Automated multi-chip module handler, method of module handling, and module magazine

US6229323A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Micron Technology, Inc. · US

Inventors

• Mark A. Tverdy · Boise, US
• William C. Layer · Boise, US
• Lothar Kress · Boise, US
• Eric Matthews · Nampa, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Apr 23, 1998
• Grant date: May 8, 2001
• Expiry date: Apr 23, 2018

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01R31/2887
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

An automated multi-chip module (MCM) handler for automated module testing which employs a module feed employing a plurality of stackable magazines, the leading one of which in an input stack is positively displaced through an indexing device which positively retrieves each MCM, guides it at a test site, and positively ejects a tested MCM from the test site for sort and direction along an inclined track to either a shipping tray or a discard bin. After a magazine is emptied of MCMs, it continues to an output location where it is stacked with other empty magazines. The test site includes a mechanism for positively engaging and aligning each MCM before engagement by the test contacts.