Wire bonding systems, wire replacement systems, and related methods

A wire bonding system comprising:

• a bond head assembly including a wire clamp, the bond head assembly being configured to carry a wire bonding tool, the wire clamp configured to switch between (i) allowing a wire supply to pass freely, and (ii) gripping the wire supply to prevent relative motion between the wire supply and the bond head assembly, the wire supply including a portion engaged with the wire bonding tool;
• a vision system;
• and
• a wire replacement system including a clamping mechanism, the clamping mechanism configured to (i) engage the wire supply with a threading portion in a closed potion to prevent the wire supply from moving relative to the clamping mechanism and (ii) allow the wire supply to pass through the clamping mechanism in an open position, the clamping mechanism including an image registration feature providing a reference for determining a position of the clamping mechanism, the image registration feature being an eye point, the vision system being configured to determine the position of the clamping mechanism by collecting an image of the image registration feature.

A wire bonding system comprising:

• a bond head assembly configured to carry a wire bonding tool, the bond head assembly including a wire clamp configured to switch between (i) allowing a wire supply to pass freely, and (ii) gripping the wire supply to prevent relative motion between wire supply and the bond head assembly, the wire supply including a portion engaged with the wire bonding tool;
• and
• a wire replacement system including a clamping mechanism, the clamping mechanism configured to (a) engage the wire supply with a threading portion in a closed position to prevent the wire supply from moving relative to the clamping mechanism and (b) allow the wire supply to pass through the clamping mechanism in an open position, the clamping mechanism also being configured for clamping the wire bonding tool to remove the wire bonding tool from the bond head assembly,
• wherein the wire replacement system engages the wire supply while the bond head assembly, including the wire bonding tool and the wire clamp in an open position, moves downward such that the wire supply passes through the wire bonding tool until the wire supply is fully removed from the wire bonding tool, and further wherein the wire replacement system engages the wire supply while the clamping mechanism moves downward to rethread the wire supply through another wire bonding tool.