Abstract: A wedge device for a press for controllably exerting high amounts of force in a clamping operation during a semiconductor packaging process and for facilitating a linear force output in relation to its input. The wedge device is powered by a servo motor which is coupled to a planetary screw by a set of pulleys and a timing belt. The screw is mated with a nut which is prevented from rotating so that the rotation of the screw causes the nut to move in a linear direction. Metal extensions join the nut to a bottom wedge such that the wedge moves together with the nut. Slidably disposed on top of the bottom wedge is a block bearing firmly attached to a complementary wedge. The complementary wedge is free to move in a vertical direction but not in a horizontal direction. As the bottom wedge moves in a horizontal direction, the complementary wedge moves in a vertical direction. The complementary wedge is placed underneath a press to provide the clamping force necessary for a semiconductor packaging operation.

Abstract: The present invention has at least one rack chock which is supported pivotally and tiltably at one end by a pin and cross head assembly located at a position between at least one leg rack and the hull of the platform. The other end of the rack chock is connected to the jack foundation with an actuator assembly. The pin and cross head assembly is disposed slidably within a guide for permitting the teeth of the rack chock to engage the leg rack teeth without visual monitoring and manual control. The actuator assembly connected to the other end of the rack chock controls the swinging movement of the rack chock and its engagement and disengagement with the leg rack. A pair of jacks urges upper and lower wedges with tiltable surfaces converging onto the rack chord's upper and lower surfaces, thus obtaining a optimal surface to arrest the relative movement between the rack chock and the leg rack.

Abstract: An apparatus for wet processing of substrates in a controlled environment. It is a single-substrate processing apparatus which is capable of carrying out etching, rinsing, and drying processes all in a single apparatus and in a controlled environment. A closed processing chamber is provided for processing a substrate in a closed environment. Processing liquids and gases are introduced into the chamber and the chamber is rotated with the substrate. Temperature inside the chamber is controlled by heating the gases. Humidity is controlled by varying the proportion of water vapor. The rotation of the chamber with the substrate creates a stable environment where processing parameters are more easily controlled.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for reducing warpage in semiconductor packages, and in particular, thin quad flat packages (TQFPs). The apparatus includes a clamping jig having a bottom plate and an upper plate. The bottom plate is connected to a heater which heats the plate to approximately 50 to 70 degrees Celsius. An air supply controller delivers air supply to the upper plate. The TQFPs are placed in between the bottom plate and the upper plate immediately after they have been encapsulated with resin and the resin has cured. The clamping jig clamps the TQFPs in between the bottom and upper plate with a slight force. The TQFPs remain in the clamping jig until they have sufficiently cooled.

Abstract: A disc loading mechanism for a optical disc drive,. The loading mechanism includes a chassis, loader tray, a linear gear bar, lifter, motor, gear train, and a sub-chassis. The pivoting sub-chassis, which supports an optical reader, rotates around a fixed axis and has 1-degree of freedom. The loader tray is slidably attached to the chassis such that it can move from a fully out-position, the position where a disc would be loaded, to a fully in-position, the position where the optical reader would engage the disc. The linear gear bar has a long rigid body with gear teeth along the length of its body. It is slidably attached to the loader tray and performs multiple functions including facilitating the movement of the loader tray, the lifting of the sub-chassis, and the timing of the loading mechanism.

Abstract: An improved cylinder head-suction muffler assembly includes a suction muffler (2), a cylinder head (1), a capillary tube (7) and a self-latching clip (5). The suction muffler (2), has a suction tube (3) with a mounting block (14) and a capillary tube holder (13), and the cylinder head (1) has a suction plenum (4) and an extended portion (6) with a pair of channels (10). The self-latching clip (5) is mounted on the mounting block (14) and in the channels (10) to secure the suction muffler (2) assembly to the cylinder head (1). The self-latching clip (5) has a narrow portion (9), a wide portion (11), and a pair of bent ends (12). To couple the suction muffler (2) to the cylinder head (1) the suction tube (3) is inserted into the suction plenum (4). The capillary tube (7) is positioned in the capillary tube holder (13) and the narrow portion (9) of the self-latching clip (5) is mounted on the mounting block (14) and over the capillary tube (7) and a wide portion (11) is placed in the channels (10).

Abstract: A BGA mould assembly which can facilitate high degree of control over the clamping force on BGA substrates of varying thickness. An Independent drive is provided for each of the dual in-line cavity bars which clamp the BGA substrates. The drive mechanism is a wedge press which includes a servo motor, and a linear-conversion mechanism coupled to the servo motor to convert the rotation motion of the motor to a linear movement. An input wedge is coupled to the linear-conversion mechanism such that the input wedge moves correspondingly with the linear movement of the linear conversion mechanism. An output wedge is coupled to the cavity bar and positioned such that a horizontal movement by the input wedge causes the output wedge to move downwards. A roller cage is provided at the top and bottom of the input wedge to reduce friction.

Abstract: An apparatus for stirring which allows automatic coupling of the motor assembly with the stirring shaft. The apparatus comprises a housing, a detachable stirring shaft with an engagement head, and a motor assembly. The motor assembly is fixed onto the housing, and includes a cam assembly having a coupling shaft coupled to a cam device. The cam assembly is adapted to provide an engagement position and a disengagement position of the coupling shaft. The engagement position allows the coupling shaft to engage the stirring shaft when the stirring shaft is placed in a receiving position. A set of gears allows the translation of rotary movement of a motor into the rotating action of the coupling shaft.

Abstract: A system and method for pre-calibrating a CD-ROM drive for each CD-ROM disc inserted into the drive for maximizing the drive's performance without degradation in data transmission. When a CD-ROM disc is inserted, the disc is rotated to its maximum speed. The system reads a predetermined data segment from the inner most region of the disc. If error is detected, then the speed is lowered until no errors are encountered. The error-free speed is then chosen as the operating speed for the disc. In another embodiment, the disc is separated into multiple zones. The system calibrates each of the zones for its particular maximum error-free speed, and selects the error-free speed as the operating speed for the zone.

Abstract: A shaftless roller for lead forming apparatus for scratch-free, precision forming of leads on a semiconductor device. The shaftless roller includes a semi-cylindrical cavity disposed in the lead forming apparatus. A cylindrical rod is rotatably fitted into the cavity such that more than fifty percent but less than one hundred percent of the rod is inside the cavity. The roller further includes a plurality of slots leading into the cavity for facilitating self-cleaning action, and an air passage adapted for delivering pressured air into the cavity to serve as air bearing for the cylindrical rod.

Abstract: An apparatus for facilitating zero-insertion of a burn-in test probe having a probe head. The zero-insertion apparatus includes a triggering mechanism, a pressing mechanism, and a sensor which are disposed within the burn-in test probe to facilitate a damage-free insertion of the probe head into an IC socket having a zero-insertion rim. As the probe head is inserted into the socket, the pressing mechanism, being in its locked position, compresses the zero-insertion rim which retracts the socket contacts to allow the probe head to enter the socket unencumbered. When the head is completely in the socket, the sensor becomes actuated. The actuated sensor allows a user to then unlock the pressing mechanism which causes the zero-insertion rim to spring back to its original, undepressed position. The socket contacts revert back to their undepressed position and solid contact is made between the probe head and the contacts.

Abstract: The present invention has at least a continuous belt or chain, a sliding bar, at least two drivers--one for moving and driving the belt--, and a plurality of constraining rollers for guiding the belt around all the other components such that the portion of the belt between the rollers and the extreme ends of the sliding bar is substantially parallel thereto. Suction cups or grippers disposed at regular intervals along the belt and having distance which is greater or equal to that of the tray pitch and frame pitch picks up outputs from a packaging system and places such outputs into carrier trays. The sliding bar accommodates automaticaly troy change without interrupting the operating of the packaging system. By matching the flow of outputs from packaging system with that of the offloading trays, space economy is achieved without requiring modification to existing packaging systems.

Abstract: The present invention describes a circuit for performing high speed forward Scaled Discrete Cosine Transform (SDCT) and inverse Scaled Discrete Cosine Transform (ISDCT) in pipeline architecture which is ideally, but not exclusively, used for compressing and decompressing large volume image data in real time. A high throughput of image data transform and inverse transform is achieved with a relatively slow internal clock. The four stage pipeline architecture of the present invention requires no more than five multipliers in rendering either the forward SDCT or inverse SDCT coefficients. The lower-order SDCT's for either the forward or the inverse direction are imbedded in the higher-order forward SDCT or inverse SDCT respectively. By taking advantage of the recursive properties of the SDCT's, a larger size SDCT can be always implemented by using a combination of variants of smaller size SDCT.

Abstract: The present invention describes an improved cylinder head-suction muffler assembly which minimizes the fabrication and installation process of the same. The improved cylinder head-suction muffler assembly comprises a suction muffler, a capillary tube and a cylinder head. The cylinder head has only one conical bore for receiving a similarly shaped muffler tube of the suction muffler. A capillary tube clip is integrated with the muffler tube for receiving and securing the capillary tube to the cylinder head-suction muffler assembly. The procedure of installing the new cylinder head-suction muffler is simplified to two steps: (1) inserting the suction muffler into the cylinder head and (2) inserting the capillary tube into the suction muffler by securing it to the capillary tube clip. As such, material cost and processing steps are minimized.

Abstract: An automatic video content parser for parsing video shots such that they are represented in their native media and retrievable based on their visual contents. This system provides methods for temporal segmentation of video sequences into individual camera shots using a novel twin-comparison method. The method is capable of detecting both camera shots implemented by sharp break and gradual transitions implemented by special editing techniques, including dissolve, wipe, fade-in and fade-out; and content-based key frame selection of individual shots by analyzing the temporal variation of video content and selecting a key frame once the difference of content between the current frame and a preceding selected key frame exceeds a set of preselected thresholds.