Abstract: Electronic articles, such as beam-lead semiconductor chips are temporarily held on a tape to retain them in a predetermined order to facilitate handling them and bonding them to a substrate. The tape has a plurality of evenly spaced pedestals in one face thereof. The chips are mounted to the pedestals. Edge lugs extend from the other face of the tape. As the tape is wound onto a reel with chips mounted to the pedestals, the edge lugs on each portion of tape separate such portion from chips mounted on an adjacent layer of the tape. This prevents such portion of the tape, as it is wound onto the reel, from contacting and thereby damaging the chips.

Abstract: An apparatus aligns small articles, such as semiconductor chips, to a reference axis and loads them on predetermined sites of a carrier, such as a tape. The loading requires precisely positioning adhesive dots and the articles at the sites of the tape. Precision within desired limits is achieved by aligning both an applicator for applying the adhesive and the articles in sequence to a common centerline. The tape is maintained in contact with two diametrically opposed locations of an index wheel located on the common centerline. The index wheel is then reciprocated along the centerline to alternately apply adhesive to one of the sites on the tape and then load the aligned article to another one of the sites. An additional article is aligned to the centerline each time loading is completed of a previously aligned article to its respective site. The aligning facility is operated by a cam which controls the vertical position of a plunger and acts as a valving means for selective vacuum and air purge applications.

Abstract: Compliant bonding of successive beam-lead semiconductor devices to successive metallic patterns on substrates is accomplished with a bonding apparatus that uses an indexable compliant member. A bonding head of the apparatus is provided with a single movable tip which disengages from the compliant member during indexing of the member. The movable tip engages with a portion of the compliant member that is suspended between two drive sprockets when it is desired to perform a bonding operation. The engagement of the tip with the compliant member produces tension in the member. The tension results in a precise and flat configuration within the engaged portion of the member. The flat configuration enhances accurate alignment of workpieces to the compliant member.A toggle linkage is described as a desirable system for moving the bonding tip with respect to the head.