1. Material set and incoming tolerances
Start with what actually reaches the machine. State the glass panel outline and thickness, the number of through-glass vias and their pitch, and the film stack that has to be bonded to it. On the TGV alignment packaging machine we build for one glass substrate line, the incoming parts are a 191.59 × 172.52 mm glass panel and a 94.79 × 83.26 mm PI film applied four times per panel. Those numbers are not trivia: the panel size sets the vacuum chamber and the frame, while the repeat count per panel sets how many alignment cycles the machine has to survive in a shift.
Also record warpage and flatness as received, plus how the film is carried on its release liner. A film that curls after de-lamination will not present to a camera the same way twice, and no alignment algorithm recovers a part that moves between pick and place.
2. Alignment accuracy and how it is verified
Quote a single attachment accuracy figure, not a chain of sub-tolerances. The machine referenced above is specified at ±0.03 mm attachment accuracy, and that figure is only meaningful when the buyer states which datum pair it applies to: via-to-film edge, via-to-via, or film-to-film across the four placements. Say which one your downstream process reads.
Then define the verification method. Vision-assisted alignment with a measurement-capable CCD lets each bond produce recorded coordinates rather than a pass/fail lamp, so measurement values can be tagged on the image or pushed to a networked database. If your quality engineer wants per-lot statistics instead of operator judgement, ask for that measurement function explicitly in the specification.
3. Feeding method and positioning scheme
Decide early whether the operator or an actuator presents the parts. Manual feeding with camera photography for positioning — the arrangement on our reference machine for both the glass panel and the PI film — keeps the cell flexible and the capital low, which suits low-volume, high-mix TGV work. It also means you must specify the presentation fixture, the load/unload clearance, and the safe reach envelope, because the machine still has to interlock around a human hand.
If volume justifies automated feeding, say so at the request-for-quotation stage. Feeding changes the platform layout, the cycle model, and the footprint, not just the front panel.
4. Motion, holding, and bonding mechanism
Specify the three mechanisms separately, because they fail for different reasons:
- Motion: linear motor modules remove the backlash and settle time you inherit from belt drives, which matters directly at the ±0.03 mm class.
- Holding: an electromagnetic adsorption platform for the glass and an electrostatic ceramic platform for the film. State which material each platform is approved for, since a soft PI film is held differently from a rigid panel.
- Bonding: vacuum flat-plate bonding, with X, Y and θ adjustment. The bond sequence matters, so write it into the specification as pre-bonding, evacuation to the set negative pressure, then bonding.
That sequence — align once the negative pressure reaches the set value — is what the alignment control is built around on our semiconductor process equipment, and it is the reason bubbles that normally appear during mechanical contact do not appear after contact.
5. Cleanliness, environment, and contamination control
A TGV bond traps whatever is on the interface at the moment of contact, so the cleanliness spec belongs in the machine, not in the room description. The reference machine carries an FFU ion cleaning module for the work area. State what your own process tolerates: particle size at the bond interface, whether ionising air is required to kill static that would otherwise pull fibres to the film, and how often the module and filters are expected to be serviced.
Add the utilities you can actually supply — vacuum source and flow, compressed air quality, power, and the exhaust or vent requirement for the FFU unit — so the vendor sizes the machine to your facility instead of the reverse.
6. Throughput model and footprint
Never quote throughput as a single number. On the reference machine, glass vacuum bonding runs at roughly 8–10 pcs/h, and that figure already assumes each product needs four bond cycles. Multiply correctly for your stack, and state whether your target counts one placement or the complete panel.
Footprint has to be given as installed dimensions, not cabinet dimensions. The reference machine is L2260 × W1700 × H2300 mm including the vacuum pump and the height of the FFU. Give the vendor your floor plan and service aisle requirement, and they can tell you whether the pump can sit behind the frame or needs its own position.
7. Recipe management and changeover
High-mix production punishes machines that store only one parameter set. Our TGV line equipment carries multiple program formulas that can be matched one-to-one to different product processes, so changeover is a recipe selection rather than a mechanical rebuild. Ask for the recipe list to include the vacuum level, dwell time, bond force sequence, and vision recipe, and ask who can lock a released recipe once it is validated.
8. Safety, data, and traceability
For a manually loaded cell, a safety light grating on the access side is a requirement, not an option, and the specification should say what the machine does when the grating is interrupted mid-bond.
On the data side, decide what your factory will query later. The reference machine connects to MES and stores data on its own industrial computer. Write down the fields you need — unit serial, recipe used, measured offsets, vacuum trace, operator, timestamp — and the interface your MES expects. Retrying a data-integration conversation after acceptance testing is the most expensive step in this kind of purchase.
9. What to send with your enquiry
A workable enquiry for TGV packaging equipment carries eight items: the drawing of the glass panel with via map, the film stack with thicknesses, the datum pair the accuracy is measured on, the accuracy and throughput figures with their counting rules, the feeding method you intend to run, the utilities and cleanroom class on site, the recipe count you expect, and the MES or data fields you require. With those eight items, an equipment builder can answer whether an existing platform fits or a custom cell is needed. When a TGV packaging process is specified, Shenzhen PowerDe Automation Precision Equipment works from exactly this set of inputs, and can also take the alignment and bonding cell from concept through hardware testing.
