Patent ID: 7849896

Claim:
An alignment tool for a bonding apparatus, comprising: a loading surface for receiving a pushing force from a surface of a device attached to the bonding apparatus, and which is arranged and constructed to experience a tilting moment and a first tilt angle upon receiving an unequally distributed pushing force from a misaligned device acting on it; a sensing surface operatively connected to the loading surface to which the tilting moment experienced by the loading surface is transmitted; a columnar body having a smaller width than the loading surface and the sensing surface which connects the loading surface and the sensing surface, the columnar body being elastic and configured to bend from the tilting moment so as to attain a second tilt angle that is larger than the first tilt angle and to magnify a tilt angle sensed by the sensing surface; an array of piezoelectric elements in communication with the sensing surface which produce electrical signals in response to the tilting moment; and a computing unit operatively connected to the piezoelectric elements to detect a direction of tilt of the loading surface from the electrical signals produced by the piezoelectric elements.