Probes and test equipment

Abstract

The present invention discloses a probe and a test device for testing a chip, wherein the probe is arranged in a mounting hole of a test seat, the probe is in the shape of a thin sheet and made of a conductive material, and comprises a base, a buffer portion and a contact portion. The base is located in the mounting hole and is engaged with the test seat, the buffer portion is located in the mounting hole and extends outwardly from the base in a spiral shape, and the contact portion is located in the mounting hole and extends from the buffer portion in an integral manner and is spaced from the base, and the end of the contact portion protrudes out of the mounting hole and extends into the test space. The probe is integrally formed, which can reduce impedance and noise, and reduce the manufacturing cost and improve the assembly convenience of the test device containing the probe.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a testing device, and particularly to a probe and a testing device for testing semiconductor components. Background Art

[0002] With the progress of semiconductor technology, the requirements for the precision of testing instruments have been greatly improved. In the case of IC testing or high-frequency testing, test signals are transmitted through probes. Therefore, when the probe for conducting signals has many contact points, it is easy to generate a discontinuous surface, resulting in impedance discontinuity, causing reflection loss distortion of the test signal. Moreover, too many contact points will also make the response speed of the probe slower, affecting the accuracy of the test.

[0003] Refer to Figure 1 As shown, a conventional test probe 1 is replaceably disposed in a probe hole 101 of a test socket 100 for electrically connecting a test contact point A and a signal receiving contact point B. The test probe 1 includes a housing member 11 inserted through the probe hole 101, an upper contact member 12, a lower contact member 13, and an elastic component 14. The housing member 11 has a hollow bottom wall 111, a surrounding wall 112 extending upward from the bottom wall 111, a top wall 113 connecting the top ends of the surrounding wall 112, and a through hole 114 defined by the bottom wall 111, the surrounding wall 112, and the top wall 113.

[0004] Among them, the upper contact member 12 is movably disposed in the upper half of the through hole 114 of the housing member 11 and has a abutting portion 121, a connecting portion 122 extending downward from the abutting portion 121, and a contact portion 123 extending upward from the abutting portion 121 and passing through the top wall 113. The lower contact member 13 is movably disposed in the lower half of the through hole 114 of the housing member 11 and has an abutting portion 131, a connecting portion 132 extending upward from the abutting portion 131, and a contact portion 133 extending downward from the abutting portion 131 and passing through the bottom wall 111. The elastic component 14 is compressibly deformably disposed in the through hole 114, and both ends are respectively connected to the connecting portion 122 of the upper contact member 12 and the connecting portion 132 of the lower contact member 13, and is used to buffer and adjust the distance between the upper contact member 12 and the lower contact member 13 according to the distance between the test contact point A and the signal receiving contact point B.

[0005] Refer to Figure 2As shown, during use, the test socket 100 is set above the signal receiving contact B, and the contact portion 133 of the lower contact member 13 contacts the signal receiving contact B, and the test contact A contacts the contact portion 123 of the upper contact member 12. According to the distance between the test contact A and the signal receiving contact B, the upper contact member 12 and the lower contact member 13 cooperate to compress the elastic component 14, and also cause the contact portion 123 of the upper contact member 12 and the contact portion 133 of the lower contact member 13 to simultaneously deflect and abut against the housing member 11, so that the test contact A, the upper contact member 12, the housing member 11, the lower contact member 13, and the signal receiving contact B form an electrical path.

[0006] However, during use, the upper contact member 12, the lower contact member 13, and the elastic component 14 move against the housing member 11. Only by the contact portion 123 of the upper contact member 12 and the contact portion 133 of the lower contact member 13 simultaneously deflecting and abutting against the housing member 11 to form electrical conduction, the actual contact area between them is not large, and more contact points will increase the impedance during signal transmission, and it is easy to generate noise during IC testing, resulting in misjudgment, which is not conducive to semiconductor testing. Not only can the signal transmission speed not be effectively improved, but also the particles scraped off due to the mutual friction of the component surfaces will be deposited in the housing member 11, affecting the correctness of information transmission.

[0007] Furthermore, since the upper contact member 12 and the lower contact member 13 are designed in a tip form, they will scratch the contact points when contacting the test contact A and the signal receiving contact B, which is commonly known as the scraping plate. This not only causes relatively large losses to the test equipment and parts, is not conducive to the industrial mass production of the test process, but also increases the production cost. Summary of the Invention

[0008] Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a probe that solves the above problems.

[0009] The probe of the present invention is disposed in a mounting hole of a test socket. The test socket has a test space for accommodating a chip. The mounting hole communicates with the test space. The probe is in the shape of a thin sheet and made of a conductive material, and includes a base portion, a buffer portion, and a contact portion. The base portion is located in the mounting hole and is engaged with the test socket. The buffer portion is located in the mounting hole and extends spirally outward integrally from the base portion, and the contact portion is located in the mounting hole and extends integrally from the buffer portion and is spaced from the base portion, and the end of the contact portion protrudes out of the mounting hole and extends into the test space.

[0010] Another technical means of the present invention is that the end of the contact portion is arc-shaped.

[0011] Another technical means of the present invention is that the base portion has a body region and several locking regions that protrude outward at intervals from the end of the body region.

[0012] Another technical means of the present invention is that the plurality of clamping areas extend in different directions.

[0013] Another technical means of the present invention is that the thickness of the flaky probe is between 0.03 mm and 0.7 mm.

[0014] Another technical means of the present invention is that an elastic support area is obliquely extended and provided at the top end of the base, and the contact part further has a connection area connected to the spiral buffer part.

[0015] Another technical means of the present invention is that the width of the connection area is defined as H1, the width of the elastic support area is defined as H2, and the width ratio of H1 to H2 is 1:0.5 to 1.5.

[0016] Another object of the present invention is to provide a test device including the above-mentioned probe.

[0017] The test device of the present invention is used to test a chip. The test device includes a test socket and at least one probe as described above. The test socket includes a socket body and a test space formed on the socket body for accommodating the chip. The socket body has at least one mounting hole. The at least one probe is detachably arranged in the at least one mounting hole of the socket body, and the end of the probe protrudes out of the mounting hole and extends into the test space. When the chip is arranged in the test space, it presses against the part of the probe protruding into the test space, so that the contact part sinks and contacts the base, and the test signal is directly transmitted to the base through the contact part, forming up-and-down signal conduction.

[0018] The effect of the present invention is that the probe is integrally formed, which can shorten the signal transmission path and reduce the problem of increased impedance due to excessive components. At the same time, through the structural design of the buffer part, the contact part can move downward to contact the base under external pressure to form a conduction state, achieving the chip test effect, and is particularly suitable for testing high-frequency chips. Description of the Drawings

[0019] Figure 1 It is a side view schematic diagram of the structure of a traditional test probe;

[0020] Figure 2 It is a side view schematic diagram showing Figure 1 the usage state of

[0021] Figure 3 It is a partial three-dimensional schematic diagram of a preferred embodiment of the test device of the present invention;

[0022] Figure 4 It is a three-dimensional diagram showing Figure 3 the structure of a probe in

[0023] Figure 5 is a partial three-dimensional schematic diagram for assisting in explaining Figure 3 the usage state.

[0024] Explanation of symbols in the attached drawings:

[0025] 100 Test socket; 101 Probe hole; 1 Test probe; 11 Housing part; 111 Bottom wall; 112 Surrounding wall; 113 Top wall; 114 Perforation; 12 Upper contact; 121 Abutting part; 122 Connecting part; 123 Contact part; 13 Lower contact; 131 Abutting part; 132 Connecting part; 133 Contact part; 14 Elastic component; A Test contact point; B Signal receiving contact point; 2 Test socket; 21 Socket body; 211 Mounting hole; 22 Test space; 3 Probe; 31 Base; 311 Body area; 312 Clamping area; 313 Elastic support area; 32 Buffer part; 33 Contact part; 331 Connecting area; 4 Chip; H1 Width of the connecting area; H2 Width of the elastic support area. Detailed implementation manners

[0026] Regarding the relevant patent features and technical content of the present invention, they will be clearly presented in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It should be noted before the detailed description that similar components are denoted by the same reference numerals.

[0027] Refer to Figure 3 shown, which is a preferred embodiment of the test device of the present invention for testing a chip 4 (shown in Figure 5 ), the test device includes a test socket 2, and several probes 3 spaced apart and disposed within the test socket 2.

[0028] The test socket 2 includes a socket body 21, and a test space 22 formed on the socket body 21. Among them, the socket body 21 has several mounting holes 211 spaced apart. In this embodiment, the test space 22 is rectangular, and the several mounting holes 211 are arranged at intervals along two sides of the test space 22. It should be particularly noted that the arrangement manner of the several mounting holes 211 is designed according to the type of the chip 4 to be tested, and there can be many variations according to the pin layout of the chip 4 during actual implementation. Figure 3 The form shown in

[0029] Refer to Figure 4 and in conjunction with Figure 3 shown, each probe 3 is in the shape of a thin sheet and made of a conductive material, and includes a base 31, a buffer part 32, and a contact part 33.

[0030] In this preferred embodiment, the thickness of the flaky probe is between 0.03 mm and 0.7 mm, preferably between 0.1 mm and 0.3 mm, and the probe is made of beryllium copper and nickel aluminum alloy. The base 31 is positioned in the corresponding mounting hole 211 in the test socket 2. More specifically, the base 31 has a body region 311 and several locking regions 312 that protrude outwardly at intervals from the end of the body region 311. As Figure 3 shown in the figure, the several locking regions 312 extend from both ends of the body region 311 to both sides and upward, so the lower part of the body region 311 is flat. Through the structural design of the locking regions 312, each probe 3 can be detachably combined with the corresponding mounting hole 211 through the base 31. The several locking regions 312 extend in different directions and are engaged with the seat body 21, which can increase the bonding stability between the base 31 and the seat body 21 and prevent it from moving arbitrarily. In addition to preventing the probe 3 from shaking or toppling during the test, resulting in unstable signals or open circuits, the flat body region 311 below can also prevent scraping with the subsequently assembled test substrate.

[0031] Refer to Figure 3 and Figure 4 shown in the figure, the buffer portion 32 extends spirally outward integrally from the base 31. In this preferred embodiment, the buffer portion 32 extends spirally outward and upward from the base 31, forming a structure like a mosquito coil. The contact portion 33 extends integrally from the buffer portion 32 and is spaced from the base 31, and the end protrudes out of the mounting hole 211 and extends into the test space 22. It should be noted that the spiral structure of the buffer portion 32, combined with the gap formed between the contact portion 33 and the base 31, enables the contact portion 33 to swing slightly up and down relative to the buffer portion 32 and the base 31.

[0032] An elastic support region 313 is provided at the top of the base 31, extending obliquely upward. The contact portion 33 further has a connection region 331 connected to the spiral buffer portion 32. In this preferred embodiment, the width of the connection region is defined as H1, the width of the elastic support region is defined as H2, and the width ratio of H1 to H2 is 1:0.5 - 1.5, preferably 1:0.8 - 1.2. The width distribution ratio between the connection region 331 and the elastic support region 313 can ensure the rigidity of the overall probe 3 and maintain the elasticity of the spiral buffer portion 32 and the elastic support region 313.

[0033] The shape of the elastic support area 313 is a long strip, and it has a curvature that matches the shape of the bottom edge of the lower part of the contact part 33. The arc design can enable a larger contact area between the contact part 33 and the elastic support area 313 when the contact part 33 is pressed down. When the width H2 of the elastic support area is too thick, the elastic support area 313 will lose its elasticity. When the width H2 of the elastic support area is too thin, it will affect the transmission of electrical signals. Therefore, overall consideration is required. It is worth mentioning that the shape of the elastic support area 313 disclosed in the present invention is an arc-shaped long strip. In actual implementation, it can also be circular or other geometric shapes, and should not be limited thereto.

[0034] Refer to Figure 5 And cooperate with Figure 3 As shown, it is the usage instruction of this preferred embodiment. When this preferred embodiment is to detect the chip 4, the chip 4 is placed in the test space 22 of the test socket 2, so that the contacts at the bottom of the chip 4 are respectively in contact with the ends of the contact parts 33 of the probes 3. Due to the form of the contacts at the bottom of the chip 4, it will vary according to the type of the chip 4, and it is not specifically shown in Figure 5 this figure.

[0035] The ends of the contact parts 33 of the probes 3 are arc-shaped. Compared with the known pointed structure, it can increase the contact area and at the same time avoid damaging the contacts of the chip 4 during the test process. During the process of placing the chip 4 in the test space 22, the ends of the contact parts 33 of the probes 3 will be gradually pressed down. When the chip 4 is completely and surely positioned in the test space 22, as Figure 5 shown, the ends of the contact parts 33 of the probes 3 will also be pressed downward and touch the elastic support area 313 of the base 31. At this time, the test signal will be directly transmitted to the lower base 31 through the contact part 33 at the shortest distance to form a state of upper and lower signal conduction, so that the signal can be transmitted to test the chip 4.

[0036] Since the probes 3 are made of a conductive material, usually beryllium copper metal material, they can generate slight flexibility when made into thin sheets. Therefore, when the ends of the contact parts 33 of the probes 3 are pressed downward, in addition to the buffer part 32 connected accumulating an elastic restoring force, the elastically extended elastic support area 313 will provide some elastic support to ensure that the contact part 33 can contact the elastic support area 313 when it is pressed down. The elastic restoring design of the buffer part 32 can prevent the rigid structure of the probe 3 from being damaged. When the chip 4 is tested and removed from the test space 22, the elastic restoring force released by the buffer part 32 will make the contact part 33 of the probe 3 return to the position as Figure 3 shown, and can perform the next test again.

[0037] In summary, the probe 3 used in the test device of the present invention adopts an integrally formed design, which improves the assembly convenience and reduces the cost, and shortens the signal transmission path. At the same time, through the structural design of the buffer portion 32 of the probe 3, the contact portion 33 has a slight movement margin, so that the contact portion 33 can move downward to contact the elastic support area 313 of the base portion 31 when being pressed by the chip 4 to form a conduction state, achieving the test effect of the chip 4. Moreover, the end of the contact portion 33 is arc-shaped, which can not only increase the contact area but also avoid damaging the chip 4 contacts above. The bottom of the base portion 31 is flat and limited by the clamping area 312, so it will not move arbitrarily and scratch the substrate contacts below. Furthermore, the integrally formed structure of the probe 3 can effectively reduce the problem of increased impedance due to excessive components and avoid the generation of noise, and is particularly suitable for the test of high-frequency chips.

[0038] The above is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and it cannot be used to limit the scope of implementation of the present invention. That is, all simple equivalent changes and modifications made according to the scope of the patent application of the present invention and the content of the invention description still fall within the scope covered by the patent of the present invention.

Claims

1. A probe, characterized in that: The probe is disposed in a mounting hole of a test seat, the test seat having a test space for accommodating a chip, the mounting hole being connected to the test space, the probe being in the form of a thin sheet and made of a conductive material, and comprising: A base, located in the mounting hole and engaged with the test seat; a buffer portion, located in the mounting hole and extending outward from the base in a spiral shape; and A contact portion is located in the mounting hole and integrally extends from the buffer portion and is spaced apart from the base portion, and a distal end of the contact portion protrudes out of the mounting hole and extends into the test space; The top of the base is obliquely extended to form an elastic support area. When the end of the contact portion is pressed downward, it will touch the elastic support area of ​​the base to form conduction.

2. The probe according to claim 1, characterized in that The base has a main body area and a plurality of clamping areas which protrude outward from the end of the main body area at intervals.

3. The probe according to claim 2, characterized in that The plurality of clamping areas extend in different directions.

4. The probe according to claim 3, characterized in that The end of the contact portion is in an arc shape.

5. The probe according to claim 1, characterized in that: The thickness of the sheet-shaped probe is between 0.03 mm and 0.7 mm.

6. The probe according to claim 1, characterized in that: The contact portion also has a connection area connected to the spiral buffer portion.

7. The probe according to claim 6, characterized in that The width of the connection area is defined as H1, the width of the elastic support area is defined as H2, and the width ratio of H1 to H2 is 1:0.5-1.

5.

8. A testing device for providing a test signal to test a chip, characterized in that: Include: A test seat, comprising a seat body and a test space formed on the seat body for accommodating the chip, wherein the seat body has at least one mounting hole; and At least one probe as described in any one of claims 1 to 7 can be detachably arranged in the at least one mounting hole of the base, and the distal end of the probe protrudes out of the mounting hole and extends into the test space. When the chip is set in the test space, it will press against the part of the probe protruding from the test space, so that the contact portion sinks and contacts the base, and the test signal will be directly transmitted to the base via the contact portion, forming upper and lower signal conduction.

Images