Method of and apparatus for monitoring a ball forming process
AssigneeAsm Technology Singapore Pte Ltd
InventorsMichael Armin Boller, Yam Mo Wong, Baskaran Annamalai, Honghai Zhu
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Abstract
A method of monitoring a ball forming process in a wire bonder. A glow discharge parameter between an electrode on the wire bonder and an end of a wire mounted on the wire bonder on which the ball is being formed is monitored. The monitored parameter is compared with a reference value to determine whether the ball formed is satisfactory.
Claims10
A method of monitoring a ball forming process in a wire bonder, the method comprising the steps of:
- monitoring the glow discharge between an electrode on the wire bonder and an end of a wire mounted on the wire bonder on which the ball is being formed,
- comparing a parameter of the glow discharge with a reference value;
- and
- determining from such comparison whether the ball formed is of a correct size.
A method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the ball formation process is divided into a number of time intervals and the glow discharge parameter during each time interval is integrated over each time interval, and for each time interval each integrated value is compared with a first reference value.
Apparatus for monitoring the formation of a bail on an end of a wire in a wire bonder comprising:
- a detector which is operative to detect a parameter of a glow discharge between an electrode on the wire bonder and an end of a wire during the bail formation of a ball;
- and
- a signal processor coupled to the detectors,
- the signal processor being operative to compare an output signal from the detector with a reference value, and to determine from such comparison whether the ball formed is of a correct size.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.