A ball forming device includes a first current control circuit to control discharge current arranged between a leading end of a wire and one electrode of a discharge continuing power source for causing discharge current to flow after dielectric breakdown, a second current control circuit to control shunting of discharge current arranged between a discharge electrode and the other electrode of the discharge continuing power source, and a fixed resistor connected to the second current control circuit in parallel as a shunt and controls current flowing through the second current control circuit, thereby a discharge voltage value is adequately changed.

A wire bonding method comprises: preparing a wire bonding apparatus; a step of forming a free air ball; a first height measuring step of measuring the height of a first electrode by detecting whether the free air ball is grounded to the first electrode; a second height measuring step of measuring the height of a second electrode by detecting whether the free air ball is grounded to the second electrode; a first bonding step of controlling the height of a bonding tool based on the measurement result in the first height measuring step, and bonding the free air ball to the first electrode; and a second bonding step of controlling the height of the bonding tool based on the measurement result in the second height measuring step, and bonding a wire to the second electrode to connect the first and the second electrodes. Thus, electrodes can be correctly bonded.

The present invention comprises: a spool (10); a clamper (22); a torch electrode (31); a high-voltage power source circuit (30); a non-bonding detection circuit (40); a first changeover switch (50) switching a connection between the spool (10) and the high-voltage power source circuit (30) or the non-bonding detection circuit (40); and a relay (53) turning on/off a connection between the clamper (22) and a spool side of the first changeover switch (50), and comprises a control part (60) that sets the first changeover switch (50) to the high-voltage power source circuit side and turns off the relay (53) to generate electric discharge, and that sets the first changeover switch (50) to the non-bonding detection circuit side and turns on the relay (53) to perform non-bonding detection. Due to this configuration, electric corrosion of a wire clamper can be suppressed and non-bonding detection can be carried out with a simple configuration.

The present invention comprises: a spool (10); a damper (22); a torch electrode (31); a high-voltage power source circuit (30); a non-bonding detection circuit (40); a first changeover switch (50) switching a connection between the spool (10) and the high-voltage power source circuit (30) or the non-bonding detection circuit (40); and a relay (53) turning on/off a connection between the damper (22) and a spool side of the first changeover switch (50), and comprises a control part (60) that sets the first changeover switch (50) to the high-voltage power source circuit side and turns off the relay (53) to generate electric discharge, and that sets the first changeover switch (50) to the non-bonding detection circuit side and turns on the relay (53) to perform non-bonding detection. Due to this configuration, electric corrosion of a wire damper can be suppressed and non-bonding detection can be carried out with a simple configuration.

A ball forming device includes a first current control circuit to control discharge current arranged between a leading end of a wire and one electrode of a discharge continuing power source for causing discharge current to flow after dielectric breakdown, a second current control circuit to control shunting of discharge current arranged between a discharge electrode and the other electrode of the discharge continuing power source, and a fixed resistor connected to the second current control circuit in parallel as a shunt and controls current flowing through the second current control circuit, thereby a discharge voltage value is adequately changed.

A discharge examination device for examining discharge of a wire-bonding apparatus that applies a voltage between a torch electrode and a wire to procure the discharge therebetween includes a current detection unit, a timer unit and a discharge determination unit. The current detection unit detects a discharge current flowing through the wire. The timer unit measures discharge detection time after application of the voltage before detection of the discharge current. The discharge determination unit determines whether or not the discharge is abnormal based on the discharge detection time. With this, a discharge examination device, a wire-bonding apparatus, and a discharge examination method that are capable of detecting abnormality of discharge are provided.

A wire bonding method comprises: preparing a wire bonding apparatus; a step of forming a free air ball; a first height measuring step of measuring the height of a first electrode by detecting whether the free air ball is grounded to the first electrode; a second height measuring step of measuring the height of a second electrode by detecting whether the free air ball is grounded to the second electrode; a first bonding step of controlling the height of a bonding tool based on the measurement result in the first height measuring step, and bonding the free air ball to the first electrode; and a second bonding step of controlling the height of the bonding tool based on the measurement result in the second height measuring step, and bonding a wire to the second electrode to connect the first and the second electrodes. Thus, electrodes can be correctly bonded.

A ball forming device 50 for forming a ball 43 at a tip of a wire 42 by producing discharge between a torch electrode 48 and the tip of the wire 42, the device includes: a current supply unit 54 configured to supply a ball-forming current between the torch electrode 48 and the tip of the wire 42; and a current control unit 57 configured to control the current supply unit 54, so that a signal of the ball-forming current for a predetermined period includes a first period in which the signal takes a predetermined current value and a second period including a triangle wave. With this, it is possible to provide a ball forming device, a wire-bonding apparatus, and a ball formation method that are capable of suppressing formation of deformed balls.