System and method for cleaning wire bonding machines using functionalized surface microfeatures
A cleaning material, device, and method for predictably cleaning the capillary tube for a wire bonding machine in which the cleaning pad has a predetermined configuration appropriate for the particular wire bonding machine and a substrate having a defined functionalized surface topology and geometry which can be introduced into the wire bonding machine during the normal wire bonding operations. The cleaning material has a predetermined topography with a plurality of functional 3-dimensional (3D) microstructures that provide performance characteristics which are not possible with a non-functionalized and flat surface.
1. A method for cleaning a capillary tube of a wire bonding machine, the method comprising:
performing a wire bonding operation using the capillary tube of the wire bonding machine;
performing a cleaning operation using a cleaning device that has a cleaning media having a cleaning media base reference plane and a plurality of functionalized microfeatures arranged in an array having a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns of functionalized microfeatures and each functionalized microfeature has a body with a width, a height, a spacing between each body and dimensional properties that optimize the cleaning media so that one or more surfaces of the capillary tube are cleaned without modification or damage, each microfeature extending down from the cleaning media base reference plane and the cleaning media having a plurality of abrasive particles having a Mohs Hardness of 7 or greater uniformly distributed within the body of each functionalized microfeature, a cleaning layer applied across a top surface of the cleaning media having predetermined characteristics that clean contaminants from the one or more surfaces of the capillary tube, the cleaning layer applied on top of all of the functionalized microfeatures from the cleaning media base reference plane down into each negative functionalized microfeature to a bottom of each negative functionalized microfeature and one or more intermediate rigid or compliant underlayers underneath the cleaning media, wherein each underlayer has a modulus of elasticity range between more than 40-MPa to 600-MPa, each layer has a thickness between 25-um and 300-um and each layer has a hardness between 30 Shore A and 90 Shore A; and
wherein performing the cleaning operation further comprises cleaning, using the functionalized microfeatures, an inner surface of the capillary tube.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing a cleaning operation using the cleaning device further comprises using a polymer layer that is 10 to 100 um thick that has a predetermined specific gravity, elasticity, tackiness, planarity, thickness and porosity.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing a cleaning operation using the cleaning device further comprises using a plurality of negative microfeature that extends downwards away from the top surface of the cleaning media.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing the cleaning operation further comprising performing the cleaning operation of the capillary tube after a predetermined period of time.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing the cleaning operation further comprising performing the cleaning operation of the capillary tube without removing the capillary tube from the wire bonding device.
6. The method of claim 5 further comprising resuming the wire bonding operation once the cleaning operation is completed.