Apparatus for sorting articles
US4343388A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 21, 1980 |
| Grant date | Aug 10, 1982 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 21, 2000 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH10D62/117
- WIPO fieldHandling
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
Diode chips (44) are cut from a p-n sheet-diffused semiconductor wafer (41). Instead of having conventional rectangular shapes, the chips have a rhomboidal shape. This makes the shape of the chips asymmetric in that one surface (46) of each chip becomes a distinguishable mirror image of its other surface (47). The direction of the p-n junction in the wafer is oriented with respect to the shape of the chips to be cut to place the same conductivity type region adjacent to the same rhomboidal shape of the surface. The shape of the chips (44) thereby aids apparatus (59) to sort the chips into two groups, each group consisting of chips of the same polarity or orientation of their p-n junctions with respect to a common support plane. The apparatus (59) includes a feed track (60) leading to a fork (61) in the track. A center obstruction (62) engages the leading edge of the chips (44) and deflects the chips into one or the other of two branch tracks (63) or (64), depending on the slope of the leading edge of the chips.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.