An improved method for pick and place equipment operation is provided by an improved method for identifying the reference die on a wafer. A recording of good die, partial die, mirror die, and partial mirror die information about the neighboring dies about the reference die is formed by recording step is performed by starting at the reference die and moving clockwise about the reference die one die at a time to form a stored neighborhood matrix. Searching and identifying the reference die on a wafer includes aligning the wafer table with a wafer thereon at the reference die location coordinates determined by the recording step and starting at this location moving the wafer table one die at a time about the aligned reference die recording the neighboring die or partial die as full good die, partial die, mirror die, or partial mirror die and comparing to the information about dies or partial dies neighboring said reference die to identify the reference die.