with satisfactory parts are sent to the unloader stacker
18
and accommodated therein in a stacked fashion. The frequency of generation of defective parts and reclaimable parts is generally very low in each lot; accordingly, most of the trays following inspection flow “as is” along the conveying section
17
and are sent to the unloader stacker
18
.
In the conveying apparatus
14
shown in
FIG. 15
, it is necessary to prepare the satisfactory-parts tray
10
A at the beginning of each lot. Also, a fresh satisfactory-parts tray must also be prepared in cases where the initial satisfactory-parts tray becomes an empty tray at an intermediate point in the lot This will be explained below.
When the initial tray of a lot is sent to the conveying section
17
, defective parts and reclaimable parts are first removed from this tray. After this removal, the tray is tentatively sent to the unloader stacker
18
; and at this point in time, an operator call is output. Afterward, when this tray is manually transferred to the table
24
A by the operator, the apparatus is re-started, and conveying control similar to that described above is subsequently performed.
If the satisfactory-parts tray
10
A becomes an empty tray at an intermediate point in this operation, an operator call is output in the same manner as described above. Afterward, the empty tray on the table
24
A is first manually removed by the operator, and a tray that has been discharged into the unloader stacker
18
is manually transferred onto the table
24
A.
Besides the above-described manual method, an automatic operation by means of successive transfer may also be realized. In this automatic operation, satisfactory parts are automatically transferred one at a time to the satisfactory-parts tray
10
A from a tray
10
D on the conveying section
17
using the transfer mechanism
26
with the satisfactory-parts tray
10
A in an empty state.
In such a manual operation, the operator must perform a manual tray exchange whenever a satisfactory-parts tray is required. A
Chiyo Yasuo
Nakagawa Takeyuki
Kabushiki Kaisha Shinkawa
Koda & Androlia
O'Connor Gerald J.
Olszewski Robert P.
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