Patent ID: 7255259

Claim:
A wire feed sensor guide especially suitable for use in fabrication of semiconductor packages, by controllably guiding a wire from a wire source to a wire bonding location, the wire feed sensor guide comprising: a) a fixed portion including a trapezoidal shoe and a first latch portion; and b) a slider including: b1) a trapezoidal foot shaped to slide snugly into the trapezoidal shoe; b2) a second latch portion configured to engage with the first latch portion when the slider foot is slid into the fixed portion's shoe so as to secure the slider to the fixed portion, wherein the latch portions are configured to be operated without tools by a human user so as to become disengaged to allow the slider to be manually removed from the fixed portion without tools by the human user; b3) a slot that is shaped and arranged to receive wire from the wire source and to guide the wire toward the wire bonding location; b4) an air tube hole configured to transmit air from an air source into the slot so as to urge the wire from a first position toward a second position; and b5) a sensor wire hole oriented with respect to possible wire positions so as to transmit an indication of the wire position along a sensor wire that is substantially protected from contamination by being substantially enclosed in the slider and exposed only inside the slot.