Patent Description:
For example, as described in patent literature <NUM> (<CIT>), there is a known component mounter on which is set a transfer tank for storing a transfer material such as solder, wherein an electronic component supplied from a component supply device is picked up using a suction nozzle, multiple terminals on the lower surface of the electronic component are immersed in the transfer material in the transfer tank to transfer material to the multiple terminals, and then the electronic component is mounted on a circuit board, or the electronic component is mounted on a component already mounted on a circuit board in so-called package-on-package (PoP) mounting.

In this case, among multiple terminals on the lower surface of the electronic component, if there is one terminal for which the transfer state of the transfer material is defective (hereinafter simply referred to as "transfer defect"), the electronic component will result in a mounting defect, thus, the lower surface of the electronic component is imaged by a camera after the transfer, the transfer state of the transfer material is inspected for all terminals on the lower surface of the electronic component by image processing, and if it is determined that a transfer defect has occurred for any of the terminals, the electronic component is discarded or transfer is performed again, and only electronic components for which the transfer state of the transfer material is determined to be good (no transfer defect) for all terminals are mounted.

Other prior art documents deal with related subject-matter: <CIT>, <CIT>, and <CIT>.

However, there are cases in which inspection of the transfer state of the transfer material (hereinafter simply referred to as "transfer inspection") is not stable due to various factors, and this may lower the inspection accuracy. For example, a difference in the shape of a terminal that is a target for transfer may be a factor that makes the transfer inspection unstable. In general, a relatively stable transfer inspection can be performed when all the terminals that are targets for transfer are round and of the same size, but when terminals of different shapes are mixed, for example, when round terminals and square terminals are mixed, the transfer inspection tends to be less stable for the square terminals compared to the round terminals. In addition, there is a possibility that a difference in the size of the terminal or the surface finish of the terminal becomes a factor, or a variation in the illumination state of each terminal due to a difference in the position of each terminal becomes a factor.

Therefore, if it is known in advance that the transfer inspection is not stable for some of the multiple terminals on the lower surface of the electronic component, the transfer inspection of the electronic component may not be performed. However, if the transfer inspection is not performed, since all of the electronic components, including those having a terminal with a transfer defect, are mounted, mounting defects due to transfer defects cannot be prevented at all. On the other hand, if all the terminals of electronic components having terminals for which the transfer inspection is not stable are subjected to transfer inspection in one go, the number of components to be discarded or for which transfer is to be performed again increases due to erroneous determination that a transfer defect occurred even when a transfer defect did not actually occur, which lowers productivity. Solution to Problem.

To solve the above problems, disclosed herein is a transfer state inspection system according to claim <NUM>. It includes:
a camera configured to capture a transfer state of a transfer material of any of solder, flux, conductive paste, or adhesive transferred to multiple terminals on a lower surface of an electronic component; an image processing section configured to process an image captured by the camera to recognize the transfer state of the transfer material such that the transfer state inspection system inspects the transfer state of the transfer material based on a recognition result of the image processing section; an inspection target specifying section configured to specify whether inspection is necessary for at least a portion of the terminals among the multiple terminals on the lower surface of the electronic component via an operation from an operator or a production program, wherein inspection is specified as unnecessary for terminals for which inspection of the transfer state of the transfer material will be unstable; and an inspection executing section configured to not inspect the transfer state of the transfer material for terminals specified as unnecessary to be inspected by the inspection target specifying section among the multiple terminals on the lower surface of the electronic component, and to inspect the transfer state of the transfer material only for other terminals.

In this configuration, among the multiple terminals on the lower surface of the electronic component that are transfer targets, transfer inspection is not performed for the terminals specified as unnecessary to be inspected by an operation of an operation or the production program, and transfer inspection is performed only for the other terminals. When specifying whether transfer inspection is necessary, since it can be understood from an operator's experience, production results, or the like whether transfer inspection will be unstable based on the shape, size, position, shininess, and so on of the terminals, for example, among the multiple terminals on the lower surface of the electronic component, inspection may be specified as unnecessary for terminals for which the transfer inspection will be unstable, with stable transfer inspection being performed for the other terminals. Thus, even for electronic components for which transfer inspection itself had to be omitted because transfer inspection is not stable for a portion of the terminals, by excluding the portion of the terminals for which transfer inspection is not stable from the transfer inspection, it is possible to greatly reduce mounting defects due to transfer defects. Further, compared to a case that is similar to a conventional method in which transfer inspection is performed for all terminals of an electronic component that includes terminals for which transfer inspection is not stable, transfer inspection accuracy and reliability is improved, and it is possible to greatly reduce the quantity of components that are rejected or for which transfer is performed again due to an incorrect determination of a transfer defect when in fact there is no transfer defect.

Further, among the multiple terminals on the lower surface of the electronic component that are transfer targets, since it can be understood from an operator's experience, production results, or the like whether a terminal is relatively likely to have a transfer defect due to the shape, size, position, shininess, and so on of the terminals, for example, among the multiple terminals on the lower surface of the electronic component, inspection may be specified as unnecessary for a portion of the terminals that have a relatively low likelihood of having a transfer defect, and to improve the accuracy of the image processing of the transfer state of the transfer material for terminals other than these (that is, terminals relatively likely to have a transfer defect), imaging conditions such as the shutter speed of the camera, lighting conditions such as the lighting angle, lighting pattern, lighting amount, and so on, or image processing conditions such as an image processing algorithm or the like may be set, an image may be captured of the lower surface of the electronic component, and image processing performed on the image. By doing so, it is possible to improve the image recognition accuracy for terminals having a relatively high probability of occurrence of a transfer defect, thereby to perform stable transfer inspection, and improve the accuracy and reliability of the transfer inspection. In this case, if it can be confirmed by the transfer inspection that a transfer defect has not occurred for a terminal having a relatively high probability of occurrence of a transfer defect, it can be assumed with high confidence that a transfer defect has not occurred for terminals for which transfer inspection was not performed (that is, terminals having a relatively low probability of occurrence of a transfer defect).

When specifying whether inspection is necessary for at least a portion of the terminals among the multiple terminals on the lower surface of the electronic component that are transfer targets, it may be specified whether inspection is necessary for each terminal individually, or whether inspection is necessary may be specified collectively for each terminal elements with a defined terminal arrangement based on the shape, size, or pitch of the terminals. Alternatively, it is possible to collectively specify whether inspection is necessary by each size of terminal or for a terminal group classified by the shape and size of the terminal. Also, whether inspection is necessary may be specified for all terminals on the lower surface of an electronic component, or only for a portion of terminals for which transfer inspection is not stable. Alternatively, whether inspection is necessary may be specified only for a predetermined terminal element that includes a terminal for which transfer inspection is not stable, or for a predetermined terminal group, or for terminals within a predetermined size range. In each case, transfer inspection may be performed for all terminals for which whether inspection is necessary is not specified based on an operation of an operator or a production program.

Alternatively, to solve the above problems a transfer state inspection system according to claim <NUM> is provided. It includes: an inspection conditions specifying section configured to specify inspection conditions used for inspecting the transfer state of the transfer material for at least a portion of the terminals among the multiple terminals on the lower surface of the electronic component via an operation from an operator or a production program; and configured to specify predetermined inspection conditions that are set in advance for terminals for which inspection conditions have not been specified by operation of an operator or the production program; and and an inspection executing section configured to, when inspecting the transfer state of the transfer material for the multiple terminals on the lower surface of the electronic component, inspect the transfer state of the transfer material under the inspection conditions specified for the specified terminals by the inspection conditions specifying section. By doing so, for example, the inspection conditions can be individually changed in accordance with the shape, size, position, shininess, and the like of the terminals, and transfer inspection can be performed on all the terminals of the electronic component with relatively high accuracy.

Here, inspection conditions that can be specified, for example, may be at least one of a threshold for determining whether the transfer state of the transfer material is acceptable, image processing conditions such as an image processing algorithm, imaging conditions such as a camera shutter speed, or lighting conditions such as a lighting angle, a lighting pattern, or a lighting amount.

When lighting conditions or imaging conditions of the camera are specified as inspection conditions, an image may be captured by the camera of the lower surface of the electronic component under each inspection condition, the image may be processed, and the transfer state of the transfer material of the terminals to be inspected may be recognized under the inspection conditions.

As inspection conditions, when specifying a threshold for determining whether a transfer state of a transfer material is acceptable, among the multiple terminals on the lower surface of the electronic component, for terminals for which there is a tendency to have a relatively low image recognition accuracy of the transfer state of the transfer material, by specifying the threshold to make it less likely that a transfer defect is determined, it is possible to reduce the quantity of components discarded or for which transfer is performed again due to an erroneous determination that a transfer defect occurred even when a transfer defect did not actually occur.

As inspection conditions, when specifying image processing conditions, camera imaging conditions, and lighting conditions, among the multiple terminals on the lower surface of the electronic component, for terminals for which there is a tendency to have a relatively low image recognition accuracy of the transfer state of the transfer material, by specifying the image processing conditions, camera imaging conditions, and lighting conditions to improve the image recognition accuracy of the transfer state of the transfer material, it is possible to reduce the quantity of components discarded or for which transfer is performed again due to an erroneous determination that a transfer defect occurred even when a transfer defect did not actually occur.

A first and a second embodiment are described below.

A first embodiment will be described with reference to <FIG>. The configuration of the component mounter is described using <FIG>.

As shown in <FIG> and <FIG>, component supply devices <NUM> such as a tape feeder or tray feeder and a transfer device <NUM> are detachably set adjacent to each other on set table <NUM> of component mounter <NUM>. Detachably mounted on transfer device <NUM> is a dish-shaped rotating table <NUM> (transfer tank) for forming a fluid transfer material of any of solder, flux, conductive paste, or adhesive into a film, and rotating table <NUM> is driven to rotate by a motor (not shown).

As shown in <FIG>, provided above rotating table <NUM> is squeegee <NUM> with a length approximately equal to the radius of rotating table <NUM>, squeegee <NUM> being provided along the radius direction of rotating table <NUM>, and by the rotation of rotating table <NUM>, transfer material inside rotating table <NUM> is uniformly spread by squeegee <NUM> and formed into a film.

As shown in <FIG>, mounting head <NUM> of component mounter <NUM> exchangeably holds suction nozzle <NUM> that is for picking up electronic component <NUM> supplied from component supply device <NUM>. During operation of component mounter <NUM>, when an electronic component <NUM> held by suction nozzle <NUM> is a transfer target component (BGA component, chip component, etc.), the electronic component <NUM> is moved above rotating table <NUM> of transfer device <NUM> and then lowered such that multiple terminals <NUM> and <NUM> (see <FIG>) on the lower surface of the electronic component <NUM> are immersed in the film of transfer material in rotating table <NUM> such that transfer material is transferred to the respective terminals <NUM> and <NUM>. Among electronic components <NUM> to be transferred there are electronic components with terminals of various shapes, and, in addition to electronic components for which all the terminals are round (bumps) of the same size, there are electronic components in which terminals of different shapes are mixed. The electronic component <NUM> shown in <FIG> is an example in which all the terminals <NUM> are round terminals of the same size, and the electronic component <NUM> shown in <FIG> is an example in which round terminals <NUM> and quadrilateral terminals <NUM> are mixed.

As shown in <FIG>, component mounter <NUM> is provided with camera <NUM> for capturing an image, from below, of the electronic component <NUM> held by suction nozzle <NUM> of mounting head <NUM>, camera <NUM> being provided at a position below the path along which suction nozzle <NUM> moves. Conveyor <NUM> for conveying circuit board <NUM>, mounting head moving device <NUM> (see <FIG>) that moves mounting head <NUM> in the XY direction (the board conveyance direction and the direction perpendicular thereof), and the like are also provided on component mounter <NUM>. On the other hand, mark imaging camera <NUM> (see <FIG>) for imaging a reference position mark (not shown) of circuit board <NUM> is mounted on mounting head <NUM>.

As shown in <FIG>, control device <NUM> of component mounter <NUM> is connected to input device <NUM> such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a touchscreen panel, display device <NUM> such as a liquid crystal display or a cathode ray tube (CRT), and memory device <NUM> for storing control programs and various data for controlling the operation of each part of component mounter <NUM>. Further, image processing unit <NUM> that processes images captured by component imaging camera <NUM> and mark imaging camera <NUM> is embedded in control device <NUM>. Image processing unit <NUM> also functions as an image processing section for processing an image of the lower surface of electronic component <NUM> captured by component imaging camera <NUM> and recognizing the transfer states of the transfer materials to terminals <NUM> and <NUM>.

Control device <NUM> of component mounter <NUM> controls operation of picking up electronic component <NUM> supplied from component supply device <NUM> using suction nozzle <NUM> and mounting it on circuit board <NUM> during the operation of component mounter <NUM>. Here, when the electronic component <NUM> held by suction nozzle <NUM> is a transfer target component such as a BGA component, the electronic component <NUM> held by suction nozzle <NUM> is moved above rotating table <NUM> of transfer device <NUM> and then lowered so as to transfer transfer material to the terminals <NUM> and <NUM> on the lower surface of the electronic component <NUM>, and then the electronic component <NUM> is mounted on circuit board <NUM> or an already-mounted component.

Further, control device <NUM> of component mounter <NUM> uses component imaging camera <NUM> to capture an image of the lower surface of the electronic component <NUM> held by suction nozzle <NUM> while moving the electronic component <NUM> above circuit board <NUM>, uses image processing unit <NUM> to perform image processing, measures the amount of displacement of the pickup position of electronic component <NUM> in the X, Y, and θ directions (the positions of terminals <NUM> and <NUM>), corrects the position of the electronic component <NUM> in the X, Y, and θ directions according to the amount of displacement of the pickup position, then mounts the electronic component <NUM> on circuit board <NUM> or the like. Here, when the electronic component <NUM> imaged by component imaging camera <NUM> is an electronic component to which transfer material has been transferred, control device <NUM> of component mounter <NUM> processes the image of the lower surface of the electronic component <NUM> imaged by component imaging camera <NUM> after the transfer using image processing unit <NUM>, recognizes the transfer state of the transfer material to the respective terminals <NUM> and <NUM> of the electronic component <NUM>, performs a transfer inspection of checking whether the transfer state of the transfer material to the respective terminals <NUM> and <NUM> is good based on the recognition result.

Any method may be used for this transfer inspection as long as it uses image processing. For example, the lower surface of electronic component <NUM> may be imaged by component imaging camera <NUM> before and after the transfer, and the brightness difference between the terminals <NUM> and <NUM> before and after the transfer may be measured to determine whether the transfer of the transfer material to the terminals <NUM> and <NUM> is good depending on whether the brightness difference is equal to or greater than predetermined thresholds. Alternatively, the brightness of each of the terminals <NUM> and <NUM> before transfer may be measured in advance by test-production or the like before starting production, and during production, the lower surface of the electronic component <NUM> may be imaged by the component imaging camera <NUM> after transfer, the brightness of each of the terminals <NUM> and <NUM> after transfer may be measured, and the brightness may be compared with a threshold to determine whether transfer material has been transferred to each of the terminals <NUM> and <NUM>.

In this transfer inspection, if it is determined that the transfer is defective at any one of the multiple terminals <NUM> and <NUM> on the lower surface of the electronic component <NUM>, the electronic component <NUM> is discarded or transfer is performed again, and only an electronic component for which the transfer state of the transfer material is determined to be good (no transfer defect) for all the inspected terminals <NUM> and <NUM> is mounted.

Note that, transfer inspection may not be stable due to various factors. For example, a difference in the shape of a terminal that is a target for transfer may be a factor that makes the transfer inspection unstable. As shown in <FIG>, when all the terminals <NUM> that are transfer targets are round with the same size, it is possible to perform a relatively stable transfer inspection, but when terminals with different shapes are mixed, for example, when round terminals <NUM> and quadrilateral terminals <NUM> are mixed as shown in <FIG>, there is a tendency that the transfer inspection is less stable for quadrilateral terminals <NUM> than for round terminals <NUM>. In addition, there is a possibility that a difference in the size of the terminal or the surface finish of the terminal becomes a factor, or a variation in the illumination state of each terminal due to a difference in the position of each terminal becomes a factor.

Therefore, in the first embodiment, control device <NUM> of component mounter <NUM> functions as inspection target specifying section <NUM> configured to specify whether inspection is necessary for at least a portion of the terminals among the multiple terminals <NUM> and <NUM> on the lower surface of electronic component <NUM> via an operation from an operator or a production program, and inspection executing section <NUM> configured to not inspect the transfer state of the transfer material for terminals specified as unnecessary to be inspected by inspection target specifying section <NUM> among the multiple terminals <NUM> and <NUM> on the lower surface of electronic component <NUM>, and to inspect the transfer state of the transfer material only for other terminals. As a result, the transfer inspection is not performed on a portion of the terminals <NUM> and <NUM> on the lower surface of electronic component <NUM> for which the transfer inspection is not stable, and the transfer inspection is performed only on the other terminals.

When the operator specifies whether the transfer inspection is necessary, the operator may specify the necessity of the transfer inspection by operating input device <NUM>. When the production program specifies whether transfer inspection is necessary, information on whether transfer inspection is necessary for each type of electronic component for which transfer is to be performed may be registered in the production program in association with the terminal information when the production program is created.

When specifying whether transfer inspection is necessary, since it can be understood from an operator's experience, production results, or the like whether transfer inspection will be unstable based on the shape, size, position, shininess, and so on of the terminals, for example, among the multiple terminals on the lower surface of the electronic component, inspection may be specified as unnecessary for terminals for which the transfer inspection will be unstable, with stable transfer inspection being performed for the other terminals. For example, as shown in <FIG>, with the electronic component <NUM> in which round terminals <NUM> and square terminals <NUM> are mixed, it is also possible to specify that transfer inspection is not necessary for square terminals <NUM> for which the transfer inspection is not stable, and to perform the transfer inspection only on round terminals <NUM>.

Thus, even for electronic components for which transfer inspection itself had to be omitted because transfer inspection is not stable for a portion of the terminals, by excluding the portion of the terminals for which transfer inspection is not stable from the transfer inspection, it is possible to greatly reduce mounting defects due to transfer defects. Further, compared to a case that is similar to a conventional method in which transfer inspection is performed for all terminals of an electronic component that includes terminals for which transfer inspection is not stable, transfer inspection accuracy and reliability is improved, and it is possible to greatly reduce the quantity of components that are rejected or for which transfer is performed again due to an incorrect determination of a transfer defect when in fact there is no transfer defect, thereby improving productivity.

Further, among the multiple terminals on the lower surface of the electronic component that are transfer targets, since it can be understood from an operator's experience, production results, or the like whether a terminal is relatively likely to have a transfer defect due to the shape, size, position, and so on of the terminals, for example, among the multiple terminals on the lower surface of the electronic component, inspection may be specified as unnecessary for a portion of the terminals that have a relatively low likelihood of having a transfer defect, and to improve the accuracy of the image processing of the transfer state of the transfer material for terminals other than these (that is, terminals relatively likely to have a transfer defect), imaging conditions such as the shutter speed of the camera, lighting conditions such as the lighting angle, lighting pattern, lighting amount, and so on, or image processing conditions such as an image processing algorithm or the like may be set, an image may be captured of the lower surface of the electronic component, and image processing performed on the image. By doing so, it is possible to improve the image recognition accuracy for terminals having a relatively high probability of occurrence of a transfer defect, thereby to perform stable transfer inspection, and improve the accuracy and reliability of the transfer inspection. In this case, if it can be confirmed by the transfer inspection that a transfer defect has not occurred for a terminal having a relatively high probability of occurrence of a transfer defect, it can be assumed with high confidence that a transfer defect has not occurred for terminals for which transfer inspection was not performed (that is, terminals having a relatively low probability of occurrence of a transfer defect).

When specifying whether inspection is necessary for at least a portion of the terminals among the multiple terminals on the lower surface of the electronic component that are transfer targets, it may be specified whether inspection is necessary for each terminal individually, or whether inspection is necessary may be specified collectively for terminals elements with a defined terminal arrangement based on the shape, size, or pitch of the terminals. Alternatively, it is possible to collectively specify whether inspection is necessary by each size of terminal or for a terminal group classified by the shape and size of the terminal. Accordingly, by collectively specifying whether inspection is necessary for each terminal element, each terminal group, and each size of terminal, even when an operator specifies whether inspection is necessary, it is possible to perform operation for specifying whether inspection is necessary simply and efficiently.

In this case, whether inspection is necessary may be specified for all terminals on the lower surface of an electronic component that are targets for transfer, or only for a portion of terminals for which transfer inspection is not stable (quadrilateral terminals <NUM> in the example of <FIG>). Alternatively, whether inspection is necessary may be specified only for a predetermined (portion) terminal element that includes a terminal for which transfer inspection is not stable, or for a predetermined (portion) terminal group that includes a terminal for which transfer inspection is not stable, or for terminals within a predetermined (portion) size range that includes a terminal for which transfer inspection is not stable. In each case, transfer inspection may be performed for all terminals for which whether inspection is necessary is not specified based on an operation of an operator or a production program.

When image processing unit <NUM> processes the image of the lower surface of the electronic component captured by component imaging camera <NUM>, control device <NUM> of component mounter <NUM>, similar to as with terminals for which the transfer state of the transfer material is to be inspected, recognizes the position of each terminal of the terminals that are not to be inspected and uses those positions for mounting positioning, corrects the deviation of the mounting position of each terminal of the electronic component in the X, Y, and θ directions, and mounts the electronic component on circuit board <NUM> or the like. In this manner, even for an electronic component where the transfer states of the transfer material are not inspected for a portion of the terminals, mounting on circuit board <NUM> or the like can be performed with high accuracy.

A second embodiment is described below. However, for sections which are practically the same as the first embodiment, explanations are omitted or abbreviated, with descriptions largely given for sections which are different.

In the first embodiment above, whether inspection is necessary is specified for a portion of terminals among the multiple terminals on the lower surface of the electronic component that are targets for transfer, but in a second embodiment, it is possible to specify inspection conditions for inspecting the transfer state of transfer material for a portion of terminals among the multiple terminals on the lower surface of the electronic component that are targets for transfer.

In the second embodiment, control device <NUM> of component mounter <NUM> functions as: an inspection conditions specifying section configured to specify inspection conditions used for inspecting the transfer state of the transfer material for at least a portion of the terminals among the multiple terminals on the lower surface of the electronic component via an operation from an operator or a production program; and an inspection executing section configured to, when inspecting the transfer state of the transfer material for the multiple terminals on the lower surface of the electronic component, inspect the transfer state of the transfer material under the inspection conditions specified for the specified terminals by the inspection conditions specifying section. Here, when inspection conditions can be specified for only a portion of the multiple terminals on the lower surface of the electronic component that are targets for transfer, the transfer condition of the transfer material for the other terminals is inspected under predetermined inspection conditions set in advance.

When an operator specifies inspection conditions, the operator may specify the inspection conditions by operating input device <NUM>. When the production program specifies the inspection conditions, information on the inspection conditions for each type of electronic component for which transfer is to be performed may be registered in the production program in association with the terminal information when the production program is created.

Here, inspection conditions that can be specified, for example, may be at least one of a threshold for determining whether the transfer state of the transfer material is acceptable, image processing conditions such as an image processing algorithm, imaging conditions such as a camera shutter speed, or lighting conditions such as a light angle, a lighting pattern, or a lighting amount.

When lighting conditions or imaging conditions of component imaging camera <NUM> are specified as inspection conditions, an image may be captured by component imaging camera <NUM> of the lower surface of the electronic component under each inspection condition, the image may be processed by image processing unit <NUM>, and the transfer state of the transfer material of the terminals to be inspected may be recognized under the inspection conditions. For example, when transfer inspection is performed using two kinds of inspection conditions, the lower surface of the electronic component is imaged twice under different inspection conditions (different imaging conditions or lighting conditions) after the transfer, and image processing is performed twice.

As inspection conditions, when specifying a threshold for determining whether a transfer state of a transfer material is acceptable, among the multiple terminals on the lower surface of the electronic component, for terminals for which there is a tendency to have a relatively low image recognition accuracy of the transfer state of the transfer material, a threshold may be specified to make it less likely that a transfer defect is determined. By doing so, for terminals for which there is a tendency to have a relatively low image recognition accuracy of the transfer state of the transfer material, since a transfer defect is less likely to be determined, it is possible to reduce the quantity of components discarded or for which transfer is performed again due to an erroneous determination that a transfer defect occurred even when a transfer defect did not actually occur.

As inspection conditions, when specifying image processing conditions, and imaging conditions and lighting conditions of component imaging camera <NUM>, among the multiple terminals on the lower surface of the electronic component, for terminals for which there is a tendency to have a relatively low image recognition accuracy of the transfer state of the transfer material, the image processing conditions, and the imaging conditions and lighting conditions of component imaging camera <NUM> may be specified to improve the image recognition accuracy of the transfer state of the transfer material. By doing this, for terminals for which there is a tendency to have a relatively low image recognition accuracy of the transfer state of the transfer material with a conventional method, since relatively accurate image recognition can be performed, it is possible to reduce the quantity of components discarded or for which transfer is performed again due to an erroneous determination that a transfer defect occurred even when a transfer defect did not actually occur.

When specifying whether inspection is necessary for at least a portion of the terminals among the multiple terminals on the lower surface of the electronic component that are transfer targets, inspection conditions may be specified for each terminal individually, or inspection conditions may be specified collectively for each terminal element with a defined terminal arrangement based on the shape, size, or pitch of the terminals. Alternatively, the inspection conditions may be specified collectively for each size of terminal or for each terminal group classified by the shape and size of the terminals. In this manner, if the inspection conditions can be collectively specified for each terminal element, each terminal group, and each terminal size, the inspection conditions can be specified by a simple operation even when the operator specifies the inspection conditions.

In this case, inspection conditions may be specified for all terminals on the lower surface of an electronic component that are targets for transfer, or only for a portion of terminals for which transfer inspection is not stable (quadrilateral terminals <NUM> in the example of <FIG>). Alternatively, inspection conditions may be specified only for a predetermined terminal element that includes a terminal for which transfer inspection is not stable, or for a predetermined terminal group that includes a terminal for which transfer inspection is not stable, or for terminals within a predetermined size range that includes a terminal for which transfer inspection is not stable. In each case, transfer inspection may be performed under predetermined inspection conditions which are set in advance for the terminals for which the inspection conditions have not been specified by operation of an operator or the production program.

In the second embodiment described above, by individually changing the inspection conditions in accordance with the shape, size, position, shininess, and the like of the terminals of the electronic component that are targets for transfer, transfer inspection can be performed on all the terminals of the electronic component with relatively high accuracy, and the same effects as with the first embodiment can be obtained.

Note that, the present disclosure is not limited to the above first and second embodiments, and a combination of the first and second embodiments may be carried out.

Claim 1:
A transfer state inspection system comprising:
a camera (<NUM>) configured to capture a transfer state of a transfer material of any of solder, flux, conductive paste, or adhesive transferred to multiple terminals (<NUM>, <NUM>) on a lower surface of an electronic component (<NUM>);
an image processing section (<NUM>) configured to process an image captured by the camera (<NUM>) to recognize the transfer state of the transfer material such that the transfer state inspection system inspects the transfer state of the transfer material based on a recognition result of the image processing section (<NUM>);
an inspection target specifying section (<NUM>) configured to specify whether inspection is necessary for at least a portion of the terminals (<NUM>, <NUM>) among the multiple terminals (<NUM>, <NUM>) on the lower surface of the electronic component (<NUM>) via an operation from an operator or a production program, wherein inspection is specified as unnecessary for terminals (<NUM>, <NUM>) for which inspection of the transfer state of the transfer material will be unstable; and
an inspection executing section (<NUM>) configured to not inspect the transfer state of the transfer material for terminals (<NUM>, <NUM>) specified as unnecessary to be inspected by the inspection target specifying section (<NUM>) among the multiple terminals (<NUM>, <NUM>) on the lower surface of the electronic component (<NUM>), and to inspect the transfer state of the transfer material only for other terminals (<NUM>, <NUM>).