Picking up and handling microchips, components, wafers and, more generally, delicate parts and substrates requires suitable, safe and dexterous tools.
Depending on the application and the affinity of the user, the choice will be between tweezers for capture gripping or vacuum pens for suction gripping.
Our pliers offer
- The most common grip is with tweezers. MICROTEST offers a complete range of high-performance tools, manufactured, refined, tested and packaged in Switzerland.
Our manufacturing partner uses materials – and in particular stainless steel – of the highest quality, and has a finishing workshop where the staff demonstrate expertise on a par with haute joaillerie. The very wide range of tools manufactured includes 3 major families requiring ultra-precision touch-trigger accuracy:
- Goldsmiths and watchmakers ;
- Medicine – surgery ;
- Microelectronics.
The main categories of pliers are :
- SMD (Surface Mount Device) clamps with a particularly fine finish and ergonomic design for gripping and positioning components. Ideal for microelectronics assembly, laboratories, clean rooms, and PCB repair or rework.
- Inverted grippers, for handling particularly fragile parts, thanks to their uniform tension. They are recommended for very fine precision applications, work under the microscope and delicate assembly applications.
- Wafer clamps, designed for thin metal, glass or silicone substrates, while avoiding scratches and breakage. Tip widths range from 5mm to 65mm, with or without plastic pad.
- Mini clamps are shorter, lighter and specially designed for smaller work areas, such as under equipment. They are ideal for specimen handling, sorting or assembly under the microscope, electronic assembly, watchmaking and medical applications.
- Clamp kits offer an assortment of clamps of a defined type. This is a practical option for the most commonly used pliers.
Materials and type of pliers :
- High-precision pliers:
They are available in several materials, the most common of which is stainless steel in various versions depending on the properties required. Other materials include titanium, nickel, copper and bronze. They can be all-metal or with a specific tip in plastic, ceramic, diamond, etc., depending on the specific requirements.
There’s a suitable material for every requirement (magnetism, hardness, corrosion resistance, acid resistance, cleanroom, temperature, biocompatibility).
Precision tools with a particularly fine finish, pliers are available with a wide range of tip shapes. These pliers benefit from a particularly advanced finish and manual control to ensure perfect symmetry and tip balance, and a superior anti-reflective, anti-marking satin finish.
- Coated pliers: PTFE, epoxy, insulator, rubber, diamond or gold, to add a special property or protection to the pliers. The coating can be applied to the entire pliers, just the tip, or just the body.
- Coatings are used either to provide protection or to add a property to the metal (e.g. clamps for ESD applications).
- Cutting pliers with sharp tips and cutting precision for flexible wires such as copper, gold, silver, magnetic wire and springs.
- Plastic-tipped or all-plastic pliers also offer specific properties: carbon fiber, PVDF, delrin, conductive plastic, etc.
- All-plastic pliers are a very economical version with a lower precision tip.
- Pliers with ceramic tips, or all-ceramic tips, are used for special handling in corrosive environments or at high temperatures, when very rigid tips are required.
The materials used and the way the pliers are manufactured ensure a virtually infinite service life, barring aggressive chemical handling or accidental breakage.
Tailor-made solutions are also possible, whether in terms of material or tip specificity (particular roughness, shape, angle), we are flexible and will do our best to work on your projects to meet your needs.
Our Vacuum Pens offer
Microtest also offers a complete range of vacuum handling tools, suitable for picking up chips and components, or for wafers and substrates from 4″ to 12″ in size.
Depending on your application and the number of operators involved, it’s important to choose the right tool, which Microtest and its American partner have been offering for many years.
For wafers, the 3 main types of models are :
Adjust-A-Vac
Wafer Wand
The classic vacuum pump is suitable for regular, stationary use. It takes up very little space when working on a table or bench.
Two main models are available in several versions: the simple pump with pen and paddle adapted to the size of your wafers; or the pump with power variator allowing modulation of vacuum flow power. A liquid crystal indicator allows you to monitor the flow rate.
Stand-alone pens:
Pac-Vac
Porta-Vac
Porta-Wand
Particularly useful for laboratories where operators need to move from one machine to another, these models are the most autonomous.
Each has its own specifications, so it’s your uses that will determine your choice.
The Pac-Vac is a small nomadic tool that can be clipped onto a pocket, for example, for occasional use.
The Porta Vac is a wireless, replaceable-battery system available in kits for every wafer size.
The Porta wand is the most practical model, as it is rechargeable, allowing the pen to run perfectly.
Tools for internal vacuum networks :
For more intensive use on wafers, complete ready-to-use kits are available, comprising a connecting tube, a pen and a paddle adapted to the desired wafer size.
A wide range of products is available: pipe diameters, fittings, push-button or sliding pens, pen stands, and the paddle, which can be bent up, down, right or left as required.
An identical version is available for component acquisition tools:
Mini Handi-Vac pump : a very simple pocket-sized pump, it’s the mini version that’s economical yet effective, so you can always have it with you.
The classic vacuum pen, the Pen-Vac. Aluminum-coated, with tip and suction cup, it’s the ideal tool for everyday work. The vacuum is activated by pressing the button.
Several versions are available, with a number of suction cups and a choice of predefined diameters to suit your needs.
The more powerful table-top pumps can be connected to the mains supply. They are available in several options, with or without foot pedal control, and with or without variable power drive, for more intensive handling. Here, too, a number of ready-to-use kits are available, depending on the type of component to be handled.
Network systems are also available, for production workshops and mass production.
The range is fully modular, making it quick and easy to replenish each accessory as needed. The suction cups are all interchangeable and adaptable to the entire range.
The range of suction padsThe range is very broad, in terms of materials, properties and dimensions: fixed-tip tips for very small parts (from 0.20mm to 2mm), for which the use of a vacuum network system is recommended; standard vacuum cups (from 2.38mm to 25.4mm), available in ESD (Buna-N or black Silicone) or non-ESD (Blue Ultra Pure or clear Silicone) versions; specific convex and rigid tips for lenses and optics (from 3.18mm to 25.4mm).
All tips are available in straight or curved versions, so you can make your choice according to your needs.
These are efficient, easy-to-use, lightweight yet robust tools.
Concerning wafer pick-up pallets are made of Peek and ESD. All these tools are cleanroom-compatible, and a special range is available for temperature applications.
Vacuum pallets for 4′ to 8′ wafers
Secure round pallet for 12′ wafers
The Microtest team is at your disposal for any information you may require on these tools. Contact your sales representative or the office directly to discuss the specifics of your needs.
100% of the customers who have specified their needs have found an appropriate and effective response; we listen to you!