GB2559982A

GB2559982A - Tooling support and workpiece support assembly

Info

Publication number: GB2559982A
Application number: GB1702911.7A
Authority: GB
Inventors: randall Christopher; Short Neil; Ash Paddy
Original assignee: ASM Assembly Systems Singapore Pte Ltd
Current assignee: ASMPT SMT Singapore Pte Ltd
Priority date: 2017-02-23
Filing date: 2017-02-23
Publication date: 2018-08-29
Anticipated expiration: 2037-02-23
Also published as: GB201702911D0; CN108466194B; CN108466194A; GB2559982B

Abstract

A device for supporting an uneven workpiece has a deformable boundary projection 61, 63, which may accommodate, for example, a profiled semiconductor wafer or substrate, or the protrusions of a pin grid array (PGA). The boundary projection is positioned around a conduit opening at a head 35 of the device, where a vacuum or reduced pressure is generated. The boundary projection 61, 63 maintains the vacuum or reduced pressure when a workpiece is positioned on the head, to fix the workpiece in position. The boundary projection 61, 63 may include filaments or fibres; spaced in discrete bundles, or as a continuous ring. Sleeves 65, 67 may prevent fibre collapse under vacuum. The boundary projection may be a compliant gasket of rubber or polyurethane. A workpiece support assembly (figure 1) may have multiple devices locked to a platform, but removable and replaceable. A controller may detect absent or misaligned workpieces.

Description

(54) Title of the Invention: Tooling support and workpiece support assembly Abstract Title: A vacuum support for an uneven workpiece (57) A device for supporting an uneven workpiece has a deformable boundary projection 61,63, which may accommodate, for example, a profiled semiconductor wafer or substrate, or the protrusions of a pin grid array (PGA). The boundary projection is positioned around a conduit opening at a head 35 of the device, where a vacuum or reduced pressure is generated. The boundary projection 61, 63 maintains the vacuum or reduced pressure when a workpiece is positioned on the head, to fix the workpiece in position. The boundary projection 61, 63 may include filaments or fibres; spaced in discrete bundles, or as a continuous ring. Sleeves 65, 67 may prevent fibre collapse under vacuum. The boundary projection may be a compliant gasket of rubber or polyurethane. A workpiece support assembly (figure 1) may have multiple devices locked to a platform, but removable and replaceable. A controller may detect absent or misaligned workpieces.

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FIG. 2

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FIG. 3

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FIG. 4

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FIG. 5

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37

FIG. 6

FIG. 7

7/13

FIG. 8

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9/13

FIG. 10

FIG. 11

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FIG. 12A /13

FIG. 12C

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106

104

FIG. 12E

108

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(§6)

FIG. 13

TOOLING SUPPORT AND WORKPIECE SUPPORT ASSEMBLY

The present invention relates to a tooling support for supporting a workpiece having a plurality of projecting features on the supported surface, in particular an electronics workpiece, such as a pin grid array (PGA) which has a plurality of pins on the supported surface, and a workpiece support assembly which incorporates a plurality of such tooling supports.

Background and Prior Art

Workpieces, in particular electronics workpieces such as semiconductor wafers or substrates, must be securely supported throughout the assembly process for forming, for example, printed circuit boards. Vacuum-clamping is widely used to provide such a secure support, preventing movement of the workpiece with respect to the supporting tooling. Singulated workpieces may be supported on respective individual towers, sometimes known as Top Reference Singulated Substrate Tooling towers, or TRS towers for short. It is relatively straightforward to maintain an effective vacuum between a flat workpiece and its supporting tower, however problems arise if the workpiece is profiled. An example of such a profiled workpiece is a pin grid array (PGA), which comprises a plurality of pins projecting from the surface to be supported. The current trend is for such arrays to possess increasingly finer pitch features, making vacuum integrity more problematic. Other workpieces may include other features located on the underside. Such workpieces create gaps between the workpiece and the tooling, such that the integrity of the clamping vacuum may be lost. If this occurs, then not only is the workpiece at risk of movement, but it becomes difficult to detect missing parts, noting that such detection is generally achieved by the use of software which checks for differences in vacuum levels between the cases of a substrate being present and a substrate missing.

It is an aim of the present invention to overcome these problems, and provide tooling which can maintain required vacuum levels even when a profiled

- 2 workpiece is supported thereon. It is a related aim to minimise the insertion force on the supported workpiece.

Summary of the Invention

The above-identified aim is achieved by the use of tooling with compliant support surfaces.

In one aspect the present invention provides a tooling support for supporting a workpiece, the tooling support comprising a body which includes a head at an end thereof and a conduit within the body for fluid connection at a first end thereof to a vacuum source in use, a second end of the conduit opening at the head, whereby a vacuum or reduced pressure is applied to the head; wherein the head comprises an outwardly projecting resiliently deformable boundary projection, the distal surface of the boundary projection for contacting a workpiece thereon in use, the boundary projection being resiliently deformable such as to enable accommodation of at least one feature of the workpiece which projects from the workpiece in use; and wherein the boundary projection at least partially surrounds the conduit opening such as to substantially maintain a vacuum or reduced pressure in the region inside the boundary projection when a workpiece is supported thereon on the head and the vacuum source connected in use, so as to fix the workpiece on the head.

In another aspect the present invention provides a workpiece support assembly, comprising: a plurality of the above-described tooling supports for individually supporting respective ones of a plurality of workpieces; and a support platform to which the tooling supports are disposed.

Various preferred features of the present invention are set out in the attached dependent claims.

-3Brief Description of the Drawings

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described hereinbelow by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 schematically shows a perspective view of a workpiece support assembly in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 schematically shows a perspective view of one tooling support of the io workpiece support assembly of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 schematically shows a perspective view of the tooling support of FIG. 2, with the supporting collar removed;

FIG. 4 schematically shows one side view of the tooling support of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 schematically shows another side view of the tooling support of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 schematically shows a top view of the tooling support of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 schematically shows a bottom view of the tooling support of FIG. 2;

FIG. 8 schematically shows a vertical sectional view (along section l-l in FIG.

4) of the tooling support of FIG. 2;

FIG. 9 schematically shows a fragmentary perspective view of the support platform of the workpiece support assembly of FIG. 1;

FIG. 10 schematically shows a perspective view of an upper portion of a tooling support in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 schematically shows a simplified, enlarged sectional view of a workpiece in engagement with a tooling support in accordance with the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12A schematically shows a perspective view of a tooling support in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12B schematically shows a top view of the tooling support of the third embodiment;

FIG. 12C schematically shows an underside view of the tooling support of the third embodiment;

-4FIG. 12D schematically shows a sectional view of the tooling support of the third embodiment along the line A-A of FIG. 12B;

FIG. 12E schematically shows a top view of the gasket of the tooling support of the third embodiment; and

FIG. 13 schematically shows a sectional view of a portion of the gasket along the line B-B of FIG. 11E.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments of the Invention io The workpiece support assembly 3 comprises a plurality of tooling supports 5, in this embodiment arranged in an m x n array, here a 5x2 array, for individually supporting a plurality of workpieces W, which are typically transported in singulated fashion in a workpiece carrier, and a support platform 7 to which the tooling supports 5 are disposed. For ease of illustration, FIG. 1 illustrates the workpiece support assembly 3 with only a single one of the tooling supports 5 having a workpiece W supported thereon.

In this embodiment the tooling supports 5 are removable and replaceable modules, at least in part.

The tooling supports 5 each comprise a base 15 which is attached to the support platform 7, a body 17 which is movably coupled to the base 15, in this embodiment at least in the vertical or Z-axis direction, and a biasing element 19 which acts to bias the body 17 away from the base 15, and the support platform 7 on which the base 15 is mounted, in this embodiment upwardly, such as to allow for depression of the body 17 from an unbiased or rest position and return the body 17 to the unbiased position upon releasing the bias that is applied to the body 17.

In this embodiment the base 15 comprises a bore 20 which receives the body 17, here in sliding relation, a channel 21 in which a detent 57 on the body 17 is captively disposed, as will be described in more detail hereinbelow, such as to

-5constrain vertical movement of the body 17 in relation to the base 15 between a first, lower position and a second, upper position.

In this embodiment the base 15 further comprises a locking element 22 which acts to lock the body 17 in relation thereto at a desired Z-axis position, as will be described in more detail hereinbelow.

In this embodiment the body 17 comprises a first body part 31 and a second, supporting body part 33, at least part of which is movably coupled to the first io body part 31, here at least in a horizontal or X-Y plane and preferably allowing for rotation Θ relative to the vertical or Z-axis.

In this embodiment the second body part 33 includes a head 35 which provides a support surface 37 for supporting a workpiece W.

In this embodiment the head 35, or at least a region adjacent the support surface 37 thereof, is formed of a compliant material, which accommodates and engages features projecting from the supported surface of the workpiece W, such as pins on a pin grid array (PGA). This compliance allows for the pins of the substrate to engage into the compliant material to minimize movement of the supported workpiece W in relation to the support surface 37 of the head 35, and the resilience provided by this compliance allows for displacement of the workpiece W in a horizontal direction, such that the workpiece W can be displaced from a first, unbiased position to a second, biased reference position by operation of a referencing assembly (not illustrated), and, when released, the workpiece W returns (or 'springs back') to the first, unbiased position, so enabling the supported workpiece W to returned in the same orientation to a carrier (not illustrated).

The ‘spring back’ feature allows for workpieces to return to their original position (when they are picked up from the carrier tray) after they have been moved and aligned (by a TRS active surround as is known in the art) for

-6printing. This is so that they return into the carrier tray in the same orientation and position as when they were picked up.

In this embodiment the head 35 comprises a disk.

In this embodiment the body 17 further comprises a bearing assembly 39, which allows for rotation Θ of the supporting body part 33 relative to the vertical or Z-axis.

io In this embodiment the bearing assembly 39 comprises a pair of bearing races 40 and a thrust washer 41 located therebetween, which sets the position, here the height, of the supporting body part 33 and the head 35 thereof. Thrust washer 41 is, in this embodiment, made of hardened stainless steel and is push fit into the interior of the tooling.

With this configuration, the workpieces W are each individually referenced to a reference position and each returns to their original position without any control input on releasing the workpieces W.

In this embodiment the body 17 includes a stem 47 which extends into a respective bore 18 in the base 15, and is slideable within the bore 18 to allow for displacement of the body 17 in the vertical or Z-axis direction.

In this embodiment the stem 47 is fluidly connected to the supporting body part

33, and partially defines a fluid conduit 51, which extends between the supporting body part 33 and the support platform 7, which is fluidly connected to a vacuum or reduced pressure source 52, whereby a vacuum or reduced pressure is applied to the support surface 37 of the head 35 of the supporting body part 33, such as to fix a supported workpiece W at a defined position on the supporting body part 33.

In this embodiment the body 17 includes a detent 57, here an outward projection on the stem 47, which is captively located within the channel 21 in

-7the base 15, and defines the extent of movement of the supporting body 17 in the vertical or Z-axis in relation to the base 15.

The supporting body 17 further comprises a boundary projection in the form of a plurality of filamental elements 61, each comprising a plurality of filaments or fibers 63, which project a distance d beyond the support surface 37 of the head 35, here substantially corresponding to a projecting length of features on a supported surface of the workpiece W, such that the distal (i.e. upper) surface of the boundary projection contacts the workpiece in use.

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The height ‘d’ of the fibers 63 in relation to the substrate is variable by adjusting four grub screws 68 located on the underside of the body 17. In this way the vacuum sealing ability of the tooling support may be fine-tuned.

In this embodiment the filamental elements 61 each comprise a bundle of elongate fibers 63, here arranged in a vertical or Z-axis direction, such that features on the supported surface of the workpiece W can penetrate between the spaces between the fibers 63.

In this embodiment the filamental elements 61 have a bundle diameter of about 2 mm, preferably between about 1 mm and about 2 mm, optionally between about 1.5 mm and about 2.5 mm.

In this embodiment each of the fibers 63 has a substantially circular cross25 section, having a diameter of 100 pm, preferably between about 50 pm and about 150 pm, optionally between about 75 pm and about 125 pm.

In this embodiment the fibers 63 are formed of a plastic material, optionally a polyamide or nylon. In this embodiment the fibers 63 are formed of a material referred to as “Nylon 66”.

In this embodiment the filamental elements 61 are disposed in spaced relation, outwardly around the support surface 37 of the head 35.

-8ln this embodiment the filamental elements 61 are disposed substantially on a ring, here an annulus.

While in this embodiment sixteen bundles of fibers are shown, the number of bundles and hence spacing therebetween may be selected depending on the quantity and pitch of pins of the workpiece to be supported. For example, a workpiece having a 1mm pin pitch may be suited to a tooling support having sixteen bundles of fibers, while a workpiece having a pin pitch of over 1mm may be better suited to a tooling support having eighteen bundles of fibers, io The suitability of a tooling support will primarily depend on the insertional force required and the level of vacuum sealing provided by the projecting boundary fibers. A greater number of bundles will lead to a reduced vacuum loss but correspondingly greater insertional force, and vice versa.

In this embodiment the body 17 includes an inner sleeve 65 which is located radially-inwardly adjacent of the filamental elements 61, such as to prevent the filamental elements 61 collapsing inwardly under an applied vacuum.

In this embodiment the body 17 includes an outer sleeve 67 which is located radially-outwardly adjacent of the filamental elements 61, such as to prevent the filamental elements 61 collapsing outwardly under an applied vacuum.

With this arrangement of the filamental elements 61, which accommodate the features projecting from the supported surface of the workpiece W, it has been established that the workpiece W can be held to the support surface 37 of the head 35 with a sufficiently-low vacuum as not to cause damage to the workpiece W, which is typically a sensitive electronics component, as the filamental elements 61 act as a restriction or curtain wall to the applied vacuum.

Furthermore, the leakage of the vacuum or reduced pressure at the junction of the filamental elements 61 and the supported surface of the workpiece W is minimized, which provides a sensitivity which allows for a controller 81 to

-9discern when a workpiece W is present or absent or misaligned, so preventing operation with an incomplete set of supported workpieces W.

In this embodiment the support platform 7 comprises a support body 71 and a locking member 73 which is movably disposed in relation to the support body 71 between a first, locking position, in which the locking member 73 engages the locking elements 22 of the respective tooling supports 5 to lock the vertical or Z-axis position of the bodies 17 of the tooling supports 5 at a desired position, here the height, and a second, rest position, in which the locking io member 73 is dis-engaged from the locking elements 22 of the tooling supports 5 so as to allow for movement of the bodies 17 of the tooling supports in the vertical or Z-axis direction.

In this embodiment the locking member 73 comprises a locking plate 75 which includes a plurality of apertures 77 through which extend respective ones of the bases 15 of the tooling supports 5, and the locking plate 75 is slideably disposed with respect to the support body 71, such that, on sliding the locking plate 75 to the locking position, a surface of each of the apertures 77 engages the respective ones of the locking elements 22 to lock the vertical or Z-axis position of the bodies 17 of the tooling supports 5 at a desired position, here the height.

FIG. 10 schematically shows a perspective view of the upper portion of a tooling support 80 in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention. Tooling support 80 shares many components similar to support 5 of the previous embodiment, including a support surface 37, outer sleeve 67 and all internal features as previously described, and these reference numerals have been retained. However, support 80 differs in the form of boundary projection used. Here, the boundary projection comprises a continuous surrounding wall of elongate fibers 83, here arranged in a vertical or Z-axis direction, which projects a distance d beyond the support surface 37 of the head, here substantially corresponding to a projecting length of features on a supported surface of the workpiece W, such that the distal (i.e. upper) surface

-10of the boundary projection contacts the workpiece in use. Features on the supported surface of the workpiece W can penetrate between the fibers 83. The wall of fibers 83 is produced by mounting suitably shaped bundles of fibers in close proximity, so that a substantially continuous wall is formed as the bundles splay out from the base mounting.

This embodiment is advantageous compared to the previously-described embodiment in that the vacuum or reduced pressure region within the boundary projection may be more easily maintained due to the lack of gaps io between the fibers. However, this is somewhat offset by the increased insertion force necessary to support the workpiece.

In this embodiment, the thickness of the boundary projection may be about 2 mm, preferably between about 1 mm and about 2 mm, optionally between about 1.5 mm and about 2.5 mm.

In this embodiment, each of the fibers 83 has a substantially circular crosssection, having a diameter of 100 pm, preferably between about 50 pm and about 150 pm, optionally between about 75 pm and about 125 pm.

In this embodiment the fibers 83 are formed of a plastic material, optionally a polyamide or nylon. In this embodiment the fibers 83 are formed of Nylon 66. As noted above, in practice there will be a balance between the arrangement of fibers and the insertion force, with the optimal balance being dependent on the type of workpiece to be supported. Other embodiments of the present invention (not shown), may therefore comprise boundary projections with alternative arrangements of fibers, with the thickness of the boundary projection, spacing between fibers, and I or grouping arrangement (if any) of fibers being selected to provide the optimum balance for the required workpiece.

FIG. 11 schematically shows a simplified, enlarged sectional view of a workpiece W in engagement with a tooling support in accordance with the

-11 second embodiment of the present invention. Here, the workpiece W comprises a pin-grid array (PGA), and for simplicity two pins, 85, 86, which project downwardly from the workpiece W are shown (in practice many more pins may be projecting from the workpiece W, over some or all of its extent).

Pin 85 substantially overlies the fibers 83 of the tooling support head, and so acts to displace affected fibers from their neutral, substantially straight and vertical position, with a relatively low insertion force. While so accommodated within the fiber boundary projection (i.e. accommodated so that the projecting feature of the workpiece is substantially located within the boundary projection io such as to be surrounded by the boundary projection), vacuum integrity within the boundary projection is substantially maintained. It is possible, though unlikely, that one or more fibers 83 may be bent over under direct pressure from pin 85, so that they do not contribute to accommodating the pin. In this case those bent-over fibers (not shown) will be less effective at maintaining vacuum integrity. However, the remaining fibers will still be effective, and any decrease in overall effectiveness will be small. Pin 86, which is located more centrally of workpiece W than pin 85, overlies compliant support surface 37 of the tooling support head. During engagement, the surface 37 is resiliently deformed in the proximity of the pin 86, which, as described above, helps to prevent relative movement between workpiece W and the tooling support.

It should be noted that engagement of a workpiece W with a tooling support in accordance with the above-described first embodiment of the present invention would be very similar to that shown in FIG. 11.

A tooling support 90 in accordance with a further embodiment of the present invention is schematically shown in FIGs. 12A - 12E. This tooling support 90 is suitable for supporting profiled workpieces, though it should be noted that this embodiment is not intended to support of PGA-type workpieces. The tooling support 90 comprises a body 92 which in use may be attached to a support platform (not shown), similar to that shown in FIG. 1, via a stem (not shown) similar to that described with reference to the embodiment of FIGs 1 to

9. The body 92 comprises a central fluid conduit 94 extending therethrough in

-12 the vertical or Z-axis direction, for connection at its lower end to a vacuum or reduced pressure source. A head 96 is attached to body 92 by screws or bolts 98. Head 96 includes a cavity 100 recessed into its lower surface, in fluid connection with conduit 94, and having a greater dimension in the X-Y plane.

Head 96 further includes a plurality of fluid passages 102 extending therethrough in the vertical or Z-axis direction, in fluid connection with cavity 100, and hence in turn conduit 94.

In this embodiment, a boundary projection in the form of a resiliently10 deformable gasket 104 is provided on the upper surface of head 96, surrounding a central region 106 which is in fluid connection with the upper openings of fluid passages 102. The distal (i.e. upper) surface of gasket 104 forms a support surface 108 for contacting and supporting a workpiece W (not shown) thereupon. Since the gasket 104 is resiliently deformable, a profiled workpiece may be supported thereupon such that features which project from the workpiece by a distance substantially equal or less to the thickness p of the gasket 104 are embedded within the gasket material. The gasket 104 provides a pressure barrier, such that the central region 106 internal of the gasket may be kept at a lower pressure in use than the surroundings (which would generally be at atmospheric pressure), the reduced pressure I vacuum being provided by a vacuum source (not shown) fluidly connected to the central region 106 via the fluid passages 102 and conduit 94. The gasket 104 may for example have a thickness p in the range of approximately 0.1 to 4.0 mm, optionally approximately 1.0 to 3.0 mm

The gasket 104 is formed as a layered structure, as shown in FIG. 13. The upper surface 108, which in use contacts the underside of a substrate or workpiece W (not shown), is on a protective shielding layer 110, which acts to protect the gasket from damage during use. Suitable materials for layer 110 include rubber or polyurethane for example, in a layer thickness of approximately 200pm to approximately 4mm. This layer 110 is preferably nontacky to reduce the risk of unwanted adherence of the gasket to the substrate, and thus to avoid damage to the gasket upon removal of the workpiece W. In

-13 alternative embodiments, layer 110 could alternatively be tacky to provide greater adherence if required. This is bonded via a bonding layer 112 of suitable adhesive to a compressive, resiliently deformable layer 114, which forms the bulk of the gasket 104. In this embodiment, the deformable layer

114 is formed of closed-cell silicon foam. Suitable thicknesses are between approximately 0.5 mm to approximately 3.5 mm. The layer 114 is in turn bonded to the head 96 via a second bonding layer 116 of suitable adhesive. A variety of commercially available adhesives may be used for layers 112 and 114, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.

io

Finally, it will be understood that the present invention has been described in its preferred embodiments and can be modified in many different ways without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

For example, the gasket may take various forms, for example the entire gasket may be formed from, for example, rubber or polyurethane.

Claims

1. A tooling support for supporting a workpiece, the tooling support comprising a body which includes a head at an end thereof and a

5 conduit within the body for fluid connection at a first end thereof to a vacuum source in use, a second end of the conduit opening at the head, whereby a vacuum or reduced pressure is applied to the head; wherein the head comprises an outwardly projecting boundary projection, the distal surface of the boundary projection for contacting a io workpiece thereon in use, the boundary projection being resiliently deformable such as to enable accommodation of at least one feature of the workpiece which projects from the workpiece in use; and wherein the boundary projection at least partially surrounds the conduit opening such as to substantially maintain a vacuum or reduced

15 pressure in the region inside the boundary projection when a workpiece is supported on the head and the vacuum source connected in use, so as to fix the workpiece on the head.

2. The tooling support of claim 1, wherein the head comprises a support

20 surface for supporting a workpiece.

3. The tooling support of claim 2, wherein the boundary projection comprises a plurality of filaments or fibers which are disposed outwardly around the support surface of the head and which project beyond the

25 support surface of the head.

4. The tooling support of claim 3, wherein the boundary projection comprises a plurality of filamental elements, each comprising a plurality of the filaments or fibers, which filamental elements are disposed in

30 spaced relation, outwardly around the support surface of the head.

5. The tooling support of claim 4, wherein the filamental elements each comprise a bundle of elongate fibers, such that features on the

-15 supported surface of the workpiece can penetrate between the spaces between the fibers.

6. The tooling support of any of claims 3 to 5, wherein the filaments or

5 fibers are disposed substantially on a ring, optionally an annulus.

7. The tooling support of any of claims 3 to 6, wherein the plurality of filaments or fibers project beyond the support surface of the head by a distance substantially corresponding to a projecting length of features io on a supported surface of the workpiece.

8. The tooling support of any of claims 3 to 7, wherein the body includes an inner sleeve which is located radially-inwardly adjacent of the fibers, so as to prevent the fibers collapsing inwardly under an applied

15 vacuum.

9. The tooling support of any of claims 3 to 8, wherein the body includes an outer sleeve which is located radially-outwardly adjacent of the fibers, so as to prevent the fibers collapsing outwardly under an applied

20 vacuum.

10. The tooling support of any of claims 1 to 9, wherein the head comprises an annular disk.

25

11. The tooling support of any preceding claim, wherein the head, or at least a region of the head adjacent the support surface thereof, is formed of a compliant material, which accommodates and engages a feature projecting from the workpiece in use.

30

12. The tooling support of claim 1, wherein the boundary projection comprises a compliant material for supporting the workpiece, which compliant material accommodates and engages a feature projecting from the workpiece in use.

-16

13. The tooling support of claim 11 or claim 12, wherein the or each compliant material has a resilience which allows for displacement of the workpiece in a horizontal direction, such that the workpiece can be displaced from a first, unbiased position to a second, biased reference

5 position by operation of a referencing assembly, and, when released, the workpiece returns to the first, unbiased position.

14. The tooling support of any preceding claim, wherein the head, or at least a region of the head adjacent the support surface thereof, is io displaceable in a plane, optionally a horizontal orX-Y plane.

15. The tooling support of any preceding claim, wherein the head, or at least a region of the head adjacent the support surface thereof, is rotatable to allow for rotation relative to a direction orthogonal to the

15 plane, optionally a vertical or Z-axis direction.

16. The tooling support of any of the preceding claims, wherein the body comprises a first body part and a second, supporting body part, at least part of which is movably coupled to the first body part and includes the

20 head.

17. The tooling support of claim 16, wherein the body further comprises a bearing assembly which allows for rotation of the supporting body part relative to the first body part.

18. The tooling support of any of the preceding claims, further comprising: a base to which the body is movably coupled; and a biasing element which acts to bias the body away from the base to an extended position, so as to allow for depression of the body from the

30 extended position to a biased position on applying an external bias to the body and return the body to the extended position on releasing the external bias as applied to the body.

-17

19. The tooling support of claim 18, wherein the base comprises a bore which receives the body, optionally in sliding relation.

20. The tooling support of claim 19, wherein the body includes a stem which

5 extends into the bore in the base and is slideable within the bore.

21. The tooling support of claim 20, wherein the stem is fluidly connected to the head, and defines the conduit.

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22. The tooling support of any of claims 18 to 21, wherein the body includes a detent and the base includes a channel in which the detent of the body is captively disposed, so as to constrain movement of the body in relation to the base between the extended position and a depressed position.

23. The tooling support of any of claims 18 to 23, wherein the base further comprises a locking element which acts to lock the body in relation to the base at a desired position, optionally a vertical or Z-axis position.

20

24. A workpiece support assembly, comprising:

a plurality of tooling supports of any of claims 1 to 23 for individually supporting respective ones of a plurality of workpieces; and a support platform to which the tooling supports are disposed.

25 25. The assembly of claim 24, wherein the tooling supports are arranged in an m x n array, where m is 1,2 or greater and n is 1,2 or greater.

26. The assembly of claim 24 or claim 25, wherein the support platform comprises a support body and a locking member which is movably

30 disposed in relation to the support body between a first, locking position, in which the locking member engages locking elements of the respective tooling supports to lock the bodies of the tooling supports at a desired position, optionally a height in the vertical or Z-axis direction,

-18 and a second, rest position, in which the locking member is dis-engaged from the locking elements of the tooling supports so as to allow for movement of the bodies of the tooling supports, optionally in the vertical or Z-axis direction.

27. The assembly of claim 26, wherein the locking member comprises a locking plate which includes a plurality of apertures, and the locking plate is slideably disposed to the support body, such that, on sliding the locking plate to the locking position, a surface of each of the apertures io engages the respective ones of the locking elements to lock the position of the bodies of the tooling supports at the desired position.

28. The assembly of any of claims 24 to 27, wherein the tooling supports are removable and replaceable modules, at least in part.

29. The assembly of any of claims 24 to 28, further comprising a controller for detecting the absence or mis-alignment of a workpiece from the tooling support by detection of an extent of the vacuum or reduced pressure.

Intellectual

Property

Office

Application No: GB1702911.7 Examiner: Dr Gareth W John