Electronic component bonding machines, and methods of measuring a distance on such machines

An electronic component bonding machine comprising:

• a support structure for supporting a substrate;
• a bond head assembly for holding an electronic component, and for bonding the electronic component to the substrate;
• and
• a measuring system for measuring a profile related to parallelism between (i) an upper target on the electronic component bonding machine and (ii) a lower target on the electronic component bonding machine, the upper target including a portion of the bond head assembly or the electronic component, the lower target including a portion of the support structure or the substrate,
• the measuring system including (a) an optical source for providing an optical signal, (b) an optical assembly connected to the optical source, the optical assembly including an optical element for splitting the optical signal into an upper optical signal directed toward the upper target and a lower optical signal directed toward the lower target, the optical assembly providing a recombined optical signal, the recombined optical signal including the lower optical signal reflected from the lower target and the upper optical signal reflected from the upper target, (c) an optical sensor connected to the optical assembly for receiving the recombined optical signal from the optical assembly, and (d) a computer in communication with the optical sensor to determine the profile using a plurality of distances measured using the recombined optical signal at a plurality of XY locations of the electronic component bonding machine.

A method of measuring a profile related to parallelism on an electronic component bonding machine, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) splitting an optical signal using an optical element of an optical assembly, the optical signal being split into an upper optical signal directed toward an upper target of an electronic component bonding machine and a lower optical signal directed toward a lower target of the electronic component bonding machine, the upper target including a portion of a bond head assembly of the electronic component bonding machine or an electronic component carried by the bond head assembly, the lower target including a portion of a support structure of the electronic component bonding machine or a substrate supported by the support structure;
• (b) receiving, at an optical sensor, a recombined optical signal, the recombined optical signal including the upper optical signal reflected from the upper target and the lower optical signal reflected from the lower target, the recombined optical signal having been recombined by the optical assembly;
• (c) analyzing the recombined optical signal to determine a distance between the upper target and the lower target;
• and
• (d) determining the profile using a plurality of distances measured using the recombined optical signal at a plurality of XY locations of the electronic component bonding machine.