Cooling And Compression Clamp For Short Lead Power Devices

A clamp configured to be coupled to a printed circuit board to cool and compress one or more electrical connections subject to repeated power and thermal cycling, the clamp comprising:

• a conductive column configured to compress an electrical connection between a drain lead from a transistor of a transistor package and a printed circuit board trace that supplies energy to an RF plasma output network, and configured to draw thermal energy away from the first drain lead to cool the first drain lead;
• a load spreading plate from which the conductive column extends;
• and
• a fastener extending from the load spreading plate, the load spreading plate is an insulator that electrically isolates the fastener from the conductive column, the fastener is configured to:
• cooperate with the circuit board to connect the clamp to the circuit board;
• and compress the load spreading plate against the conductive column to compress the electrical connection.

A circuit board for an RF plasma generator that provides solid state power for thin films processing equipment, the circuit board comprising:

• a first transistor mounted to the circuit board with a retention member;
• a first drain lead from the first transistor;
• a first printed circuit board trace for supplying energy to an RF plasma output network, the first printed circuit board trace connected to the first drain lead to provide a first electrical connection therebetween;
• a first conductive column compressing the first electrical connection between the first printed circuit board trace and the first drain lead, and configured to draw thermal energy away from the first drain lead to cool the first drain lead;
• a load spreading plate from which the first conductive column extends;
• and
• a fastener extending from the load spreading plate, the load spreading plate is an insulator that electrically isolates the fastener from the first conductive column, the fastener is configured to:
• cooperate with the circuit board to connect the clamp to the circuit board;
• and compress the load spreading plate against the first conductive column to compress the first electrical connection.