The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 18, 2003
Filed:
Jul. 08, 1999
Mark T. Paulsen, Chanhassen, MN (US);
Franz W. Ulrich, Minneapolis, MN (US);
PPT Vision, Inc., Eden Prairie, MN (US);
Abstract
Manufacturing lines include inspection systems for monitoring the quality of parts produced. Manufacturing lines for making semiconductor devices generally inspect each fabricated part. The information obtained is used to fix manufacturing problems in the semiconductor fab plant. A machine-vision system for inspecting devices includes a light source for propagating light to the device and an image detector that receives light from the device. The devices, such as semiconductors, are placed in trays for inspection at one or more inspection stations. A compartment for holding a plurality of trays is positioned near a first inspection station having a first inspection surface. An elevator elevates one of the trays from the compartment and presents the tray and the devices held by the tray to the first inspection surface. After being inspected at a first station, a tray-transfer device moves the tray from the first inspection station to a flipper mechanism. The flipper mechanism includes two jaws and a rotator. The flipper mechanism turns the devices over and places the devices in a second tray so that another surface of the device can be inspected. A second tray-transfer device moves the second tray from the flipper to a second inspection station. If a device in the tray fails inspection, a picker removes that bad device from the tray and replaces it with a device that previously passed inspection.