Methods of and apparatus for bonding an article to a substrate

Abstract

A bonder for attaching in succession small articles such as electronic devices to substrates has eight stations located along the path of a rotary member. The rotary member supports eight holders for substrates which are moved in sequence from station to station. At a first station a substrate is loaded onto one of the holders. The holder is then moved to an alignment station and transferred from the support member to a planar manipulator. An optical alignment control system recognizes a position of the substrate on the holder and controls the manipulation of the holder to align a substrate to a predetermined reference axis. The holder is then transferred back to the support member to fix the position of the substrate with respect to the support member. At the next station an article is also aligned to a corresponding reference axis and then tack-bonded or preliminarily attached to a bond site on the substrate. The article is then permanently bonded and the substrate with the bonded article is unloaded at an unload station. Prior to the completion of the cycle, the substrate holder is recentered to a starting position to prevent cumulative movement of the substrate holder with respect to the support member.