Patent ID: 7513036

Claim:
A method of controlling contact load in an apparatus for mounting electronic components on a substrate, in which a head holding an electronic component is lowered at a first speed to a first position where the electronic component does not contact the substrate, and is lowered at a second speed slower than the first speed from the first position until a predetermined target contact load is detected, the method comprising: moving the head down by a predetermined distance at the second speed; measuring contact load after moving the head down; and determining whether the measured contact load has reached the target contact load, the moving and measuring being repeated until the measured contact load reaches the predetermined target contact load, wherein the predetermined distance is set at a first predetermined distance when the measured contact load is zero, and is set at a second predetermined distanced when the measured contact load exceeds zero, the second predetermined distance being smaller than the first predetermined distance, wherein the head is incrementally moved downward without being moved upward, and wherein the head moves in increments of either the first predetermined distance or the second predetermined distance.