Method and apparatus for connecting a ball grid array device to a test instrument to facilitate the monitoring of individual signals or the interruption of individual signals or both
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Company
InventorBob J. Self
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A probe assembly provides the capability to test integrated circuit (IC) packages mounted onto ball grid arrays. The probe assembly comprises a ball grid probe having connectors mounted onto opposite sides of a circuit board. A first BGA header is mounted to one side of the probe while a first BGA socket is mounted to the other side of the probe. The socket is adapted to receive an integrated circuit which is mounted onto a second BGA header. A second BGA socket is mounted to a printed circuit board and is adapted to receive the ball grid probe via the first BGA header. An interconnection device is provided to electrically couple the ball grid probe to a number of test instruments.
Claims2
A probe assembly for electrically connecting an integrated circuit package to a test instrument, the integrated circuit package adapted to use a ball grid array (BGA), the probe assembly comprising:
- a ball grid probe, the ball grid probe electrically coupled to the integrated circuit package via a first BGA socket;
- an interconnect device connected to the first BGA socket, the interconnect device electrically coupled to the test instrument
- a second BGA socket configured to receive the ball grid probe, the second BGA socket adapted to electrically couple the integrated circuit to a printed circuit board;
- a first BGA header connected to the interconnect device, the first BGA header configured to connect to the second BGA socket;
- and
- a second BGA header, the second BGA header configured to connect to the first BGA socket.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.