Custom Application - Wire Path Detection System for Microelectronic Circuit Manufacturing
This is an application where MNEMONICS designed a special purpose vision
system, the Wire Path Detection System (WPDS), to inspect wires on a hybrid
microelectronic circuit. A hybrid circuit may have numerous integrated
circuits as part of its functioning, and several hundred wires
interconnecting the device. These wires are very small, on the order of
0.001 inches (a human hair is on the order of 0.003 to 0.005 inches in
diameter).
The system software and hardware are interfaced to a standard,
non-destructive automated lead puller. The lead puller is a four-axis (x,
y, z, and angle) automation device that positions a small hook (about 0.005
inches in diameter) into the hybrid circuit, and then is required to grasp
one of the wires and apply tension to the wire to guarantee the wire has
been properly attached. The location of the wires in the hybrid circuit is
not know to enough precision for the wire puller to blindly drop the hook
into the package, grasp, and pull. MNEMONICS provided the WPDS that
consists of vision algorithms, software implementation, interface software,
and computer and vision hardware to automatically locate each wire (x, y,
and angle) in the hybrid package. After each wire is located (which takes
between ½ to 1 second per wire), the WPDS provides the information to the
lead puller which positions the micro-hook, rotates the hook correctly, and
then pulls each wire (non-destructively). On a hybrid device with several
hundred wires, as long as thirty minutes may be needed to pull test the
wires. Without MNEMONICS' vision automation as an integral part of the
system, the inspection task would have been much more costly and far less
effective.
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