Abstract: An interconnect assembly includes a number of interconnect stages combined in a carrier structure. Each interconnect stage includes at least two contact sets having an upwards pointing cantilever contact and a downwards pointing cantilever contact. The cantilever contacts are attached to the carrier structure and are arranged around openings in the carrier structure such that the downward pointing cantilevers may reach through the carrier structure. Each contact set defines an independent conductive path between a single pair of opposing chip and test apparatus contacts such that multiple conductive paths are available for each interconnect stage for increased transmission reliability and reduced resistance. The cantilever contacts have a meandering contour and are either combined in symmetrical pairs at their respective tips or are free pivoting. The meandering contour provides a maximum deflectable cantilever length within an available footprint defined by the pitch of the tested chip.

Abstract: A cantilever probe has an elbow for bonding to a dual plane fixture plate for a highly stiff and precise angled fixture of the bonded cantilever probe with minimal real estate consumption. The cantilever probe may feature a tip positioning pin and an elbow positioning pin fitting into corresponding holes of the fixture plate and a sacrificial assembly plate. Separate fan-out beams may be attached to the fixture plate and conductively connected to respective elbows once the cantilever probes are fixed. The fan-out beams in turn may be conductively connected with their respective peripheral ends to large pitch apparatus terminals of a circuit board. A probe apparatus may be easily customized by providing varying drill patterns of the positioning holes for fan-out beams and cantilever probes to match pitch requirements of the tested circuit chips.

Abstract: A probe for test connecting an apparatus contact of a probe apparatus with a test contact of a tested electronic device along a contacting axis has a top structure, a bottom structure a spring member and a guide. The guide may be an outer guide face of the spring member or be part of the bottom or top structure in the form of a circumferential recess or a snap finger. The probe may be guided either slidably in a rigid carrier structure and/or via its circumferential recess in one or two flexible membranes snapped on a rigid support frame. The probes may be simultaneously fabricated in large numbers by micro fabrication techniques with a fixed fabrication pitch and assembled in a probe apparatus with a probe pitch independently of the fabrication pitch.

Abstract: A rigid column and a suspension knee are combined in a probe held in assembly via its column. The suspension knee has a base arm laterally connecting at and propagating away from the column. The base arm extends up to a lateral knee extension where a reverse arm continues from the base arm back in direction towards a central axis of the column. The reverse arm terminates in a contact tip in a tip offset to the column axis that is smaller than the lateral knee extension. During application of a contacting force onto the contact tip, a first deflection of the base arm and a second deflection of the reverse arm counter act in conjunction with base and reverse arms' structural configurations. As a result, scrub motion may be well defined in direction and magnitude without need for additional guidance of the deflecting probe structure.

Abstract: A interconnect assembly features a prefabricated interconnect structure metallurgically bonded to a terminal of a larger structure. Fabrication of the interconnect structure's independently and seperate from the larger structure enables the use of economic mass fabrication techniques that are well-known for miniature scale sheet metal parts. During fabrication, positioning and attachment, each interconnect structure is combined with and/or held in a carrier structure from which it is separated after attachment to the terminal. The interconnect structure is configured such that an attachment tool may be brought into close proximity to the attachment interface between the interconnect structure and the terminal for a short and direct transmission of bonding energy onto the attachment interface. The attachment interface provides for an electrically conductive and a bending stress opposing mechanical connection between the interconnect structure and the terminal.

Abstract: Sheet metal radially and axially coiled around a coiling axis forms a resilient band spring with a base arc for interlocking with a base plate and a contacting tip for contacting with test contacts. The spring band coils in a fashion such that at least two adjacent coils overlap in axial direction radially supporting and conductively contacting each other at least in operationally deflected condition of the connector. A number of connectors may be held via their base arcs in correspondingly shaped fits of a base plate. The connectors may have one or two opposing tips and being either conductively connected with their base arc to a PCB or held in through holes thereby operating as interconnectors. The contacting tip may be centered, off centered or circumferentially and multiplicatively positioned for zero, radial or circumferential scrubbing action. Two or more independent connectors may be intertwined around a single coiling axis.

Abstract: An interconnect assembly includes a number of interconnect stages combined in a carrier structure. Each interconnect stage includes at least two contact sets having an upwards pointing cantilever contact and a downwards pointing cantilever contact. The cantilever contacts are attached to the carrier structure and are arranged around openings in the carrier structure such that the downward pointing cantilevers may reach through the carrier structure. Each contact set defines an independent conductive path between a single pair of opposing chip and test apparatus contacts such that multiple conductive paths are available for each interconnect stage for increased transmission reliability and reduced resistance. The cantilever contacts have a meandering contour and are either combined in symmetrical pairs at their respective tips or are free pivoting. The meandering contour provides a maximum deflectable cantilever length within an available footprint defined by the pitch of the tested chip.

Abstract: A probe apparatus for preferably testing packaged circuit chips combines an ACE with plunger pins placed in between the ACE and the test contact. A plunger pin provides a contact end for contacting the test contacts and a back end configured for indenting the ACE. The contact end may be configured in conjunction with the test contacts particularities whereas the plunger pins' back ends have a curvature that corresponds to the ACE's deformation behavior in the impinging vicinity such wear relevant ACE deformations are kept to a minimum. The plunger pins are arrayed in a removable frame. For contacting ball grid arrays, the plunger pins feature on their front ends self centering interacting concentrically arrayed crown peaks.

Abstract: An interconnect assembly includes a number of interconnects combined in a preferably planar dielectric carrier frame having resilient portions acting as spring members in conjunction with their respective interconnect's rotational displacement during operational contacting. Each interconnect is fabricated as a see-saw structure pivoting around a rotation axis that substantially coincides with a symmetry plane of the torsion features provided by the resilient portion. The torsion features protrude towards and adhere to a central portion of the see-saw interconnect such that an angular movement of the interconnect is resiliently opposed by the torsion feature and the resilient portion. The torsion features and interconnects may be independently optimized to provide the interconnect with maximum stiffness and a maximum deflection at same time.

Abstract: An interconnect assembly includes a number of interconnects combined in a preferably planar dielectric carrier frame having resilient portions acting as spring members in conjunction with their respective interconnect's rotational displacement during operational contacting. Each interconnect is fabricated as a see-saw structure pivoting around a rotation axis that substantially coincides with a symmetry plane of the torsion features provided by the resilient portion. The torsion features protrude towards and adhere to a central portion of the see-saw interconnect such that an angular movement of the interconnect is resiliently opposed by the torsion feature and the resilient portion. The torsion features and interconnects may be independently optimized to provide the interconnect with maximum stiffness and a maximum deflection at same time.

Abstract: An interconnect assembly includes a number of interconnect stages combined in a carrier structure. Each interconnect stage includes at least two contact sets having an upwards pointing cantilever contact and a downwards pointing cantilever contact. The cantilever contacts are attached to the carrier structure and are arranged around openings in the carrier structure such that the downward pointing cantilevers may reach through the carrier structure. Each contact set defines an independent conductive path between a single pair of opposing chip and test apparatus contacts such that multiple conductive paths are available for each interconnect stage for increased transmission reliability and reduced resistance. The cantilever contacts have a meandering contour and are either combined in symmetrical pairs at their respective tips or are free pivoting. The meandering contour provides a maximum deflectable cantilever length within an available footprint defined by the pitch of the tested chip.

Abstract: An interconnect assembly includes a number of interconnect stages combined in a carrier structure. Each interconnect stage includes at least two contact sets having an upwards pointing cantilever contact and a downwards pointing cantilever contact. The cantilever contacts are attached to the carrier structure and are arranged around openings in the carrier structure such that the downward pointing cantilevers may reach through the carrier structure. Each contact set defines an independent conductive path between a single pair of opposing chip and test apparatus contacts such that multiple conductive paths are available for each interconnect stage for increased transmission reliability and reduced resistance. The cantilever contacts have a meandering contour and are either combined in symmetrical pairs at their respective tips or are free pivoting. The meandering contour provides a maximum deflectable cantilever length within an available footprint defined by the pitch of the tested chip.

Abstract: A interconnect assembly features a prefabricated interconnect structure metallurgically bonded to a terminal of a larger structure. Fabrication of the interconnect structure's independently and separate from the larger structure enables the use of economic mass fabrication techniques that are well-known for miniature scale sheet metal parts. During fabrication, positioning and attachment, each interconnect structure is combined with and/or held in a carrier structure from which it is separated after attachment to the terminal. The interconnect structure is configured such that an attachment tool may be brought into close proximity to the attachment interface between the interconnect structure and the terminal for a short and direct transmission of bonding energy onto the attachment interface. The attachment interface provides for an electrically conductive and a bending stress opposing mechanical connection between the interconnect structure and the terminal.

Abstract: A interconnect assembly features a prefabricated interconnect structure metallurgically bonded to a terminal of a larger structure. Fabrication of the interconnect structure's independently and seperate from the larger structure enables the use of economic mass fabrication techniques that are well-known for miniature scale sheet metal parts. During fabrication, positioning and attachment, each interconnect structure is combined with and/or held in a carrier structure from which it is separated after attachment to the terminal. The interconnect structure is configured such that an attachment tool may be brought into close proximity to the attachment interface between the interconnect structure and the terminal for a short and direct transmission of bonding energy onto the attachment interface. The attachment interface provides for an electrically conductive and a bending stress opposing mechanical connection between the interconnect structure and the terminal.

Abstract: Mass produced organic I.C. chip package designed to permanently package chips are used as MLO space transformers of a probe apparatus having buckling beam probes. The chip carriers have a solder mask layer with holes exposing trace areas from which interface structures are electrochemically grown. Dependent on the amount of grown metal, the interface structure is formed either as a stud bump protruding from the hole or as a flange overlapping the hole and supporting itself on the layer surface surrounding the hole. The structure's contacting surface may be planed for an area contact with the probe end of a buckling beam.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method for sanding heads of buckling beam probes while the probes are disposed within a probe assembly between a lower die and upper die. Sanding provides that all the probes within a probe assembly have the same total length from tip to head. The method calls for contacting the probe tips to a flat fiducial plate such as a glass plate to ensure that the probe tips are coplanar. Then, the heads are sanded to a plane which is parallel with the fiducial plate. Preferably, the heads are sanded by placing the assembly and fiducial plate onto a Z-stage capable of moving in a Z direction. The Z-stage is located under a top surface of a table having a hole directly above the Z-stage. Raising the Z-stage lifts the probe heads to extend above the top surface of the table. Then, an abrasive plate resting on the top surface of the table is rubbed on the heads. Material is removed from the heads until all the probes are the same length.

Abstract: A probe apparatus is provided with a number of space transformer segments that are fixated such that probe offset due to warping is kept to a minimum. In a first embodiment, the space transformer segments are permanently fixated. In a second embodiment the space transformer segments are included together with correspondingly shaped sheath segments in probe modules that may be individually removed from the probe apparatus for a selective maintenance. As a result a large number of chips may be tested simultaneously without reducing the operational cycle interval of the probe apparatus.

Abstract: A probe apparatus is provided with a number of space transformer segments that are fixated such that probe offset due to warping is kept to a minimum. In a first embodiment, the space transformer segments are permanently fixated. In a second embodiment the space transformer segments are included together with correspondingly shaped sheath segments in probe modules that may be individually removed from the probe apparatus for a selective maintenance. As a result a large number of chips may be tested simultaneously without reducing the operational cycle interval of the probe apparatus.