Patents Examined by Minh Trinh
  • Patent number: 7032298
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an apparatus for replacing a defective PCB unit formed on a PCB panel with a nondefective PCB unit, in which the location of the nondefective PCB unit disposed on a location correcting table is corrected by a location correcting driver via the location correcting data read by a vision camera, realizing a precise alignment in replacing the defective PCB unit without using a precise mechanical jig.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2006
    Assignee: PCB Plus, Inc.
    Inventor: Tae-Myung Sin
  • Patent number: 7032305
    Abstract: A method of mounting electrical component assemblies on opposite sides of a printed circuit card including inserting a chock on a first side of the printed circuit card; inserting a standoff and placing a spring around each standoff; pressing the chock against the printed circuit card; mounting a first electrical component assembly on a second side of the printed circuit card; placing a package tool having a plurality of springs on a horizontal support so that when the first mounted electrical component assembly is placed inside the package tool the springs of the package tool come into contact with the first electrical component assembly; removing the chock from the printed circuit card such that the springs of the package tool compensate for the weight of the first electrical component assembly inside the package tool; and mounting a second electrical component assembly on the first side of the printed circuit card.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2006
    Assignee: Bull, S.A.
    Inventors: Claude Petit, Thierry Fromont
  • Patent number: 7028388
    Abstract: The method of manufacturing a magnetic head is capable of correctly setting a raw bar, which includes small sliders, on to a supporting jig, machining the raw bars precisely and improving yield of manufacturing sliders. The method comprises the steps of forming a magnetizable layer, on a surface of a substrate whose thickness is greater than a length of said slider; and cutting said wafer into a raw bar after forming the layers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2006
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventor: Motoichi Watanuki
  • Patent number: 7028391
    Abstract: An apparatus for performing operations on at least one surface of an electronic substrate having a first surface and a second surface includes a frame, a transportation system that moves the substrate through the apparatus, a substrate support system, coupled to the frame, having a non-rigid portion that contacts and supports the substrate during an operation on the substrate, wherein the non-rigid portion allows flexure of the substrate before and during the performance of an operation on the substrate, and a device coupled to the frame that performs an operation on a surface of the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2006
    Assignee: Speedline Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Gerald Pham-Van-Diep, John E. Morini
  • Patent number: 7028397
    Abstract: A semiconductor chip, substrate employing plural bonding steps to ensure complete bonding particularly of peripheral edges. Embodiments include placing an adhesive layer on a chip mounting substrate positioned on a first supporting device, pressing a semiconductor chip against the chip mounting substrate to bond the semiconductor chip temporarily to the chip mounting substrate temporarily bonded chip on a second supporting device, and applying chip to straighten warpage and to bond the chip entirely to the chip mounting substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2006
    Assignee: Renesas Technology Corp.
    Inventors: Shunichi Abe, Tetsuya Uebayashi, Naoki Izumi, Akira Yamazaki
  • Patent number: 7024737
    Abstract: A simple method for passivation of a component is presented which is particularly suitable for processing high-viscosity plastics. The component is arranged in a preproduced plastic body and is connected to the body. This method is proposed for the production of a piezoactuator arrangement, which is utilized for controlling injection valves in internal-combustion engines. The plastic consists of solid silicone and/or fluorinated silicone elastomer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2006
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Carsten Schuh, Wilhelm Hekele
  • Patent number: 7020954
    Abstract: An apparatus for placing a semiconductor chip as a flipchip on a substrate has a flip device for flipping the semiconductor chip. The flip device is formed as a parallelogram construction which consists of a support bracket, a first and a second swivel arm and a connecting arm. A chip gripper is arranged on the connecting arm. A drive system serves the back and forth movement of the parallelogram construction between a first limit position where the chip gripper accepts the semiconductor chip and a second limit position where the chip gripper places the semiconductor chip on the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2006
    Assignee: ESEC Trading SA
    Inventors: Dominik Hartmann, Ruedi Grueter
  • Patent number: 7017259
    Abstract: A housing-remover tool for a press-fit connector. The tool including shoulder part pressers for pressing the shoulder parts of pin-shaped terminals, each shoulder part presser having a hollow part for receiving a pin part of the pin-shaped terminal and a cut-away part at a leading end for engaging with the shoulder part; a first sub-assembly for insertion inside a housing of the connector and provided with through-holes for receiving the shoulder part pressers; and a second sub-assembly having a pair of engagement members having engaging protrusions which can engage with stepped parts of the housing and a lifting portion for lifting the engagement members along the side surfaces of the first sub-assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2006
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventor: Fumio Aoki
  • Patent number: 7017258
    Abstract: A system for mounting heatsinks, in particular, high-mass heatsinks, on printed circuit boards, such as motherboards. The mounting system includes a backplate, disposed beneath the motherboard, with pins protruding up through the motherboard, and a linkage assembly, which is fixably attached to a base portion of a heatsink assembly. The linkage assembly includes scoops, for grasping the pins during engagement, and a ratcheting system, for compressing the heatsink and thermal interface material onto the package. The mounting system is designed to effectively distribute the heatsink weight, as well as the forces caused by chronic and dynamic stresses, through, rather than upon the motherboard, such as to a chassis. The mounting system thus alleviates stress cracks, component pullout, solderball stress, and other damaging conditions to the motherboard. The mounting system may be engaged and disengaged without the use of tools.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2006
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Michael Z. Eckblad, Mark W. Anderson
  • Patent number: 7017256
    Abstract: Apparatus and method for producing a jacketed antenna, especially a mobile telephone antenna for motor vehicles, where the jacket is formed about antenna conductive parts in a mold. The mold having a centering pin for insertion in an antenna base body having a mating hole, and an antenna receiving portion attached to the base body so as to be aligned and centered in the mold by the centering pin to assure that the antenna conductive parts are completely encased in the jacketing material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2006
    Assignee: Hirshmann Electronics GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Christian Joly, Tobias Kleinert
  • Patent number: 7013564
    Abstract: A method of producing an electronic device by connecting a lead of a semiconductor device with an electrode of a circuit board to form a bonded structure. In the bonded structure, a lead-free Sn—Ag—Bi alloy solder is applied to an electrode through an Sn—Bi alloy layer. The Sn—Bi alloy, preferably, comprises 1 to 20 wt % Bi in order to obtain good wettability of the solder. In order to obtain desirable bonding characteristics having higher reliability in the invention, a copper layer is provided under the Sn—Bi alloy layer thereby obtaining an enough bonding strength.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2006
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hanae Shimokawa, Tasao Soga, Hiroaki Okudaira, Toshiharu Ishida, Tetsuya Nakatsuka, Yoshiharu Inaba, Asao Nishimura
  • Patent number: 7013557
    Abstract: A method of packaging an electronic component having electrodes soldered on lands on a printed circuit board uses a mask pattern that corresponds to the lands onto which solder paste is deposited. Solder paste is printed on the lands using the mask which has a convex shape such that the edges of the solder paste lie inside the edges of the lands. The electrodes are then placed on the solder paste, and the solder paste is caused to reflow to solder the electrodes to the lands.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2006
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroshi Sakai, Motoji Suzuki, Makoto Igarashi, Akihiro Tanaka
  • Patent number: 7013563
    Abstract: A method for testing opening patterns in an active area of a PCB wherein two arrays of test patterns of apertured pads are analyzed following drilling therethrough in accordance with a specified manner. Specifically, the outer patterns are first tested and if failure results in one or more of said patterns, an inner array of patterns closer to the active area are then tested and, significantly, only the respective test pattern nearest the associated array of openings is used to determine whether said array of openings meets the designated spacing criteria.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2006
    Assignee: Endicott Interconnect Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: John Durkot
  • Patent number: 7013559
    Abstract: The present invention features a novel design for forming a fiducial and pin one indicator that utilizes a single solder resist opening in a die mounting substrate to perform the combined functions of prior art fiducials and pin one indicators. Methods of fabricating a carrier substrate and fabricating a semiconductor device package using the combination pin one indicator and alignment fiducial of the present invention are also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2006
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Brad D. Rumsey, Matt E. Schwab
  • Patent number: 7010853
    Abstract: An electric-component mounting system for mounting a plurality of electric components onto a circuit board. The system includes a plurality of electric-component mounting units which are arranged in a predetermined direction with a spacing distance between each adjacent pair of the electric-component mounting units. Each of the electric-component mounting units includes (a) a board holding device which is capable of holding the circuit board in a predetermined position, (b) a component mounting device which is capable of mounting the electric components onto the circuit board held by the board holding device, and (c) a component supplying device which is capable of supplying the electric components to the component mounting device. The system further includes a spacing-distance changing device capable of changing the spacing distance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2006
    Assignee: Fuji Machine Mfg. Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Kunio Oe
  • Patent number: 7010854
    Abstract: Methods of fabricating an array of aligned microstructures on a substrate are disclosed. The microstructures may be spring contacts or other microelements. The methods disclosed include construction of an alignment substrate, alignment of die elements with the alignment substrate, and fixation of the aligned die elements to a backing substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2006
    Assignee: FormFactor, Inc.
    Inventors: Benjamin N. Eldridge, Gaetan L. Mathieu
  • Patent number: 7007381
    Abstract: A method for attaching an electric conductor to an electrically conductive terminal. The electric conductor comprises a wire and a cladding surrounding the wire. The wire has an exposed end portion extending from an end of the cladding. The method comprises placing a sleeve over the electric conductor. The sleeve is of an electrically insulative material. The method further includes positioning the exposed end portion of the wire adjacent the terminal, securing the exposed end portion of the wire to a first portion of the terminal in a manner so that the exposed end portion of the wire is mechanically secured to and electrically coupled to the terminal, moving the sleeve along the electric conductor to a position in which a portion of the sleeve is adjacent the terminal, and securing the sleeve to a second portion of the terminal in a manner so that the sleeve is mechanically secured to the terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2006
    Assignee: Emerson Electric Co.
    Inventors: Chuck Peters, William Riggs, John H. Hussey, Vincent P. Fargo
  • Patent number: 7000308
    Abstract: A method of constructing a rotor for a gyroscopic device is provided comprising fabricating a unitary assembly comprising a rim, a hollow shaft, a hub at each end of the shaft, a web that extends radially inward from the rim to one of the hubs at an angle to a spin axis of the rotor and machining the assembly. A second web may be welded between the rim and the second hub.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2006
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Stephen E. Fiske, Robert E. Winkel
  • Patent number: 7000314
    Abstract: A method for providing electrical signal transmission and a secure mechanical attachment in a flexible circuit assembly. The inventive mechanism combines the electrical features of discrete wiring with the mechanical features of etched pads connected to plated vias on flex circuits in order to achieve robustness in both the mechanical and electrical properties. A discrete wire is preferably securely bonded to a conductive pad which pad is then securely attached to a plated via. In this manner, the sequence of connections is made mechanically secure by either ultrasonically bonding or welding the discrete wire to the pad and employing the traditionally robust connection between the pad and the via. The arrangement achieves high quality electrical signal transmission by employing discrete wiring for signal transmission along any path of significant length.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2006
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, LP.
    Inventor: Terrel L. Morris
  • Patent number: 7000315
    Abstract: An out-of-plane micro-structure which can be used for on-chip integration of high-Q inductors and transformers places the magnetic field direction parallel to the substrate plane without requiring high aspect ratio processing. The photolithographically patterned coil structure includes an elastic member having an intrinsic stress profile. The intrinsic stress profile biases a free portion away from the substrate forming a loop winding. An anchor portion remains fixed to the substrate. The free portion end becomes a second anchor portion which may be connected to the substrate via soldering or plating. A series of individual coil structures can be joined via their anchor portions to form inductors and transformers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2006
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher L. Chua, Francesco Lemmi, Koenraad F. Van Schuylenbergh, Jeng Ping Lu, David K. Fork, Eric Peeters, Decai Sun, Donald L. Smith, Linda T. Romano