Patent ID: 7156602

Claim:
A mechanism for exchanging chip-carrier plates for use in a hybrid chip-bonding machine having a chip-detaching system and a common base element, the mechanism comprising: a plurality of chip-carrier plates; a magazine having a plurality of slots to store the plurality of chip-carrier plates, wherein the magazine vertically moves the chip-carrier plates so that a selected chip-carrier plate can be positioned in a release position and an empty slot can be positioned in a receiving position; a transport arrangement having a first and a second clamping device that are disposed on a movable holder in a manner which is attached to a base via an extension arm such that the transport arrangement is designed to remove a selected chip-carrier plate from the magazine in a first angular orientation, deliver the selected chip-carrier plate to a processing station of the chip-detaching system, and after processing remove the selected chip-carrier plate from the processing station and deposit the selected chip-carrier plate in the magazine, wherein the transport mechanism substantially maintains the chip carrier plate in the first angular orientation throughout the whole transport process and wherein the first and second clamping devices are positioned in the transport arrangement so as to substantially simultaneously remove a new selected chip carrier plate from the magazine while depositing the selected chip carrier plate in the magazine and so as to substantially simultaneously remove a selected chip carrier plate from the processing station while depositing the selected chip corner plate in the magazine; a first controller configured to move the chip-carrier plates within the magazine in a manner such that the selected chip-carrier plate is positioned at a collection point to be collected from the magazine; and a second controller configured to move the movable holder of the transport arrangement, wherein the second controller allows for vertical movement of the first and second clamping devices in a predetermined displacement range and also one dimensional longitudinal movement in the direction of the extension arm of the first and second clamping devices along a predetermined displacement range wherein the first and second clamping devices are disposed one above the other in a vertical arrangement on the holder and are constructed so that each can individually release or grip a chip-carrier plate on one and the same angular position of the holder.