Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Campbell et al. US 2022/0128599 A1 in view of Thobe et al. US 2020/0070350 A1.
Campbell teaches:
1. A method executed by a controller in a system for handling a semiconductor device, the method comprising:
moving a pick-and-place (PNP) head in the system to an approximate location of the semiconductor device in a tray, [para. 0007, “The test system may include trays having cells for holding at least one of DUTs to be tested or DUTs that have been tested. The pickers may be configured to pick the DUTs to be tested from the trays and to place the DUTs to be tested in the test sockets, and to pick the DUTs that have been tested from the test sockets and to place the DUTs that have been tested into the trays.”]
the approximate location determined from a tray template stored in the system, the tray template comprising a virtual representation of the tray; [para. 0037, “For a tray or each tray, the control system may be configured to perform a comparison based on 3D data for the tray and a predefined model of the model of the tray. For a tray or each, the control system may be configured to compare a representation of the tray based on the 3D data to a predefined model of the tray.”]
automatically capturing an image of the semiconductor device in the tray using a camera in the PNP head; [para. 0037, “The scanner may include a 3D scanner mounted on a linear motorized axis over the trays. In some implementations, a 3D camera may replace the 3D scanner.” And para. 0157, “Camera 107 is configured and controllable to move linearly across the gantry beam along with the pickers. Although only one such camera is shown in the figures, the test system may include more than one such camera. For example, there may be one camera per picker.”]
Campbell does not teach the following limitation, however, Thobe teaches:
comparing the image to a device template stored in the system, the device template comprising a virtual representation of the semiconductor device; [para. 0013, “On the basis of the model, the control device may thereby control the handling device to move the object to the focusing region according to a trajectory. In particular, the control device uses the model to compute and/or determine the trajectory and/or the path along which the handling device needs to move the object into the focusing region.”]
Campbell further teaches:
identifying a center of the semiconductor device based on the comparing; [para. 0142, “For example, the arms of the pickers may be controlled to move each nozzle to a center of its respective target socket or DUT to ensure that each picker places its DUT at the center of the target socket or picks-up the DUT at its center.”] and
moving a PNP nozzle in the PNP head to the identified center of the semiconductor device [para. 0142, “For example, the arms of the pickers may be controlled to move each nozzle to a center of its respective target socket or DUT to ensure that each picker places its DUT at the center of the target socket or picks-up the DUT at its center.”].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the time of filing to combine the teachings of Thobe with those of Campbell. A person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the teachings because Thobe teaches that storing a model of the object to be inspected/handled is useful to move the object into a focusing region. (See para. 0013).
Campbell teaches:
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
identifying an angular misalignment of the semiconductor device in the tray based on the comparing, the angular misalignment relative to a socket of a printed circuit board; [para. 0171, picker uses 3D data to pick up device in tray cell] and
rotating the PNP nozzle to remove the angular misalignment after picking up the semiconductor device from the tray with the PNP nozzle. [para. 0139, rotatable arm 102]
Campbell teaches:
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating the tray template, wherein:the tray template comprises a plurality of rows and columns, and the approximate location of the semiconductor device is determined by an intersection of a specific row and a specific column in the tray template. [para. 0188, rows and columns used for alignment]
Campbell teaches:
4. The method of claim 3, wherein generating the tray template further comprises classifying subsets of the rows and the columns into different zones. [para. 0121; subsets of test devices of different sizes shapes have different pitches]
Campbell teaches:
5. The method of claim 1, wherein:the center of the semiconductor device at the approximate location represents a first active position of the PNP head, a second active position of the PNP head is at a socket on a printed circuit board, the socket is represented virtually by a socket template stored in the system, with the second active position being represented as a center of the socket template, and the method further comprises picking up the semiconductor device and moving the PNP head with the semiconductor device to the center of the socket template. [para. 0142, PNP arm places DUT into center of socket using vision system]
Cambell teaches:
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising converting pixels in the captured image to linear dimensions using a calibrated optical marker. [para. 0171, “The control system may be configured to process the 3D data to determine the X, Y, and Z coordinates of, and yaw information for, a cell containing a device by taking into account the known structure of the cell, such as its four corners.”]
Campbell teaches:
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the calibrated optical marker comprises shapes having known dimensions. [para. 0171, “The control system may be configured to process the 3D data to determine the X, Y, and Z coordinates of, and yaw information for, a cell containing a device by taking into account the known structure of the cell, such as its four corners.”]
Campbell teaches:
8. The method of claim 1, wherein:the PNP head moves by action of an actuator in the system, and the method further comprises converting linear distance traveled by the PNP head to rotations of the actuator using a calibration plate. [para. 0171, “The control system may be configured to process the 3D data to determine the X, Y, and Z coordinates of, and yaw information for, a cell containing a device by taking into account the known structure of the cell, such as its four corners.”]
Campbell teaches:
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the calibration plate comprises precisely measured locations at known distances from each other. [para. 0171, “The control system may be configured to process the 3D data to determine the X, Y, and Z coordinates of, and yaw information for, a cell containing a device by taking into account the known structure of the cell, such as its four corners.”]
Campbell teaches:
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the tray template is correlated with the tray using a plurality of reference points on the tray. [para. 0171, “The control system may be configured to process the 3D data to determine the X, Y, and Z coordinates of, and yaw information for, a cell containing a device by taking into account the known structure of the cell, such as its four corners.”]
Regarding apparatus claims 11-15, these claims recite the functions for an apparatus executing the method steps above in claims 1-10 and are rejected on the same grounds and rationale as corresponding claims above.
Regarding method claim 16, this claim recites the limitations as method claim 1 above and in addition recites the steps of, “moving a thermo-mechanical (TM) subsystem to the socket; exerting pressure on the semiconductor device by the TM subsystem; informing the tester that the semiconductor device is ready for testing; receiving instructions from the tester that the testing is completed; moving the TM subsystem away from the socket;” The Campbell reference teaches the use of a TEC to control temperature of devices under test while in the socket. (para. 0051-0057). And para. 0198 teaches that the adjustable heaters can be “embedded in or placed on, the cold plate” (Emphasis added.)
Regarding method claims 17-20, these method claims recite the steps for adjusting alignment of PNP as method claims above and are rejected on the same grounds and rationale as corresponding claims 1-10 above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GARY COLLINS whose telephone number is (571)270-0473. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 1-930PM EST.
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/GARY COLLINS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2115
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