Aesop Corporation

Kinetrix, Inc.

Luis A Muller

Alexander H Slocum, Jr

Daniel J Braunstein

R Scott Ziegenhagen, Ii

Richard W Slocum, Iii

An integral unit for use in testing semiconductor components. The unit is designed to manipulate either packaged semiconductor components or semiconductor wafers and present them to a test head. It provides significant space savings because it replaces the need for separate prober, handler and tester units. The integrated unit includes a positioning mechanism with a tool plate that can be changed to grasp either a semiconductor wafer or a tray of semiconductor components. The tool plate uses a vacuum plate. To hold a tray of semiconductor parts, the vacuum plate has numerous independently operable holes. Each hole is positioned behind one semiconductor component and can be engaged or released separately so that the components can be sorted into separate output bins. To hold a wafer, the tool plate has an extendible tongue member that can be inserted into a stack of semiconductor wafers to pick up one wafer in the stack. One disclosed positioning mechanism is a hexapod unit, which, due to its light weight, allows fast and accurate positioning of the semiconductor devices. Multiple positioning mechanisms are used in some instances to increase throughput.

Integrated prober, handler and tester for semiconductor components

A semiconductor chip tray holding chips in individual bins that can each be independently moved with six degrees of freedom. The bins are held in the tray with a flexural bearing system. The flexural bearing system centers the chips at a nominal position allows compliant motion of the bins. The flexural bearing system is made of four beams, with pairs joined at right angles through flexural bearings.

Integrated circuit tray with flexural bearings

A novel flexural mount kinematic coupling apparatus and technique in which a pair of surfaces is deterministically kinematically coupled with repeatable accuracy of positioning with respect to one another and an intermediate plane between, and with guided compliance provided by flexural, rolling or sliding bearing elements to permit translational clamping in a direction normal to the plane that brings the surfaces into contact without positional error motions between the surfaces.

Growing community of inventors

Cambridge, MA, United States of America

Luis A Muller