Has anyone tried or have opinions about the possibility of pick and placing die with one of the sub $10k pick and place machines?
I'd like it to be able to use vision to rotationally align (at least square up, but if the vision is able to detect asymmetric bond pad patterns or any patterns on a component to correct for arbitrary rotational alignment, even better) and pick and place a 1mm x 1mm, 0.1mm thick die from a waffle-pack with an X-Y accuracy of say 0.025mm.
Can any of these machines come close without using fiducials (open-loop with respect to vision, relying on stage control)? If not, what types of shapes of fiducials do the softwares support? Could a fiducial be, for example, another die that sits beside the die being placed or the end of a PCB trace that approaches the die or a pad on the die? Do any machines support writing arbitrary or more flexible alignment algorithms? Which machines have people in the world created software for that enables writing your own fiducial-finding/alignment algorithms?
Are any of the nozzles that work with these machines and the way the machines operate the Z axis delicate enough to not break a 0.1mm die? Are there any issues with machining custom collets to fit on the end of off-the-shelf nozzles?