Electronic-component alignment method and apparatus therefor

• US 20050071990A1
• Filed: 09/30/2003
• Published: 04/07/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Nakamura, Atsushi, Tokunaga, Hiroshi, Osoniwa, Kazumasa, Kawatani, Norio, Hosoi, Masahisa
• Granted Patent: US 7,251,883 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 29/740
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/14024 Assembling head parts
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67144 Apparatus for mounting on conductive members, e.g. leadframes or conductors on insulating substrates
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67259 Position monitoring, e.g. misposition detection or presence detection
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67294 using identification means, e.g. labels on substrates or labels on containers
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/681 using optical controlling means
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/0269 for visual or optical inspection
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 13/0812 the monitoring devices being integrated in the mounting machine, e.g. for monitoring components, leads, component placement
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 3/303 Surface mounted components, e.g. affixing before soldering, aligning means, spacing means H05K3/32 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/4913 Assembling to base an electrical component, e.g., capacitor, etc.
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49131 by utilizing optical sighting device
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49133 with component orienting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/53087 with signal, scale, illuminator, or optical viewer
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/53091 for work-holder for assembly or disassembly
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/53174 Means to fasten electrical component to wiring board, base, or substrate
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/53178 Chip component
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/53191 Means to apply vacuum directly to position or hold work part

Abstract

Two electronic components can be accurately aligned with each other such that a mark-recognition apparatus captures mutually corresponding alignment marking-means of the two components in the same fields of view thereof and measures the positions of the two components. A first electronic component having two alignment holes perforated at predetermined positions thereof so as to be spaced away from each other by a predetermined interval is held with a receiving table, and also a second electronic component having two alignment marks formed at predetermined positions thereon so as to have an interval therebetween in agreement with that between the two alignment holes is held with a position-adjusting mechanism. Thus, in a state in which the alignment marks of the second electronic component are introduced in the corresponding alignment holes of the first electronic component, the mark-recognition apparatus captures the alignment marks and the alignment holes in the same fields of view thereof and measures the positions of the two components, and the position-adjusting mechanism adjusts the position of the second electronic component such that the alignment marks of the second electronic component lie at predetermined positions in the alignment holes of the first electronic component.

Claims

1. An electronic-component alignment method, comprising the steps of:

holding a first electronic component with a receiving table, having two alignment holes perforated at predetermined positions thereof so as to be spaced away from each other by a predetermined interval, and holding a second electronic component with a position-adjusting mechanism, having two alignment marks formed at predetermined positions thereon so as to have an interval therebetween in agreement with that between the two aligning holes;

capturing the alignment marks and the corresponding alignment holes in the same fields of view of a mark-recognition apparatus in a state in which the alignment marks of the second electronic component are introduced in the corresponding alignment holes of the first electronic component, and measuring the positions of the two components; and

adjusting the position of the second electronic component with the position-adjusting mechanism such that the alignment marks of the second electronic component lie at predetermined positions in the corresponding alignment holes of the first electronic component,

wherein the two components are aligned with each other by performing the above steps.

2. The electronic-component alignment method according to claim 1, wherein the first and second electronic components are held such that the alignment holes and the alignment marks, respectively, of the first and second electronic components lie within the focal depth of lenses of the mark-recognition apparatus.

3. The electronic-component alignment method according to claim 1, wherein the position-adjusting mechanism moves and rotates the second electronic component in the X and Y directions and in the θ

direction, respectively, on a horizontal plane.

4. The electronic-component alignment method according to claim 3, wherein the entire position-adjusting mechanism is movable in the Z direction on a vertical plane and bonds the first and second electronic components to each other.

5. The electronic-component alignment method according to claim 1, wherein the mark-recognition apparatus comprises two cameras having an interval therebetween in agreement with that between the two alignment holes of the first electronic component.

6. The electronic-component alignment method according to claim 1, wherein the mark-recognition apparatus comprises a camera laterally movable along the same distance as the interval between the two alignment holes of the first electronic component.

7. The electronic-component alignment method according to claim 1, wherein the mark-recognition apparatus comprises two identical lenses disposed so as to have an interval therebetween in agreement with that between the two alignment holes of the first electronic component;

and a camera disposed at the common position on the optical paths of the two lenses.

8. An electronic-component alignment apparatus, comprising:

a receiving table holding a first electronic component having two alignment holes perforated at predetermined positions thereof so as to be spaced away from each other by a predetermined interval;

a position-adjusting mechanism holding a second electronic component which is disposed so as to face the receiving table and which has two alignment marks formed at predetermined positions thereon so as to have an interval therebetween in agreement with that between the two aligning holes;

a mark-recognition apparatus which is disposed rearward of the receiving table and which, in a state in which the alignment marks of the second electronic component are introduced in the alignment holes of the first electronic component, captures the alignment marks and the corresponding alignment holes in the same fields of view thereof and measures the positions of the two components,

wherein, by using images whose positions are measured by the mark-recognition apparatus, the two components are aligned with each other by adjusting the position of the second electronic component with the position-adjusting mechanism such that the alignment marks of the second electronic component lie at predetermined positions in the two alignment holes of the first electronic component.

9. The electronic-component alignment apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the first and second electronic components are held such that the alignment holes and the alignment marks, respectively, of the first and second electronic components lie within the focal depth of lenses of the mark-recognition apparatus.

10. The electronic-component alignment apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the position-adjusting mechanism moves and rotates the second electronic component in the X and Y directions and in the θ

direction, respectively, on a horizontal plane.

11. The electronic-component alignment apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the entire position-adjusting mechanism is movable in the Z direction on a vertical plane and bonds the first and second electronic components to each other.

12. The electronic-component alignment apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising two cameras having an interval therebetween in agreement with that between the two alignment holes of the first electronic component.

13. The electronic-component alignment apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the mark-recognition apparatus comprises a camera laterally movable along the same distance as the interval between the two alignment holes of the first electronic component.

14. The electronic-component alignment apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the mark-recognition apparatus comprises two identical lenses disposed so as to have an interval therebetween in agreement with that between the two alignment holes of the first electronic component;

and a camera disposed at the common position on the optical paths of the two lenses.

15. An electronic-component alignment method, comprising the steps of:

arranging first and second electronic components so as to face each other, the first component having a pair of alignment holes formed at predetermined positions thereof so as to be spaced away from each other by a predetermined interval, and the second component having round or polygonal alignment marks, each formed by a plurality of alignment markings having different sizes and concentrically arranged, formed so as to have an interval therebetween in agreement with that between the alignment holes;

roughly adjusting the first and second electronic components by capturing the overall image of a small alignment marking of each alignment mark in the corresponding alignment hole so as to capture the overall image of a large alignment marking of the alignment mark in the corresponding alignment hole by using the small alignment marking;

measuring an amount of position correction for aligning the alignment mark with the center of the corresponding alignment hole by using the large alignment marking or the large and small alignment markings; and

finely adjusting the first and second electronic components so as to be aligned with each other by relatively moving the second electronic component by the amounts of position correction.

16. The electronic-component alignment method according to claim 15, wherein each alignment mark is formed by concentrically arranging a plurality of circles having different sizes.

17. The electronic-component alignment method according to claim 16, wherein each alignment mark is a double circle.

18. The electronic-component alignment method according to claim 15, wherein the first electronic component is a nozzle member of a print head of an image-forming apparatus, and the second electronic component is a chip of the print head.

19. The electronic-component alignment method according to claim 18, wherein, when the chip is fabricated by forming a circuit on a substrate, the alignment marks of the chip are formed outside the region of the chip where the circuit is formed.