Abstract: An apparatus and method for conducting pull testing of the wires and wire bonds of an electronic apparatus in which a bond wire is engaged by a hook, and the force with which that wire is urged to move away from the hook is measured as the force required to maintain the hook stationary.

Abstract: Semiautomatic threading of bonding wire into the guide hole of a wire bonding tool is accomplished by holding the end of the wire in a reference position while its standing part is disposed in the wire feed mechanism of the machine and by activating the feed mechanism after the tool and work positioning mechanism of the machine have placed the bonding tool in line with the wire proximate to the wire end. A preferred apparatus for holding the end of the wire in place is a structure which forms a ledge and has a notch in the edge of that ledge.

Abstract: A workpiece heater suitable for use in heating electronic micro circuitry while minimizing work displacement as an incident to expansion and contraction of the structural components of the heater employs a rotatable work table and a heater disposed to heat the table by radiation. The table is mounted on a shaft supported against axial movement by a tapered bearing. The bearing is pre-loaded by a spring arranged to urge the shaft against the bearing. That structural arrangement is combined with the use of elongated elements and reflecting shields to minimize heat transfer to the mechanism by which the worktable shaft is rotated.

Abstract: To permit accomplishment of wire bonding at a depth that precludes the use of the conventional clamp adjacent to the bonding tool, a new tool is provided which includes a means for preventing bowing of the wire and a method of using such a tool which substantially obviates any need to feed wire by pushing. The bond is completed at the second circuit point after a special motion which pays out a length of wire sufficient to maintain a loop of wire between the first and second bond points. Another special motion breaks the wire after the second bond and positions and shapes the wire end for making another initial bond.

Abstract: Conventional mechanical positioning in which an input member is moved in a position field which is an enlarged representation of the output position field and conventional motorized positioning in which distance is represented by time of travel are modified and combined. The result is a method, and apparatus, in which movement but not position are represented mechanically on a field which represents any portion of the output field at which the output element is positioned. Input motion and direction are converted to digital or time duration signals. The result is apparent motion of the output element along whatever line is traversed mechanically by an input element. Input motion may be introduced at variable velocity. The input is introduced much as it is in a pantograph system but, unlike the pantograph system, the field of input motion is not a reproduction of the output motion field but represents, instead, any portion of the output field.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus is provided by which automatic or semi-automatic processing of integrated and printed circuit devices can be accomplished notwithstanding that the points at which processing must be accomplished have been displaced from their assigned positions by translation and rotation. The method involves measurement of displacement of some circuit points from their designated positions in a specified sequence. That is coupled with a physical positioning and orientation of the device relative to the process apparatus and with approximate calculation. An apparatus is disclosed by which the measurements, sequence of measurements, orientation, and computation required can be accomplished.