Apparatus for controlling the temperature of an integrated circuit package
AssigneeTexas Instruments Incorporated
InventorAlfred C. Peters
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A thermoelectric heat pump is used to maintain the temperature of an integrated circuit under test. Temperature sensors placed on two sides of the integrated circuit measure and generate signals indicative of the temperature at the two surfaces, and the average of the two measured temperatures is compared against a value of a preset temperature to change the temperature of the heat pump to stabilize the temperature of the integrated circuit to a desired value.
Claims19
An apparatus for controlling the temperature of an integrated circuit device and maintaining said integrated circuit device at a preset temperature, comprising;
- a variable temperature device adjacent said integrated circuit, two temperature sensing devices mounted on two sides of the integrated circuit device, each sensing device having an output, and a controller circuit for comparing the output from each integrated circuit device with a signal indicative of said preset temperature, to maintain said integrated circuit device at said preset temperature.
An apparatus for measuring the temperature of an integrated circuit device and maintaining said integrated circuit device at a preset temperature, comprising, a test fixture including a heat pump, a heat pump control system, first and second heat sensors for producing signals indicative of the temperature sensed by the heat sensors, and a socket for holding said integrated circuit device, said heat pump having said first heat sensor mounted on one surface thereof, said socket having the second heat sensor mounted therein, said integrated circuit mounted in said socket and having one side thereof in contact with said second heat sensor mounted in said socket, and another side of said integrated circuit device in contact with the surface of said heat pump having said first heat sensors mounted thereon, wherein said heat pump and heat pump control system maintains the integrated circuit device at a preset temperature dependent upon the signals producted by said first and second heat sensors.
A method of maintaining an integrated circuit device at a preset temperature, comprising the steps of:
- measuring the temperature of the integrated circuit device at two opposite surfaces of the integrated circuit device,
- comparing the sum of the two measured temperatures against a preset temperature value, and
- adjusting the temperature of the integrated circuit device, which is in contact with one surface of a heat pump, by changing the temperature of the heat pump when the sum of the two measured temperature values is not equal to the preset temperature value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.