Ball mounting apparatus with ball attach volume control
AssigneeTexas Instruments Incorporated
InventorsChen Chao, Bo Jiang, Wei Li, Jie Chen, Ruijie Huang, Liang Zheng, Qi Ming Bao, Bin Liu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An integrated circuit (IC) solder ball mounting apparatus comprises a ball storage unit for storing solder balls, a ball buffer unit configured to receive the solder balls from the ball storage unit in response to one or more pressure-actuated actions, and a gate valve configured to allow the solder balls to transfer to a ball mounting brush configured to place the solder balls onto area array contact structures formed on a wafer containing the integrated circuit.
Claims15
An integrated circuit solder ball mounting apparatus, comprising:
- a ball storage unit for storing solder balls;
- a ball buffer unit configured to receive the solder balls from the ball storage unit in response to one or more pressure-actuated actions;
- and
- a gate valve configured to simultaneously release the solder balls from the ball buffer unit,
- wherein the ball storage unit is calibrated to hold a first fixed plurality of the solder balls and the ball buffer unit is calibrated to hold a second fixed plurality of the solder balls, the second fixed plurality greater than the first fixed plurality.
A solder ball transfer device, comprising:
- a path from a solder ball source to an intermediate solder ball storage volume;
- a gas flow path directly connected to the intermediate solder ball storage volume;
- and
- a solder ball buffer volume connected between the intermediate solder ball storage volume and an outlet valve, the solder ball buffer volume configured to receive solder balls from the intermediate solder ball storage volume via an upward sloping channel in response to one or more solder ball transfer events that include directing a gas flow to the intermediate solder ball storage volume,
- wherein the outlet valve is configured to simultaneously release the solder balls from the solder ball buffer volume, and
- wherein the intermediate solder ball storage volume, the solder ball buffer volume and the upward sloping channel are formed within a single material block forming the solder ball transfer device.
A machine, comprising:
- a ball storage unit for storing solder balls, the ball storage unit having a bottom at a first level;
- a ball buffer tank configured to receive the solder balls from the ball storage unit in response to a gas flow into the ball storage unit;
- and
- a gate valve at a second level below the first level, the gate valve configured to simultaneously release the solder balls from the ball buffer tank,
- wherein the ball storage unit is calibrated to hold a first fixed plurality of the solder balls and the ball buffer tank is calibrated to hold a second fixed plurality of the solder balls, the second fixed plurality greater than the first fixed plurality.
A machine, comprising:
- a ball storage unit for storing a plurality of solder balls, the ball storage unit having a bottom at a first level;
- a ball buffer tank configured to receive the plurality of solder balls from the ball storage unit in response to a gas flow into the ball storage unit;
- and
- a gate valve at a second level below the first level, the gate valve configured to simultaneously release the plurality of solder balls from the ball buffer tank,
- wherein the ball storage unit and the ball buffer tank are connected by an upward sloping channel, and the ball storage unit, the ball buffer tank and the upward sloping channel being machined in a single material block.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.