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US5115475A
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Automatic semiconductor package inspection method
Assignee: NXP USA Inc
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Filing: 1990-06-04
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Granted: 1992-05-19
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Expires: 2010-06-04
Abstract
Abstract A visual lead-finger inspection method is provided comprising obtaining an image of a semiconductor package and enhancing an image of lead-fingers which are a part of the package. In a first embodiment the image enhancement comprises morphological opening, and in an alternate embodiment comprises direction edge enhancement. A logical AND operation is performed with the enhanced lead-finger image and a frame image which is placed through the lead-finger image, resulting in a data set of only a few hundred bytes which describes position, alignment and lead count of all of the lead-fingers on the package. The data set is compared to a stored data set to determine acceptability of the semiconductor package.
Inventors
- 👤 Christopher J. Lebeau
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-27 18:12
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06T; G06T7/00; G06T7/0002; G06T7/0004; G06T7/001; H; H10; H10P; H10P74/00; H10P74/23; G06T2207/00; G06T2207/20; G06T2207/20036; G06T2207/30; G06T2207/30108; G06T2207/30148
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 10
Claim 1
Independent Claim
91 words
A method of automatically inspecting lead-fingers of a semiconductor package comprising: providing a sample package; obtaining an image of lead-fingers of the sample package; positioning a window around the sample lead-finger image; building a sample mask image from the sample lead-finger image; logical ANDing the window with the sample mask image; obtaining an image of lead-fingers under inspection; mathematically enhancing the image under inspection; dilating the enhanced image; aligning the mask image to the dilated image; and comparing the mask image to the dilated image to determine acceptability of the lead-fingers.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
91 words
A method of automatically inspecting lead-fingers of a semiconductor package comprising: providing a sample package; obtaining an image of lead-fingers of the sample package; positioning a window around the sample lead-finger image; building a sample mask image from the sample lead-finger image; logical ANDing the window with the sample mask image; obtaining an image of lead-fingers under inspection; mathematically enhancing the image under inspection; dilating the enhanced image; aligning the mask image to the dilated image; and comparing the mask image to the dilated image to determine acceptability of the lead-fingers.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
23 words
The method of claim 1 wherein the step of building a sample mask image further comprises morphologically opening the image of the lead-fingers.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
23 words
The method of claim 1 wherein the step of building a sample mask image further comprises direction edge enhancement of the lead-finger image.
Claim 5
Independent Claim
86 words
A method of automatically inspecting lead-fingers of a semiconductor leadframe comprising: obtaining an image of the leadframe, including an image lead-fingers which are a part of the leadframe; enhancing the image of the lead-fingers; skeletonizing the enhanced lead-finger image placing a frame image through the enhanced lead-finger image; performing a logical AND of the enhanced lead-finger image with the frame image to provide a set of data describing the lead-fingers; and comparing the set of data to a predetermined standard to determine acceptability of the lead-fingers.
Claim 6
Independent Claim
86 words
A method of automatically inspecting lead-fingers of a semiconductor leadframe comprising: obtaining an image of the leadframe, including an image lead-fingers which are a part of the leadframe; enhancing the image of the lead-fingers; skeletonizing the enhanced lead-finger image placing a frame image through the enhanced lead-finger image; performing a logical AND of the enhanced lead-finger image with the frame image to provide a set of data describing the lead-fingers; and comparing the set of data to a predetermined standard to determine acceptability of the lead-fingers.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method of claim 4 wherein the step of enhancing the image comprises morphological opening of the lead-finger image.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
20 words
The method of claim 4 wherein the step of enhancing the image comprises direction edge enhancement of the lead-finger image.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
77 words
The method of claim 4 wherein the predetermined standard comprises another data set generated from an image of a sample leadframe, wherein the other data set is generated by obtaining an image of the sample leadframe; enhancing an image of sample lead-fingers which are a part of the sample leadframe image; placing the frame image through the enhanced sample lead-frame image; and performing a logical AND operation of the frame image with the enhanced sample lead-finger image.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
40 words
The method of claim 7 further comprising the step of performing morphological dilation of the enhanced image of the sample lead-fingers before the step of performing the logical AND operation of the frame image with the enhanced sample leadfinger image.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1995-05-19 | 1995-11-18 | 1996-05-19 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1999-05-19 | 1999-11-18 | 2000-05-19 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2003-05-19 | 2003-11-18 | 2004-05-19 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |