Abstract:
An automatic method and system for packaging discrete semiconductor devices such as transistors is described. The system includes a chasis for indexing a plurality of chucks past a series of work stations. The work stations include three wire loading stations for loading flat-headed lead wires in the chucks, a glass loading station for placing a glass ring around the necks of the lead wires, a series of heaters for heating the glass rings, a pair of molding stations for molding the heated glass rings around the necks of the lead wires to form a header, an alloy station for placing the semiconductor devices in a predetermined orientation on the head of one of the lead wires, and a series of automatic bonding stations for connecting the base and emitter contacts of the semiconductor devices to the heads of the other lead wires. The overall system is controlled by a digital computer. Stations are provided for detecting the absence of a lead wire, the absence of a glass ring, or the absence of a transistor device. The system also detects failure of any one of the bonder stations and terminates operation of the system. The computer is programmed to provide shift registers which define each index position of the chasis and logic signals are shifted through the shift register to continually locate any chuck which is defectively loaded so as to prevent the successful completion of a header assembly. The computer then disables each subsequent station as the defectively loaded chuck is positioned at the respective station.