Material or article handling – Elevator or hoist and loading or unloading means therefor – Grab
Reexamination Certificate
2002-12-18
2004-07-13
Ellis, Christopher P. (Department: 3651)
Material or article handling
Elevator or hoist and loading or unloading means therefor
Grab
C414S626000, C414S736000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06761526
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for picking and transferring semiconductor devices in a test handler, and more particularly, to a picking apparatus for a test handler of semiconductor devices, in which pickers for picking up semiconductor devices are installed in two arrays in one picking apparatus to move them in the up and down directions opposite to each other, so that semiconductor devices as many as two times can be transferred by once transferring process and the semiconductor devices can be transferred at a different pitch.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
As widely known, memory or non-memory semiconductor devices, or modules in which these semiconductor devices are integrated on a single substrate in a circuit design, are produced out after various kinds of test processing. The handler indicates an apparatus for automatically transferring the aforementioned semiconductor devices, modules or the like to a desired process for test.
Generally, the handler transfers semiconductor devices accommodated in a tray to or from a flat-typed shuttle or a buffer-plate. For this purpose, the handler is provided on the upper side of a body thereof with a transferring (or picking) apparatus. The transferring device is linearly moved in X direction or Y direction, and picks up and transfers semiconductor devices to a specific location.
FIGS. 1
to
3
illustrate one example of a conventional picking apparatus for transferring semiconductor devices in the handler.
As shown in
FIGS. 1
to
3
, the conventional picking apparatus for transferring semiconductor devices includes a moving block
101
installed to move along a frame (not shown) horizontally installed on the handler, a vertical block
102
fixedly coupled with the moving block
101
, a lifting block
104
fixedly installed to LM Guides
103
which are installed on the both sides of the vertical block
102
in up and down directions, to move up and down, and a picker block
105
coupled with the lifting block
104
and having a plurality of nozzle pickers
105
a
for adsorbing semiconductor devices by vacuum pressure.
Also, on the rear side of the vertical block
102
is installed a driving means for lifting the lifting block
104
. Specifically, a servomotor
111
and a driving pulley
112
driver by the servomotor
111
are installed on the rear upper side of the vertical block
102
. On the lower side of the vertical block
102
is installed a transmission pulley
113
which rotate with coupled with the driving pulley
112
by a driving belt
114
. At one end of a rotation axis
113
a
of the driving pulley
113
A is installed a lower pulley
115
which rotates by the rotation of the transmission pulley
113
. The lower pulley
115
is coupled with an upper pulley
116
by a lifting belt
117
.
Also, at one side of the lifting belt
117
is fixedly installed a connecting piece
118
fixed with the lifting block
104
.
In the meantime, on the front side of the vertical block
102
is coupled an extension spring
125
of which one end is fixed to the lower side of the moving block
101
and the other end is fixed to the lifting block
104
. A pair of limit sensors
122
a
122
b
are provided on the upper center of the vertical block
102
, for sensing sensor flags
121
a
,
121
b
coupled with the lifting block
104
at the both upper ends thereof. The extension spring
125
provides an elastic force to the lifting block
104
in the opposite direction to the gravity force during the lifting of the lifting block
104
to reduce the weight applied to the servomotor
111
.
Therefore, when the driving pulley
112
rotates in the forward direction or backward direction by the operation of the servomotor
111
, the driving pulley
112
, the transmission pulley
113
connected with the driving pulley
112
by the driving belt
114
, and the lower pulley
115
coupled with the transmission pulley rotate, and accordingly, the lifting belt
117
and the upper pulley
116
are interlocked, so that the lifting block
104
connected to the lifting belt
117
by the connecting piece
118
moves up and down.
With the up and down movement of the lifting block
104
, the sensor flags
121
a
,
121
b
are sensed by the limit sensors
122
a
,
122
b
, and the up and down movement amount of the lifting block
104
is transferred to a control unit (not shown) of the handler. The control unit controls the operation of the servomotor according to the signals from the limit sensors
122
a
,
122
b.
However, the conventional picking apparatus structured as above has a problem in that it cannot be used for a tray or a shuttle arranged to have different pitch or number of semiconductor devices in a single handler because it is structured to pick up or detach semiconductor devices by the picker block
105
having the nozzle pickers
105
a
arranged at a constant pitch.
For example, a user tray for accommodating semiconductor devices for test, or a customer tray for again accommodating semiconductor devices for output, which are classified as good quality through a test, may be designed to have different pitch between devices in one array or the different number of devices from each other, but any test using the conventional picking apparatus essentially requires that the pitch between devices in one array, or the number of devices in the user tray and the customer tray be always constant.
Additionally, the conventional picking apparatus is constructed such that the weight on the servomotor
111
is reduced by the extension spring
125
while the lifting block
104
and the picker block
105
are raised up, but the extension spring
125
functions as a resistance while the lifting block
104
and the picker block
105
move down to increase the driving force of the servomotor
111
.
Moreover, it sometimes occurs that the servomotor
111
temporarily stops and the extension spring
125
is fractured or damaged in some or other reasons while semiconductor devices are picked up by the picker block
105
, and in that case, normally, the lifting block
104
moves down by its weight. At this time, if the moving block
101
of the picking apparatus moves in the horizontal direction at the above state, the semiconductor devices picked by the picker block
105
are struck by a part of the handler body and fractured.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a picking apparatus for transferring semiconductor devices in a handler that substantially obviates one or more problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
An object of the present invention is to provide a picking apparatus for transferring semiconductor devices in a handler in which some pairs of pickers for picking up semiconductor devices are provided in a single picking apparatus, the pickers move in the opposite directions from each other to increase the number of the devices to be transferred at one time, and the semiconductor devices in an array of different pitch are transferred at one time.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a picking apparatus for transferring semiconductor devices in a handler in which the semiconductor devices are easily picked up and transferred without burden on the driving elements and the structural elements during the lifting movement of the picker.
Additional advantages, objects, and features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned from practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these objects and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, there is provided a picking apparatus for transferring semiconductor devi
Ellis Christopher P.
Fleshner & Kim LLP
Mirae Corporation
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