Socket Warpage Control via Mechanical Pressure Features
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Solution Overview
Problem
Legacy package assemblies, particularly large sockets, experience warpage issues during manufacturing, which hinder the formation of quality electrical and physical couplings with substrates, leading to difficulties in achieving high-speed signaling and increased costs due to the use of solder balls.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating springs within a pick and place cap to apply mechanical pressure on sockets, using external loads on standoffs, or employing a carrier frame to constrain socket shape and prevent warpage, thereby flattening the socket for improved alignment and connection with substrates without the need for solder balls.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If traditional socket manufacturing is used, then production costs are reduced, but warpage issues occur during manufacturing that hinder quality electrical and physical couplings
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by implementing pressure features and external loads during the manufacturing process to flatten the socket before it is permanently assembled. This pre-flattening action prevents warpage from developing during subsequent manufacturing steps, ensuring the socket maintains proper flatness for quality electrical and physical couplings without requiring complex post-processing or specialized manufacturing equipment.
2Reliability
If solder balls are used for connection, then electrical coupling is achieved, but costs increase and high-speed signaling is hindered
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the taking out principle by removing solder balls from the connection structure and replacing them with direct mechanical and electrical contacts through flattened socket interfaces. This extraction eliminates the complexity associated with solder ball placement, reflow processes, and associated quality control steps, while maintaining reliable electrical coupling through improved physical contact between socket and substrate contact pads.
3Volume of moving object
If socket size is reduced for mobile devices, then end product size decreases, but warpage control becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by implementing pressure features at specific localized points on the socket rather than uniformly across the entire structure. The pressure features apply targeted mechanical force to critical areas of the socket to control flatness and prevent warpage, allowing effective warpage control in miniaturized sockets without requiring proportional increases in overall device size or complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
These methods enhance the socket-substrate connection quality, reduce warpage, and enable higher-speed signaling and lower costs by eliminating solder balls, allowing for higher yield and efficient surface mount technology processes.
Implementation Method 1
Incorporating springs within a pick and place cap to apply mechanical pressure on sockets
Data Source
AI summary
Systems, apparatus, and/or processes directed to applying pressure to a socket to alter a shape of the socket to improve a connection between the socket and a substrate, printed circuit board, or other component. The socket may receive one or more chips, may be an interconnect, or may be some other structure that is part of a package. The shape of the socket may be flattened so that a side of the socket may form a high-quality physical and electrical coupling with the substrate.