Apparatus for accessing and probing the connections between a chip package and a printed circuit board

US7525299B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• International Business Machines Corporation · US

Inventors

• Paul Rudrud · Rochester, US
• Roger A. Booth, Jr. · Wappingers Falls, US
• John R. Dangler · Rochester, US
• Matthew S. Doyle · Chatfield, US
• Jesse Hefner · Rochester, US
• Ankur Kanu Patel · Byron, US
• Thomas W. Liang · Rochester, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jun 27, 2008
• Grant date: Apr 28, 2009
• Expiry date: Jun 27, 2028

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01R31/70
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A device to access and/or verify connections between a chip package and a printed circuit board (“PCB”), specifically within packages lacking back-side measurement access, includes a housing for insertion between the chip package and PCB. A passageway in the housing connects an entrance and an exit from the housing. The entrance is disposed on an end of the housing facing away from the chip package. The exit is disposed on a side of the housing below the chip package such that the passageway is directed at a signal path between the chip package and the PCB. A conductor disposed in the passageway is movable between a retracted position in which a contact end of the conductor is disposed within the passageway of the housing and an extended position in which the contact end of the conductor is disposed outside of the housing and in contact with the signal path.