Methods and systems for aligning tooling elements of ultrasonic bonding systems

1. A method of generating an overlay of at least a portion of a tooling element of a material handling system of an ultrasonic bonding system, the method comprising the steps of:

a) providing the tooling element including a plurality of clamping fingers and a support structure, the support structure being configured to support a workpiece during an ultrasonic bonding operation;

b) aligning at least the portion of the tooling element with respect to a workpiece, the portion of the tooling element including the plurality of clamping fingers;

c) generating the overlay to include at least one marking identifying a position of at least the portion of the tooling element after step a) such that the at least one marking identifies positions of the plurality of clamping fingers after step a); and

d) adjusting a position of at least a portion of another tooling element by referring to (i) an image of the another tooling element provided using an imaging system, and (ii) the overlay.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one marking includes at least one of (1) a cross-shaped marking, and (2) an outline marking of the portion of the tooling element.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one marking includes a tolerance marking, wherein the tolerance marking defines a range within which the portion of another tooling element is configured to be aligned.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the portion of the tooling element includes the support structure.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the overlay generated in step c) includes a plurality of layers.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the overlay generated in step c) including multiple overlay portions, each of the multiple overlay portions corresponding to a different focal height of the tooling element.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the workpiece is a leadframe.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising a step of selecting at least one reference position on the material handling system for providing relative position information for the at least one marking.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of imaging the at least one reference position.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the at least one reference position is a position of at least one of (1) a portion of a rail member of the material handling system, and (2) a portion of a riser member of the material handling system configured for supporting the workpiece in connection with an ultrasonic bonding operation.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the at least one reference position is a plurality of reference positions.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising a step of selecting at least one reference position on the workpiece to provide relative position information for the at least one marking, wherein the workpiece is positioned by the material handling system of the ultrasonic bonding system.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the at least one reference position is a plurality of reference positions.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the workpiece is a leadframe.

15. The method of claim 12 further including the step of imaging the at least one reference position.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein step c) includes creating the overlay to include the at least one marking identifying the position of at least the portion of the tooling element relative to at least one reference position.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein step c) includes creating the overlay to include a plurality of markings identifying positions of a plurality of portions of the tooling element relative to at least one reference position.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein step c) includes creating the overlay to include a plurality of markings identifying positions of a plurality of portions of the tooling element relative to at least one marking identifying at least one reference position.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein step c) includes creating the overlay including the at least one marking identifying the position of at least the portion of the tooling element relative to at least two reference positions.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the step c) creating the overlay includes identifying the position of at least the portion of the tooling element by way of a computer input.

21. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of storing the overlay in a memory of a computer of the ultrasonic bonding system.