Abstract: A contact pin holder designs which enable the provision of more contact points in a test head space while maintaining economical and convenient pin replaceability, precise pin alignment and appropriate electrical environment. The contact pin holder enables these benefits by an improved contact pin holder design which is generally characterized by an engagement structure at the periphery of a opening in a contact support housing which engagement structure releasable engages one or more modules containing one or more contact pins.

Abstract: An exemplary embodiment of the invention is a fixture for mounting a pin grid array device. The fixture includes a base plate and a first support plate movably mounted to the base plate. The first support plate has a hole therein for receiving a pin on the pin grid array device. The hole has a longitudinal axis in a first direction. A contact is positioned in the hole a drive mechanism moves the first support plate in a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction to move the contact. The contact engages the pin of the pin grid array device to establish electrical contact.

Abstract: An improved design for establishing contact between the device under test (DUT) and electrical contacts contained in the test head structure enables the provision of more contact points and/or the accommodation of a larger DUT. The test head includes an in-board mechanism to couple and decouple the movement of an engaging/releasing member with a holder (stiffener/clamp) for a DUT whereby the DUT is brought into and out of contact with electrical contacts in the test head. The mechanism preferably includes gripper pins in the holder (stiffener/clamp) which are coupled or decoupled from a pull arm using a combination of spring clips and spreader pins.

Abstract: A socket for connecting to an integrated circuit module containing pin grid array contacts and land grid array contacts thereon. The socket has a first portion containing openings therein for the pin grid array contacts and a second portion for contacting the land grid array contacts. The first portion of the socket is disposed around the second portion of the socket, and the second portion is movable with respect to the first portion. The second portion is located in a position wherein the pin grid array contacts on the integrated circuit module are received in the openings in the first portion before the land grid array contacts on the integrated circuit module contact the second portion, the second portion being biased toward the integrated circuit module by a spring.

Abstract: A cold plate, planar in shape, is machined to provide an interior cavity having a plurality of thermally conductive members which transfer any thermal energy absorbed by the cold plate to a chilled water stream flowing through the interior cavity. Electronic cards are mechanically and thermally married to copper conduction plates which mount on a surface of the cold plate. The cold plate can hold up to nineteen pairs of conduction plate/electronic card assemblies. Thermal energy generated by the electronic circuit cards flows into the conduction plate and then into the chilled water stream flowing in cold plate. The chilled water is provided by a cooling system as known in the art. The cold plate also provides a large central through-hole through which the electronic cards are electrically connected to a computer system. The cold plate through-hole allows the cold plate to enjoy close proximity to the thermal source providing a path of high conductance for the thermal energy to be dissipated.