Tray flipper and method for parts inspection

• US 7,353,954 B1
• Filed: 07/08/1999
• Issued: 04/08/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/08/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Charles A. Lemaire
• Original Assignee: Charles A. Lemaire
• Inventors: Ulrich, Franz W., Malek, Arye, Hackney, Joshua J.
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, JOHN QUOC
• Application Number:
  US09/350,251
• Time in Patent Office: 3,197 Days
• Field of Search: 209/542, 209/562, 209/563, 209/564, 209/587, 209/922, 198/400, 198/401
• US Class Current: 209/542
• CPC Class Codes: B07C 5/3404 according to properties of containers or receptacles, e.g. rigidity, leaks, fill-level control devices for cigarette or cigar packaging B65B19/28; investigation of fluid-tightness of structures G01M3/00
• CPC Class Codes: B07C 5/3422 using video scanning devices, e.g. TV-cameras
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2021/845 Objects on a conveyor
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/8901 Optical details; Scanning details per se G02B
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/9501 Semiconductor wafers manufacturing processes per se of semiconductor devices implementing a measuring step H01L22/10
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/95684 Patterns showing highly reflecting parts, e.g. metallic elements
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2201/0635 Structured illumination, e.g. with grating
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 13/22 Telecentric objectives or lens systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 209/922 Miscellaneous feed conveyors

Abstract

Manufacturing lines include inspection systems for monitoring the quality of parts produced. Manufacturing lines for making semiconductor devices generally inspect each fabricated part. The information obtained is used to fix manufacturing problems in the semiconductor fab plant. A machine-vision system for inspecting devices includes a flipper mechanism. After being inspected at a first station, a tray-transfer device moves the tray from the first inspection station to a flipper mechanism. The flipper mechanism includes two jaws, a mover, and a rotator. The flipper mechanism turns the devices over and places the devices in a second tray so that another surface of the device can be inspected. A second tray-transfer device moves the second tray from the flipper to a second inspection station. The mover of the flipper mechanism removes the tray from the first inspection surface and places a tray at the second inspection surface.

Claims

1. A machine-vision system for inspecting a device, the device having a first side and a second side, the machine-vision system comprising:

a first inspection station for inspecting a first side of a device;

a second inspection station for inspecting a second side of a device; and

a tray-transfer mechanism that operates to move the device in a tray, the tray having a height, a long-dimension side and a short-dimension side, from the first inspection station to the second inspection station in a direction substantially perpendicular to the long-dimension side, wherein the short dimension side is shorter than the long dimension side and longer than the height, and wherein the tray-transfer mechanism further includes an inverting mechanism that operates to invert the device so that the first side of the device can be inspected at the first inspection station and the second side of the device can be inspected at the second inspection station, wherein the inverting mechanism further comprises a mechanism for flipping the devices carried in a tray, the mechanism further comprising;

a first jaw having a surface for receiving a first tray;

a second jaw having a surface for receiving a second tray;

a mover for moving the first jaw, the first tray carrying the device, the second tray, and the second jaw into engagement with each other, said first tray associated with the first jaw and the second tray associated with the second jaw; and

a rotator for rotating the first and second jaws.

2. The machine-vision system of claim 1 wherein the rotator of the inverting mechanism moves the plurality of devices to the second tray such that the second sides of the plurality of devices are presented for inspection.

3. The machine-vision system of claim 1 wherein the rotator rotates the first and second jaws simultaneously.

4. The machine-vision system of claim 1 wherein the mover moves the first jaw in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface for receiving a tray associated with the first jaw.

5. The machine-vision system of claim 1 wherein the mover moves the first jaw and the second jaw in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface for receiving a tray associated with the first jaw.

6. The machine-vision system of claim 1 wherein the inverting mechanism moves the plurality of devices to the second tray such that the second sides of the plurality of devices are presented for inspection.

7. The machine-vision system of claim 6 wherein the mover of the inverting mechanism is adapted to place the plurality of devices in the second tray at the second inspection station.

8. The machine-vision system of claim 7 further comprising a picker for picking devices which fail inspection from the second tray.

9. The machine-vision system of claim 7 wherein the tray transfer device includes means for moving the second inspection station with respect to the inverting mechanism.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the tray-transfer mechanism transfers a plurality of trays, and wherein the first inspection station and the second inspection station are spaced apart by less than two times a length of the long-dimension side of each tray.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the inverting mechanism rotates the device around an axis that is not parallel to the direction that the tray moves between the first inspection station and second inspection station.

12. A machine-vision system for inspecting a plurality of devices positioned within a plurality of device-carrying trays, the machine-vision system comprising:

a first tray adapted to carry a plurality of devices, the first tray having a height, a length side and a width side, wherein the length side is longer than the width side and the height is shorter than the width side;

a second tray adapted to carry a plurality of devices;

a flip station for flipping the plurality of devices carried in a first tray from a first inspection position in the first tray to a second inspection position in the second tray wherein the flip station further comprises;

a first jaw having a surface for receiving a first tray;

a second jaw having a surface for receiving a tray;

a mover for moving the first jaw, a first tray having a plurality of devices, a second tray, and the second jaw into engagement with each other, said first tray associated with the first jaw and the second tray associated with the second jaw; and

a rotator for rotating the first and second jaws; and

a mover that moves the first tray into and out of the flip station in a direction substantially perpendicular to the length side of the first tray.

13. The machine-vision system of claim 12 further comprising:

a first tray-transfer device for holding at least the first tray, said first tray-transfer device moving the first tray from the first inspection station to the flip station; and

a second tray-transfer device for holding at least the second tray, said second tray-transfer device moving the second tray from the flip station to the second inspection station.

14. The machine-vision system of claim 12 wherein the flip station further comprises a mechanism for flipping the devices carried in a tray, the mechanism further comprising means for limiting the motion of the rotator.

15. The machine-vision system of claim 12 wherein the mover moves the first jaw in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface for receiving a tray associated with the first jaw.

16. The machine-vision system of claim 12 wherein the mover moves the first jaw and the second jaw in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface for receiving a tray associated with the first jaw.

17. The machine-vision system of claim 12 wherein the rotator rotates the first and second jaws simultaneously.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein all of the devices within one of the plurality of device-carrying trays are positioned to be inspected from a single inspection face of the tray.

19. A flipping mechanism for transferring a plurality of devices from a position in a first tray to a position in a second tray, the flipping mechanism comprising:

a first jaw having a surface adapted to receive the first tray;

a conveyor that moves the first tray to the first jaw in a direction substantially parallel to a shortest side dimension of the first tray;

a second jaw having a surface adapted to receive the second tray;

a mover for moving the first jaw, the first tray, the second tray, and the second jaw into engagement with each other, said first tray associated with the first jaw and the second tray associated with the second jaw; and

a rotator for rotating the first and second jaws.

20. The flipping mechanism of claim 19 wherein the mover can be controlled to remove the first tray from a first inspection surface.

21. The flipping mechanism of claim 19 wherein the mover can be controlled to place the second tray at a second inspection surface.

22. The flipping mechanism of claim 19 wherein the rotator rotates the first and second jaws simultaneously.

23. A method for acquiring physical information associated with a plurality of devices placed in a tray, the tray having a height, a length side and a width side, wherein the height is shorter than the width side and the width side is shorter than the length side, the method comprising the steps of:

inspecting a first side of a device within a first tray;

moving the first tray in a direction substantially parallel to the width side of the first tray;

moving a second tray to a position near the first tray;

flipping the first tray and second tray to move the device from the first tray to the second tray and place the device in the second tray so that a second side of the device is presented in the second tray; and

inspecting a second side of the device within the second tray.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein moving the second tray to the position near the first tray further includes moving the second tray to engage the first tray, and wherein flipping the first tray and second tray is done simultaneously after engagement.

25. A machine-vision system for inspecting a device, the device having a first side and a second side, the machine-vision system comprising:

a first inspection station for inspecting a first side of a plurality of devices;

a second inspection station for inspecting a second side of the plurality of devices;

a tray-transfer device that operates to move the devices in a tray from the first inspection station to the second inspection station, said tray-transfer device further including an inverting mechanism that operates to invert the devices so that the first side of the devices are inspected at the first inspection station and the second side of the devices are inspected at the second inspection station, wherein the inverting mechanism further comprises a mechanism for flipping the devices carried in a tray, the mechanism further comprising;

a first jaw having a surface for receiving a first tray;

a second jaw having a surface for receiving a second tray;

a mover that moves the second jaw such that the second tray comes into engagement with the first tray, said first tray associated with the first jaw and the second tray associated with the second jaw; and

a rotator for rotating the first and second jaws; and

a pick-and-place mechanism that removes rejected devices that fail an inspection at the first or second inspection station from the second tray and replaces the removed devices with good devices that passed inspection, in order to achieve an all-good tray of devices.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the first inspection station is a three-dimensional scanning station that provides height measurements for a plurality of points on a first side each device.

27. The system of claim 26, further comprising a third inspection station that provides two-dimensional measurements for a plurality of points on the first side each device.

28. A machine-vision system for inspecting a plurality of tray-held devices, each device having a first side and a second side, the machine-vision system comprising:

a first inspection station for inspecting a first side of the devices held in a single layer in a tray that has a long-dimension side and a short-dimension side, wherein the long-dimension side is longer than the short-dimension side;

a second inspection station for inspecting a second side of the devices; and

a tray-transfer device that operates to invert the devices and move the devices from the first inspection station to the second inspection station in a direction substantially perpendicular to the long dimension side of the tray.

29. The system of claim 28 wherein tray-transfer device operates to invert the devices and place the devices back into the same tray so that the first side of the devices can be inspected at the first inspection station in the tray and the second side of the device can be inspected at the second inspection station in the same tray.

30. The system of claim 28 wherein the tray-transfer device operates to invert the devices and place the inverted devices into a different tray than that used at the first inspection station.

31. A machine-vision system for inspecting a plurality of tray-held devices, each device having a first side and a second side, the machine-vision system comprising:

a first inspection station for inspecting a first side of the devices held in a tray that has a long-dimension side and a short-dimension side that is shorter than the long-dimension side;

a second inspection station for inspecting a second side of the devices; and

means for inverting the devices and moving the devices from the first inspection station to the second inspection station in a direction substantially perpendicular to the long dimension side of the tray.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the means for inverting operates to invert the devices and place the devices back into the same tray so that the first side of the devices can be inspected at the first inspection station in the tray and the second side of the device can be inspected at the second inspection station in the same tray.

33. The system of claim 31, wherein means for inverting operates to invert the devices and place the inverted devices into a different tray than that used at the first inspection station.

34. A machine-vision system for inspecting a plurality of tray-held devices, each device having a first side and a second side, the machine-vision system comprising:

a first inspection station for inspecting a first side of the devices held in a tray that has a long-dimension side and a short-dimension side that is shorter than the long-dimension side;

a second inspection station for inspecting a second side of the devices; and

means for inverting the devices and moving the devices from the first inspection station to the second inspection station in a direction not parallel to the long dimension side of the tray.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the means for inverting operates to invert the devices and place the devices back into the same tray so that the first side of the devices can be inspected at the first inspection station in the tray and the second side of the device can be inspected at the second inspection station in the same tray.

36. The system of claim 34, wherein means for inverting operates to invert the devices and place the inverted devices into a different tray than that used at the first inspection station.