JPS6167240A - Auto-handler - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the time required for inspection, by providing a plurality of connector sections on a turntable circumferentially at the same regular pitch, and maintaining electrical conduction between a semiconductor integrated circuit device under measurement and measuring devices during the interrupted rotation of the turntable. CONSTITUTION:When an IC to be measured is introduced into a connector section 3 from a loader section 4, a turntable 11 is immediately rotated clockwise. In consequence, the connector section 3 which is first located at the position B is moved to the position A, and measurement of electrical characteristics of the IC by measuring devices 2 is started. The turntable 11 is intermittently rotated clockwise, and measurement is completed before the connector section 3 reaches the position C. When the connector section 3 reaches the position C, the IC in the connector section 3 is immediately discharged to an unloader section 5. The connector section 3 is then moved to the position B, and a new IC to be measurement is introduced into the connector section 3 from the loader section 4.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention is useful for testing the electrical characteristics of semiconductor integrated circuit devices (hereinafter abbreviated as IC) at high speed and continuously. This invention relates to an auto handler used to automatically establish electrical continuity between a device and a measuring device.

[Prior art and its problems]

Conventionally, in the IC inspection process, the time required for inspection has been shortened,
Several types of auto handlers are used for the purpose of labor saving. FIG. 2 shows a typical example of the configuration of a conventional auto handler.

The configuration of a conventional auto handler will be explained below using FIG. 2.

A conventional auto handler includes a connector part 3 connected to a measuring device 2 for measuring electrical characteristics through a connecting cable 1, a loader part 4 for introducing an IC to be measured into the connector part 3, and a connector part 3. I finished the measurement from part 3
an unloader part 5 that discharges C and classifies the ICs into good and defective products based on the measurement results; and a control part 6 that controls the operations of the connector part 3, the loader part 4, and the unloader part 5. It is configured.

Considering the time required for inspection when performing inspection work using a conventional auto handler as shown in FIG. 2, the following relationship is obtained.

TMN=(T, 10TM)・N°...(1
)TKN ” Inspection time T required to test N ICs: ICs that have completed measurement are discharged from the connector section to the unloader section, and new ICs are introduced from the loader section to the connector section. Time required to test one IC under test TM: Measurement time required to measure one IC under test N: Number of ICs under test to be tested In equation (1), T1 is the structure of the auto handler. is the time determined by
~1.5 seconds.

g(0) It can be seen that the test time TMN required to test N ICs increases in proportion to the measurement time TM required to measure one IC.

For example, in equation (1), if T is 1 second, then for an IC with a measurement time TM of 1 second, the required inspection time TMN is 2
N seconds, whereas for an IC with a TM of 5 seconds, “Bl[N
becomes 6N seconds. However, when the measurement time TM increases from 1 second to 5 seconds, the time required for inspection TMN increases three times, and the efficiency of inspection work deteriorates.

As a countermeasure to this kind of efficiency deterioration in inspection work, it is possible to use a large number of auto handlers to perform the work at the same time, but preparing a large number of auto handlers requires a lot of cost. , it is not a good idea.

Further, an auto handler as shown in FIG. 3 is sometimes used in an IC inspection process in which the measurement time TM is long. In the auto handler shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of connector sections 3 are arranged, and therefore it is possible to measure as many ICs as there are connector sections 3 at the same time.

When using the autohandler shown in Fig. 3, and assuming that n4 connector parts 3 are arranged in the autohandler, the inspection time TMn required to inspect n1 ICs is Considering that ejection and extraction of the IC from the connector section 3 cannot be performed at the same time, the time required for the IC to be ejected from the connector section 3 to the unloader section 5 is T5, and from the loader section 4 to the connector section 3. Assuming that the time required to introduce the IC is T2, the following equation is obtained.

TMn=T2・n1+TM+T3・nl...(2) According to equation (2), the inspection time TM1 required to inspect N ICs using the auto handler shown in FIG.
1+ is given by the following formula.

T engineering=('r2-n1+TM+T3・n,)・−・・−
(3) From equations (1) and (3), the reduction in inspection time due to the use of the auto handler shown in Figure 3 is calculated as follows: T1 + T2 s If T3 is the same, then , as shown below.

TMN-T revision = (1--)・TM-NT,・N・
...(4) From equation (4), for example, if the number n of connector parts 3 is 10, the measurement time TM is 5 seconds, and T3 is 1 second, the required inspection time can be reduced by 3.5N seconds. It is possible.

However, even if an auto-handler like the one shown in Fig. 3 is used, as is clear from equation (3), as the measurement time TM becomes longer, the inspection time TMN increases. Deterioration of work efficiency cannot be avoided.

[Purpose of the invention]

The purpose of the present invention is to solve the problem of the conventional auto-processing system in which the efficiency of inspection work deteriorates as the measurement time TM becomes longer, as described above.
By improving the shortcomings in the handler and when the number N of ICs to be measured is sufficiently large, even if the measurement time TM becomes long,
To provide an auto handler that does not increase the time required for inspection.

[Structure of the invention]

The present invention provides a turntable 11 and a turntable 11.
A plurality of connector parts 3 arranged at the same pitch in the circumferential direction of
, 7, 8.9, a loader section 4 for introducing the semiconductor integrated circuit under test into the connector section, an unloader section 5 for discharging the semiconductor integrated circuit under test from the connector section, and a loader section 4 for introducing the semiconductor integrated circuit under test into the connector section; The turntable is rotated intermittently at each arrangement pitch, and when the turntable is temporarily stopped, the loader section introduces the semiconductor integrated circuit device under test into the connector section directly below the loader section, and the unloader section introduces the semiconductor integrated circuit device under test into the connector section directly below the unloader section. Eject the semiconductor integrated circuit device under test,
An autohandler comprising a control section 6 that maintains electrical continuity between a semiconductor integrated circuit device under test and a measuring device during intermittent rotation of a turntable from a loader section to an unloader section via a connector section. be.

〔Example〕

The configuration of the auto handler according to the present invention will be explained below using an example.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an autohandler according to the invention. Portions common to FIGS. 2 and 3 are designated by the same numbers. As shown in FIG. 1, the autohandler according to the present invention has a plurality of connector parts 3. , 7, 8.9, a turntable 11 in which connector parts 3, 7, 8.9 are arranged at the same pitch in the circumferential direction around the rotating shaft 10, a rogue part 4, an unloader part 5 and It is constituted by a control section 6.

The operation of the auto handler according to the present invention will be described below. The automatic nozzle according to the present invention shown in FIG.
When testing an IC using a handler, the
First, C is located in the rogue part 4, and the loader part 4
The IC is then introduced into the connector section 3. Immediately after the IC is introduced into the connector section 3, the turntable 11 rotates clockwise, and the connector section 3, which was initially at the B position, moves to the A position.

At the same time as the turntable 11 begins to rotate, a power supply voltage is applied to the IC to be measured introduced into the connector section 3 from the measuring device 2 via the connection cable 1, and measurement of electrical characteristics is started. Next, as the turntable 11 rotates), when the connector part 3 comes to the position A, the connector part 7 moves from the position C to the position B. When the connector section 7 reaches position B, the turntable 11 is temporarily stopped, and the next IC to be measured is introduced through the loader section 4 of the connector section 7. In this way, the connector parts 3 and 7
At 8.9, ICs to be measured are successively introduced.

The turntable 11 continues to rotate clockwise intermittently as described above, and the measurement is completed by the time the connector part 3 reaches the position C. As soon as the connector part 3 reaches the position C, the measurement is completed. The IC to be measured that had been placed is discharged to the unloader section 5, then the connector section 3 is moved to position B, and a new IC to be measured is introduced from the rogue section 4.
Repeat the above action.

Here, in order to complete the measurement while the connector part 3 moves from position B to position C, the time required for the connector part 3 to move from position B to position A is set as T4. , if the number of connector parts arranged on the turntable 11 is n2, this is possible by setting T1+T4 and n2 so as to satisfy the following equation.

TM≦(n2-1)・(T1+T4),
-(ri) (Effects of the Invention) By using the auto-knock-down handler according to the present invention, it is possible to shorten the time required for inspection as shown below.

In other words, the required testing time TMN when testing N ICs under test using the auto-handler according to the present invention is the time TMN required for testing the ICs from the loader section 4 to the connector sections 3.7 and 8.9. Considering that the introduction of the IC and the ejection of the IC from the connector part 3°7.8, 9 to the unloader part 5 are performed at the same time, it can be expressed as the following equation.

TM,,' = (T1+T4)-(n2+N)
・(6) Compare equation (6) and equation (3),
TM asked us to find the difference in the time required for inspection between the conventional auto-handler shown in Figure 3 and the auto-handler according to the present invention.
HT;=(T2・n1+TM+T3・n,)・(
T1+T4)(n2+N)...(7) It becomes.

In equation (7), for example, T1, 'r2IT'3+
'r4 is 1 second each, n 1 p n 2 is 10 each,
If the measurement time TM is 5 seconds, TMN "MN"
``5・N-20...(8), and the number of ICs to be tested increases (1. Auto according to the present invention).
・It can be seen that the effect is greater when using a handler.

In other words, in the above example, the conventional auto
100,000 ICs under test using handler
When inspecting, the required inspection time TMN is 250,000 seconds from equation (3), whereas when using the auto handler according to the present invention, the inspection required time TMN is 200,020 seconds, which is Difference 49980 seconds, about 13
．． A reduction of 8 hours is possible.

Furthermore, looking at equation (7), the second term does not include the measurement time TM, and when performing inspection work with a long measurement time TM, the effect of using the auto handler according to the present invention is You can see that it gets bigger.

Therefore, by using the auto-handler according to the present invention, it is possible to significantly shorten the time required for testing in cases where the number of ICs to be measured is large and the measurement time is long.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an auto handler according to the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are diagrams showing the prior art 1'? - is a configuration diagram of an auto handler according to the present invention. 1... Connection cable, 2... Measuring equipment, 3.7,
8.9...Connector part, 4...Loader part, 5...
Unloader section, 6... Control section, 10... Rotating shaft, 1
1... Turntable. 2z5 rules and regulations 1 thought 3, '7, 8. '/ : Connector part 4; Loader leech 5: Unloader part 6: Tomo I wholesale part ll: Turntable Ko 2 Fig. Ko 3 Fig.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) a turntable, a plurality of connector sections arranged at the same pitch in the circumferential direction of the turntable, and a loader section for introducing a semiconductor integrated circuit under test into the connector sections;
An unloader section that ejects the semiconductor integrated circuit under test from the connector section, and an unloader section that sequentially rotates the turntable intermittently at each arrangement pitch of the connector section, and when the turntable is temporarily stopped, the loader section unloads the semiconductor integrated circuit under test. The semiconductor integrated circuit device under test is introduced into the unloader section, the semiconductor integrated circuit device under test is ejected from the connector section directly below the unloader section, and the turntable is connected from the loader section to the unloader section by the connector section. An autohandler comprising: a control section that maintains electrical continuity between a semiconductor integrated circuit device under test and a measuring device.