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US 5,691,651 AGranted
Device for testing integrated circuits
OwnerEckhard Ehlermanninventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Device for testing integrated circuits by establishing a connection between the instrument and the circuit's pads, with a test card (1) that has pads or pins (4) on top of the instrument and conductively connected with a large number of contact needles (5) that can be contacted with the pads, whereby the contact needles (5) are secured in a holder (2) that is connected to the card by a fastener that allows at least part of the card (1) to move in relation to the needle holder (2), with the result that the needle holder (2) is extensively mechanically separated from the card (1).
Claims24
A device for testing an integrated circuit comprising:
- a test card having a given thermal expansion coefficient;
- a holder means for holding a plurality of contact needles so as to make electrical contact with pads of the integrated circuit, the pads being disposed in a plane, wherein the holder means is supported by the test card and having a thermal expansion coefficient lower and different than the given thermal coefficient of the test card and a thermal expansion behavior which substantially matches that of the integrated circuit;
- first connecting means disposed on the test card for establishing electrical contact between the test card and a test instrument;
- second connecting means disposed between the test card and the holder means having expanding and contracting sections for establishing electrical contact between the test card and the holder means;
- fastening means connecting the test card to the holder means for allowing the holder means to move independently in relation to the test card ensuring that temperature-dictated expansion of the test card is not impeded by the holder means to avoid warping of the test card and thereby retaining a geometry relation of the contact needles to one another and to the plane of the pads of the integrated circuit.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.