JP2001198740A - Transfer device for conductive balls - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a conductive ball transfer device capable of automatically replenishing conductive balls and improving productivity. A ball supply unit (6) is provided by a suction head (31).
In the transfer device of the conductive ball 5 for picking up the conductive ball 5 and transferring it to the work 4 of the positioning unit 2, the ball tank 7 of the ball supply unit 6 is moved to the ball suction position P1.
The conductive ball 5 cut out from the ball replenishing unit 8 as required is transported to the ball replenishing position and replenished to the ball tank 7 by moving the ball replenishing unit 8 between the ball replenishing position and the ball replenishing position P2. Thereby, the ball replenishment operation can be automated and the productivity can be improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for transferring conductive balls to a work.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A flip chip or a BGA (Ball G
2. Description of the Related Art As a method for manufacturing an electronic component with a bump such as a lid array, a method using a conductive ball such as a solder ball is known. Further, as a method of transferring the conductive balls to a work such as a chip or a substrate, a method using a suction head has been implemented. In this method, the conductive balls stored in a container or the like are vacuum-sucked into suction holes formed in a large number on the lower surface of the suction head, picked up, and the suction head is moved above the work to collect these conductive balls. Since the transfer is performed on the electrode of the work, a large number of conductive balls can be collectively transferred to the work, so that there is an advantage that workability is good.

[0003]

By the way, with the increase in the number of conductive balls to be collectively transferred and the shortening of the transfer tact, the consumption of the conductive balls per unit time is increasing. On the other hand, the maximum storage amount of the ball supply unit in which the conductive balls are stored is limited because there is a restriction on the storage depth of the conductive balls that is appropriate for the vacuum suction of the conductive balls stably by the suction head. It cannot be increased beyond the limit. For this reason, the operator has to frequently replenish the conductive balls to the ball supply unit manually. Since the ball supply unit is disposed within the movable range of the transfer head and the like, the work for replenishing the ball is poor in workability and requires time and effort. As described above, the conventional conductive ball transfer apparatus has a problem in that the ball replenishment operation requires time and effort and the improvement in productivity is hindered.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for transferring conductive balls, which can automatically replenish conductive balls and improve productivity.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for transferring a conductive ball, comprising: a suction head having a plurality of suction holes formed on a lower surface thereof for sucking the conductive ball; A ball supply unit that supplies the ball, a ball tank moving unit that moves a ball tank of the ball supply unit between a ball suction position and a ball replenishment position, and a positioning unit that positions a workpiece on which conductive balls are transferred. A vertically moving means for vertically moving the suction head, a head moving means for moving the suction head between a ball supply section and a positioning section, and storing and cutting out conductive balls supplied to the ball supply section when necessary. The ball supply unit includes a ball supply unit that transfers the conductive balls cut out from the ball supply unit to the ball supply position.

According to the present invention, the ball tank of the ball supply unit is moved between the ball suction position and the ball supply position,
By transporting the conductive balls cut out from the ball replenishing section as required to the ball replenishing position and replenishing them in the ball supplying section, the ball replenishing operation can be automated and the productivity can be improved.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front view of a conductive ball transfer device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2A and 2B are diagrams showing ball replenishment of the conductive ball transfer device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3A is a partial cross-sectional view of a ball supply unit of a conductive ball transfer device according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3B is a partial front view of the conductive ball transfer device according to one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a partial front view of the conductive ball transfer device of one embodiment of the present invention. .

First, the overall structure of the conductive ball transfer device will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, a positioning unit 2 is provided on a base 1. A holder 3 is provided on the positioning unit 2, and the holder 3 holds a work 4. Therefore, by driving the positioning unit 2,
The work 4 is positioned at a predetermined position. A ball supply unit 6 for storing conductive balls 5 is provided at an end of the base 1 opposite to the positioning unit 2. Ball supply unit 6
Is configured by arranging a ball tank 7 so as to be able to move horizontally on the base 1. The ball supply unit 6 will be described below.

On the upper surface of the base 1, guide rails 15 are provided in the left-right direction. A slider 16 slidably fitted on the guide rail 15 is fixed to a plate 17, which supports the ball tank 7. The plate 17 is connected to a rod of a cylinder 18 disposed in a horizontal direction, and by driving the cylinder 18, the ball tank 7 reciprocates horizontally on the base 1.

When the ball tank 7 is moved to the right position, the ball tank 7 is located below the suction head 31 so that the conductive balls 5 stored therein can be sucked by the suction head 31. That is, the right position is the ball suction position P1. In a state where the ball tub 7 is moved to the left position, the conductive balls 5 can be supplied from the ball supply unit 8 described below. That is, the left position is the ball supply position P2. The guide rail 15, slider 16 and cylinder 18 serve as ball tank moving means for moving the ball tank 7 of the ball supply unit 6 between the ball suction position P1 and the ball replenishment position P2.

A ball supply unit 8 for the conductive balls 5 is disposed diagonally above the ball supply unit 6. Hereinafter, FIG.
The ball supply unit 8 will be described with reference to (a) and (b). As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the ball supply unit 8 includes a container 9 for storing the conductive balls 5 for replenishment, an elastic tube 10 communicating with a lower portion of the container 9, and an elastic tube 10. Of the elastic tube 10
Is bent.

The container 9 has a shape in which the lower portion is squeezed in a funnel shape. An elastic tube 1 made of a highly flexible material such as urethane rubber or silicon rubber is provided at the lower end of the container 9.
0 is connected. The elastic tube 10 hangs down from the lower end of the container 9 and bends, and the tip is located above the conveyor 14. The tip is held by the rod 11a of the cylinder 11 via the tube holder 12,
The cross section of the tip is an opening 10a.

A transmissive optical sensor 13 is provided on the side of the container 9 and receives light emitted from the light projecting portion 13a by the light receiving portion 13b, so that the level of the upper surface of the ball in the container 9 is reduced. It is detected whether the level is equal to or higher than a predetermined level. This detection is performed to notify the ball supply timing.

As shown in FIG. 2 (a), when the rod 11a of the cylinder 11 is retracted, the elastic tube 10 is bent and the opening 10a is located above the horizontal posture. The conductive balls 5 in the tube 10 are at rest and do not flow out of the opening 10a. On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
When the one rod 11a protrudes, the opening 10a tilts downward from the horizontal posture, and the conductive balls 5 stored in the container 9 flow out of the opening 10a via the elastic tube 10.

The outflowing conductive balls 5 fall onto a conveyor 14 (ball transport means) shown in FIG.
4 is transferred to the ball tank 7 at the ball supply position P2.
And is supplied to the ball tank 7. At this time, a desired amount of the conductive balls 5 can be cut out from the container 9 when necessary by controlling the time for which the elastic tube 10 is turned downward.

When the level of the upper surface of the conductive ball 5 inside the container 9 is reduced by cutting out the conductive ball 5 and becomes lower than a predetermined level, it is detected by the optical sensor 13 described above. A ball collection box 19 is provided below the ball supply unit 8. When collecting unnecessary conductive balls 5 from the container 9, the ball collection box 19 opens the opening 10 a.
Receives and collects the conductive balls 5 that fall from the surface.

Next, the suction head 31 for transferring the conductive balls 5 and the moving means of the suction head 31 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 1, a suction head 31 is disposed above the ball supply unit 6 so as to be movable by a moving unit 20. The suction head 31 is held by a block 30, and a plurality of suction holes 31 a are provided on a lower surface of the suction head 31. The block 30 is vertically movably mounted on a vertical guide rail (not shown) provided on the front surface of the bracket 24.

A nut 28 is provided integrally with the block 30, and a vertical feed screw 26 is screwed to the nut 28. Therefore, when the Z-axis motor 27 is driven forward and reverse and the feed screw 26 is rotated forward and reverse, the suction head 31 moves up and down. Therefore, the Z-axis motor 27 and the feed screw 2
Numeral 6 is a vertical moving means for moving the suction head 31 up and down.

A nut 29 provided on the back of the bracket 24 is screwed to the horizontal feed screw 22. Reference numeral 21 denotes a holding table for the feed screw 22. When the X-axis motor 23 rotates forward and backward, the feed screw 22 rotates forward and backward, and the suction head 31 held by the bracket 24 moves horizontally between the positioning unit 2 and the ball supply unit 6.

The suction head 31 picks up the conductive balls 5 from the ball supply unit 6 by vacuum suction by the horizontal movement and the vertical movement by the vertical movement means, and the positioning unit 2
The conductive ball 5 is transferred to the work 4 by moving the work 4 up and down and releasing the vacuum suction.

This device for transferring conductive balls has the above-described configuration, and the operation will be described next. First, in FIG. 1, the cylinder 18 is driven to move the ball tank 7 of the ball supply unit 6 to the ball suction position P1. Then, the X-axis motor 23 is driven to move the suction head 31 to the ball supply unit 6.
Is moved above the ball suction position P1. So, Z
The suction head 31 is lowered by driving the shaft motor 27, and the lower surface of the suction head 31 is slightly sunk into the layer of the conductive balls 5 as shown in FIG. In this state, the suction holes 31
By conducting vacuum suction from a, the conductive ball 5 is vacuum-sucked into the suction hole 31a.

The suction head 31 picking up the conductive ball 5 by vacuum suction rises from the ball supply unit 6, and
Next, it moves horizontally above the positioning unit 2. Next, the suction head 31 descends onto the work 4 held by the holder 3, and
By releasing the vacuum suction, as shown in FIG. 3B, the conductive ball 5 is transferred onto the electrode 4a and then moved up to complete the transfer of the conductive ball 5.

In the process of continuously continuing the transfer operation, the conductive balls 5 in the ball tank 7 are consumed, and the level of the upper surface of the conductive balls 5 gradually decreases. When this level is near a predetermined level set as the ball supply level, a ball supply operation is performed. In the ball supply operation, as shown in FIG.
To move the ball tank 7 to the ball supply position P2. Then, the cylinder 11 of the ball supply unit 8 (see FIG. 2)
Is driven to bend the elastic tube 10 downward, and the conductive ball 5 is dropped onto the conveyor 14 from the opening 10a. Then, the conductive balls 5 are conveyed by the conveyor 14 and dropped into the ball tank 7 to be replenished.

The decrease in the number of the conductive balls 5 in the container 9 due to the repetition of the supply operation is detected by the optical sensor 13, and when the supply of the balls into the container 9 becomes necessary, the fact is notified. Upon receiving this notification, the worker performs a ball supply operation into the container 9. Further, when it is necessary to collect the conductive balls 5 in the container 9 due to a type change or the like, the container 9 is moved onto the ball collection box 19,
In this state, the conductive ball 5 is dropped into the ball collection box 19 from the opening 10a.

The above-described ball replenishing operation is performed in a conventional conductive ball transfer apparatus, that is, in a state in which the ball vat 7 is located at the position of suction by the suction head 31, Compared to the method of directly throwing in the conductive balls 5, the work can be performed in a state where there is no obstacle above and the access is good, so that the workability is remarkably improved. Further, by arranging the ball replenishing unit 8 separately from the transfer mechanism main body such as the suction head 31, various mechanisms for automating the ball replenishing operation can be arranged without difficulty.

[0026]

According to the present invention, the position of the ball supply section is moved between the ball suction position and the ball supply position, and the conductive balls cut out from the ball supply means at a predetermined timing are transported to the ball supply position. Since the replenishment is performed in the ball supply unit, the workability of the ball replenishment operation can be improved, and the productivity can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a conductive ball transfer device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a cross-sectional view of a ball replenishing unit of a conductive ball transfer device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2B is a ball replenishment unit of the conductive ball transfer device according to one embodiment of the present invention. Sectional view of part

FIG. 3A is a partial cross-sectional view of a ball supply unit of a conductive ball transfer device according to one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 3B is a partial view of a conductive ball transfer device according to one embodiment of the present invention; Front view

FIG. 4 is a partial front view of the conductive ball transfer device according to one embodiment of the present invention;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Base 2 Positioning part 4 Work 5 Conductive ball 6 Ball supply part 7 Ball tank 8 Ball replenishing part 9 Container 14 Conveyor 18 Cylinder 31 Suction head

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A suction head having a plurality of suction holes formed on a lower surface thereof for suctioning conductive balls, a ball supply unit for supplying conductive balls to the suction head, and a ball tank of the ball supply unit for ball suction. Ball tank moving means for moving between a position and a ball replenishing position, a positioning portion for positioning a work on which conductive balls are transferred, vertical moving means for vertically moving the suction head, and a ball moving the suction head. A head moving means for moving between a supply unit and a positioning unit, a ball supply unit for storing and cutting out conductive balls supplied to the ball supply unit when necessary, and a conductive ball cut out from the ball supply unit. A conductive ball transfer device, comprising: a ball transfer means for transferring a conductive ball to a ball supply position.