Abstract: In measuring the position of a bonding tool accurately in offset correction in a bonding apparatus, the tool is moved to approach a reference member, the tool is illuminated with a reference pattern by a laser diode, and the deviation between the reference member and tool in one horizontal direction is measured based upon the image of the reference pattern projected on the tool. A position detection camera images the tool in another horizontal direction, thus measuring the deviation of the tool and reference member. The position detection camera is moved to approach the reference member, and the deviation between the position detection camera and the reference member is measured by the position detection camera. The accurate offset amounts between the position detection camera and the tool are determined based upon these measured values and amounts of movement of the position detection camera and the tool.

Abstract: A die packing device including die holding mechanism comprising a connecting wire receiving shaft which is movable up and down, a pair of die holding levers which have die holding sections for holding the die and are installed so that these levers are free to open and close, and opening-and-closing levers that open and close the die holding levers. A die formed with connecting wires on its upper surface is pushed up by a die push-up device and the wires of to die come into contact with the connecting wire receiving shaft of the die holding mechanism. When the connecting wire receiving shaft is raised by a given amount by the upward movement of the die, the die holding levers are closed so that the die holding sections of the die holding levers are positioned beneath the undersurface of the die. Afterward, the push-up needles of the die push-up device are lowered, resulting in that the die is held by the die holding levers.

Abstract: A transducer for, for instance, a flip-chip bonding apparatus. The transducer has a passage that communicates between a piping attachment and a suction holding port that suction-holds an object to be processed (bonded); and in this transducer, an air pressure piping used for the suction is fastened to the piping attachment with a connecting member in between, and this connecting member made of foam styrol suppresses effects of reaction force of the air pressure piping.

Abstract: An XY table used in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus including lower (X table) fixed to an X movable element and an upper table (Y table) fixed to a Y movable element, in which the upper table (Y table) is supported movably in a Y direction and immovably in an X direction on the lower table (X table), the X movable element is immovable in the Y direction with respect to the X motor main body, the Y movable element is movable in the X direction with respect to the Y motor main body. Furthermore, the Y motor main body is provided with a permanent magnet that covers an entire region of movement of a magnetic action component (coils) of the Y movable element in the X direction.

Abstract: A wafer ring supplying and returning apparatus including a magazine that accommodates wafer rings, a jig holder that holds the wafer rings, a drier that causes contraction of the wafer sheets on used wafer rings, and a wafer chucking member that chucks and conveys the wafer rings, and the apparatus further including buffer sections having two (upper and lower) wafer supporting grooves that support wafer rings and a wafer pushing member disposed on or below the wafer chucking member so as to push the wafer rings. The wafer chucking member is disposed so as to face one of the wafer supporting grooves of the buffer sections, and the wafer pushing member is disposed so as to face another one of the wafer supporting grooves.

Abstract: A transducer vibrated by a vibrator and used in a bonding apparatus, the transducer including holding portions provided so as to protrude at at least two locations that correspond to the nodes of vibration of a transducer main body, and connecting portions each connecting the tip ends of two protruding holding portions to each other. The transducer main body, holding portions and connecting portions are integrally formed from a single material member.

Abstract: An offset measuring mechanism and method used in a bonding apparatus, in which the object plane of a position detection camera is set on a hypothetical bonding working plane, and the image of imaging elements within the imaging plane is projected onto a bonding working plane. Furthermore, the tip end of a bonding tool is aligned with the bonding working plane. The object plane of the offset measuring camera is set on the bonding working plane, and the image on the bonding working plane is projected onto the imaging elements of the imaging plane of the offset measuring camera. The imaging elements detect the projected image of the imaging elements of the position detection camera or the image of the tip end of the bonding tool and output this data to the image position measuring part or tool position measuring section of the control block.

Abstract: A straight rod form discharge electrode used in a wire bonding apparatus. The electrode core material is covered, except for its tip end, by an alumina film that has been subjected to a pore sealing treatment. The alumina film subjected to the pore sealing treatment is formed by a two-stage process. In the first-stage, an alumina film having a porous structure is formed on the surface of the electrode core material for the thickness of approximately 6 &mgr;m by plasma flame coating method or anodic oxidation method; and in the second-stage, the porous structure is subjected to a pore sealing treatment in which an alumina film is caused to adhere to the porous structure by laser PVD or a pore sealing treatment is performed with a resin.

Abstract: Wire bonding being performed by, following the formation of a neck portion on a wire at a first bonding point, raising the capillary from the neck portion while paying out a first specified length of wire, causing the capillary to move toward a second bonding point so that a first kink is formed on the wire, then lowering the capillary so that a second specified length of wire is taken into the capillary, and moving the capillary in the opposite direction from the second bonding point so as to form a second kink, and then raising the capillary, while paying out the wire, until the first kink is positioned at the lower end of the capillary, and finally, with the wire being is held in this state, moving the capillary to the second bonding point, thus completing a wire loop between the first and second bonding points.

Abstract: A plate-form member conveying apparatus that includes an upper claw and a lower claw for clamping a plate-form member in between from above and below and conveying the plate-form member, in which each of the upper claw and the lower claw is formed by a clamping plate made of an elastic material and brought into contact with an upper or lower surface of the plate-form member, and a claw holding plate and a claw counter plate that sandwich the clamping plate; and the clamping plate and claw holding plate are detachably fastened by bolts to the claw counter plate.

Abstract: In a semiconductor device, each of the leads is provided with guided-surfaces that are inclined surfaces and each of the bumps is provided with a recess that has guide-surfaces formed by inclined surfaces. The leads are smoothly guided toward the centers of the upper surfaces of the bumps with the aides of the inclined surfaces formed on the leads and bumps, so that the attitude of the leads is corrected and the leads are snugly brought into the recess and prevented form falling off of the bump.

Abstract: So as to form pin-form wires or bumps in wire bonding for, for instance, semiconductor devices, the length of a wire (or the tail length) extending from the lower end of a capillary is set longer than the wire length required for forming the ball that is formed in the next step, then the ball is formed on the tip end of the wire, notches are formed in the wire located between the ball and the capillary by a pair of cutters, the ball is bonded to, for instance, an electrode pad, and then the wire is pulled away from the electrode pad so as to cut the wire from the area where the notches are formed.

Abstract: A bonding apparatus that includes a bonding tool through which a wire passes and which performs bonding on a workpiece, a position detection camera which takes images of the workpiece, a reference member which is disposed in a specified position, and an optical assembly which conducts the image of the tool and reference member to the position detection camera. A lens used in the position detection camera and a lens installed in the optical assembly are arranged so that such lenses construct an afocal optical system.

Abstract: A wire bonding apparatus with a bonding head that includes an ultrasonic transducer having a capillary at its tip end, piezo-electric elements that form a pair of complementary action type extension and retraction driving elements which cause the ultrasonic transducer to move with respect to a transducer holder, an impact detection sensor, and a Z motor which drives the transducer holder. The piezo-electric elements are arranged so that when one of them is driven to extend, the other is driven to retract. When the impact detection sensor detects that the capillary is lowered by the Z motor and comes into contact with a bonding object (semiconductor chip), the driving of the Z motor is stopped, and the piezo-electric elements are driven to the directions of extension and retraction in a complementary manner, thus swinging the ultrasonic transducer and moving the capillary upward.

Abstract: A wire bonding apparatus having a capillary with a wire passing therethrough; and when the switch of a first direct-current high-voltage power supply is switched ON, a space discharge takes place between the tip end of the wire and a torch electrode, and the tip end of the wire is melted by the discharge, making a ball-form ball base. When the switch of a second high-voltage power supply is switched ON, a space discharge takes place between a pair of dissociated gas forming electrodes made of a coating material whose melting point is lower than that of the wire, so that a dissociated gas containing tin ions is formed. The ball base is positioned inside the dissociated gas, and thus, tin adheres to the surface of the ball base, and an initial ball with a low-melting-point coating material adhering to the surface is formed.

Abstract: An initial ball forming method for wire bonding wire and wire bonding apparatus that uses: a capillary through which a wire is passed; a torch electrode made of a low-melting-point material that contains, for instance, tin; and a direct-current high voltage power supply. When the direct-current high voltage power supply is turned ON, a space discharge occurs between the tip end of the wire and the torch electrode, resulting in that the wire tip end melts and is formed into a ball and that the tin of the torch electrode is also heated to a high temperature and diffused into space, so that ionized plus tin ions are attracted to the tip end of the melted wire, thus causing tin to adhere to the surface of the ball-shaped tip end of the wire, and forming an initial ball that has a low-melting-point coating material adhered to its surface.

Abstract: A wire bonding apparatus including a bonding tool that performs bonding on a bonding part, a position detection camera which has a lens barrel and images the bonding part, a light source which emits illuminating light downward through the lens barrel, and a light path conversion device that directs an image of an area near the lower end of the tool to the position detection camera. The light path conversion device includes a wavelength-selective filter that is provided so as to be within a light path of the image of the area near the lower end of the tool. The wavelength-selective filter allows illuminating light of the light path conversion device to pass therethrough but prevents the illuminating light from the lens barrel side from passing therethrough.

Abstract: A bonding apparatus including: a horn holder pivotably connected at a first connecting portion to a bonding head, an ultrasonic horn having a capillary and held in the horn holder, a linking arm pivotably connected at a second connecting portion to the horn holder and pivotably connected at a third connecting portion to the bonding head, and a driving motor that moves the first connecting portion horizontally or causes the third connecting portion to pivot; and a relationship L1=L2=L3 being established, in which L1 is a distance between the third connecting portion and the second connecting portion, L2 is a distance between the second connecting portion and the tip end of the capillary, and L3 is a distance between the second connecting portion and the first connecting portion.

Abstract: A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus including a wafer stage that carries a semiconductor wafer. The wafer stage is formed at its wafer carrying surface with a porous metal portion, thus allowing the attractive force arising from the Coulomb force between the wafer and wafer stage to be reduced and avoiding sticking of the wafer to the wafer stage.

Abstract: A retaining device for holding at a place a workpiece such as a lead frame including a pair of first slits formed so as to surround the bonding window opened in the retainer. Furthermore, second slits are formed so as to extend to the outside from the end portions of the first slits, thus forming first connecting areas; and third slits are formed on the outside of the second slits so as to be perpendicular to the first connecting areas, thus forming second connecting areas.