Testing of integrated circuit devices on loaded printed circuit boards

US5247246A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Everett Charles Technologies, Inc. · US

Inventors

• David R. Van Loan · Diamond Bar, US
• Charles J. Johnston · Walnut, US
• Mark A. Swart · Upland, US

Key dates

• Filing date: May 10, 1991
• Grant date: Sep 21, 1993
• Expiry date: May 10, 2011

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01R1/0425
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

Integrated circuit (IC) packages mounted on a loaded printed circuit board (PCB) are tested by a translator module by first placing a corresponding module over each package. Each module has rows of spring contacts for releasably contacting corresponding electrical leads adjacent opposite sides of the IC package. An upper surface of the module has an array of electrically conductive test pads internally connected to corresponding contacts on the module. The test pads match an array of spring probes in the test unit. The module can be a molded plastic housing with metal leaf spring contacts, or it includes a composite flex-circuit material with individual contacts including flexible spring-like metalized plastic fingers. Contacts on the test module can releasably engage the leads on the IC package directly, or they contact separate conductive leads on the PCB adjacent the leads on the IC package. During testing, the spring probes contact the test pads on the test modules and circuit continuity is established via the electrical connections from the spring probes through the modules to the leads adjacent the IC packages. The modules translate dense in-line spacing of leads adjacent the…