NL1036299C2 - A SYSTEM FOR POSITIONING AND FIXING MICROMETER ACCURACY TILES WITH REGARD TO EACH OTHER. - Google Patents

Description

A system for positioning and fixing tiles with m i c r o m e n u a l r e p o r t p e r e p o r t i n c e with each other.

The invention relates to the realization of a system in which tiles with dimensions of approximately 100 x 130 mm 2 and thicknesses of approximately 1 mm, with a thickness variation of about ten micrometers, are positioned on a support such that the front surface after fixation within two is accurately positioned in micrometers.

Furthermore, it is important that each tile has a maximum gap of approximately 10 micrometers relative to its neighboring tile.

The biggest problem is positioning the tiles in a plane with the limited tolerance of 2 micrometers.

A common way of realizing this is inter alia grinding back the thickness variation in the tiles to a precisely defined size. This is an expensive and time-consuming matter that can also cause damage to the tiles.

Another possible solution is to provide the tiles with a thick layer of glue to subsequently place the tiles on a carrier, the placement height being accurately determined on the basis of the neighboring tile. This solution not only requires an accurate measuring system that measures the height of the neighboring tile, but also implies that the tile must be kept very accurately parallel to the neighboring tile. The above solution is expensive and makes the system very complex with the associated fault sensitivity.

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The invention relates to an embodiment of an arrangement which can realize this p in a relatively simple manner.

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According to the inventor, this is possible by using a flat plate as a reference plate on which we place the tiles with the relevant surface “top down” on the reference plate. In this way we prevent the height variation in the relevant area between the neighboring tiles. To temporarily fix the tiles, we use a vacuum between the tiles and the reference plate. In this way we can place a matrix 10 of tiles for example 2 long and 5 wide on the reference plate. The gap dimensions between the various tiles can be checked and possibly corrected before the tiles are fixed.

The next step is that a "carrier" plate, with dimensions corresponding to the number of tiles, with glue is placed on the tiles.

After the glue has hardened, the tiles form a whole with the carrier plate, the height differences between the tiles being negligible.

Features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description, with reference to the accompanying drawings. Herein is:

Fig. 1 A representation of the design of the system in order to be able to place these tiles with the requested accuracy.

Figure 1 shows the embodiment of the system in a combined plan view and side view.

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The tiles 1 that are positioned at a loading position are picked up with three vacuum pipettes 2, after which they are laid down on a reference plate 3. This is done by moving the tile 5 in the X direction through the slide 4, in the Y direction through the slide 5, by making any corner corrections Rz with the slide 6 and arranging for picking up and depositing the tile in the vertical direction by the slide 7. It is also important that the tile is parallel to the reference plate before its position with respect to the previously placed tile is measured. This is done by pressing the tile against the reference plate, as a result of which the vacuum pipettes can move to a position such that the parallelism of the tile with respect to the reference plate is retained when the tile is lifted from the reference plate.

When laying down subsequent tiles, the position of two angular points relative to the neighboring tile in X and Y is measured with the aid of the dual camera system 8. The deviation from the desired value is made by performing an X, Y and Rz correction by the respective slides 4,5,6. The tile is then laid down on the reference plate 3 and temporarily fixed by means of vacuum 14.

In this way each tile can be placed sequentially. If all tiles have been placed and a final position check has possibly been carried out, various glue dots are then placed on the 30 tiles via a glue diaper 15 mounted on the XY carriage. The carrier 9 can then be placed with the robot on the tile matrix, after which the carrier can be removed with the correctly placed tiles after the glue has hardened.

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If the edges of the tiles are not sufficiently perpendicular to the reference surface, as a result of which the gap between the tiles becomes wedge-shaped, the system can be equipped with an additional camera system 11 mounted on an additional XY slide 13 and 12, which through holes 10 in the reference plate 3 can check the angular points from the front which information can be included in the placement of the various tiles.

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Claims (10)

1. The invention relates to a device with the feature that tiles can be placed in three dimensions with precise details. A device according to claim 1, characterized in that the tiles are positioned in a plane by using a reference plate against which the tiles are placed with the front face. A device according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the tiles are temporarily held in place by vacuum after placement on the reference plate. 4. A device according to claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the supply and removal of the tiles and the accurate placement are done with the same placement manipulator. 5. A device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the position of the tile in the flat surface (X, Y) is determined relative to the previously placed tile. A device according to claim 5, characterized in that the position determination of the tile is done by a camera system. 30 A device according to claim 6, characterized in that it is possible to check the position of all 1036299 tiles from the front surface before the carrier is finally fixed to the tiles. A device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the tile can be directed parallel to the reference plate by pressing the tile once against the reference plate, after which this position is taken over. A device according to claim 8, characterized in that the parallelism of the tile with respect to the reference plane is fixed by frictional fixation of the eye-to-face. 10. A device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the placement manipulator is also provided with a pin with which the necessary glue can be applied to the tiles before the carrier 20 is placed. 1 1. A device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the placement manipulator can also be used to place the carrier on the tiles. A device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the entire system can be provided with clean filtered air to keep dust particles away from the critical surfaces.