Microelectronic components are used in computers, communications equipment, televisions and many other products. Microelectronic components may be packaged devices with a number of leads configured to engage corresponding contact sites on a printed circuit board (PCB), or they may be unpackaged devices that are connected to corresponding contact sites on the PCB via surface mounting or wire bonding techniques. In the computer industry, typical microelectronic components include processors, memory devices and other sophisticated components with integrated circuitry (IC). For example, one type of memory device is a TSOP memory component (TSOP) that has a memory device, a protective package enclosing the device, and a plurality of very thin leads projecting from the package. Since the electronics manufacturing industry is highly competitive, it is important to maximize the throughput of manufacturing or installing TSOPs and other types of microelectronic components.
To prepare a packaged microelectronic component for assembly with a PCB, the leads must be configured to mate with the PCB. Additionally, any protective items other than the package enclosing the IC device should be separated from the packaged components. For example, prior to cutting and bending the leads of a TSOP, these devices generally have a protective frame surrounding the packaged device and attached to the ends of the leads. The frame protects the TSOP leads from being bent or damaged until the TSOP is ready to be mounted to a PCB. Accordingly, to prepare the TSOP for being mounted to a PCB, the TSOP is placed in a stamping machine that cuts the leads to remove the frame from the finished TSOP and to configure the leads to mate with the PCB. After the leads have been cut, the finished TSOP and the frame are removed from the stamping machine.
One manufacturing concern with handling TSOPs is that it is time consuming to separate the finished TSOP from the frame after the leads have been cut. In a typical application, a machine operator manually uses tweezers or a vacuum device to separately remove the finished TSOP and the frame. However, manually reaching into the stamping machine and grasping only the TSOP or the frame with a hand-held tool is difficult because the TSOPs and frames are small, delicate pieces. Accordingly, it is time consuming to reach in and manually separate the finished TSOP from the frame.
Another manufacturing concern with conventional manufacturing processes is that manually removing the frame from the finished TSOP may damage the TSOP. For example, because these components are so small, it is difficult to separate the TSOP from the frame without inadvertently bending the leads of the TSOP. In some instances, the leads of the TSOP may be damaged because the operator may not have a good grasp of the TSOP and it may fall to the floor or in the stamping machine. In other instances, the operator may inadvertently bump the TSOP leads against the frame in a manner that damages the delicate leads of the TSOP. Therefore, manually removing the finished TSOPs from the frames may damage some of the finished TSOPs.