TW202141046A - Probe pin and probe fixture - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses a probe pin, which includes: a reference axis; a head portion, in the direction of the reference axis, including a sensing end, at least one positioning recess, and a first spring engaging portion; a bottom portion, including a connecting end; and a spring, arranged between the top and bottom portions, wherein the spring wraps around and engages the first spring engaging portion, and abuts the bottom portion.

Description

Probe structure and sensing fixture

The present invention relates to a probe structure, in particular to a probe structure used for sensing integrated circuits.

In the prior art, the probe has a pointed design (Figure 1). This design causes many problems in testing, such as damage to the pins of the integrated circuit, formation of compression marks on the pins, and easy slippage in the probe test. Needle causes the instantaneous resistance, inductance, or capacitance impedance value to be amplified several times, resulting in sensing errors and even damage to the integrated circuit. Therefore, the test may be the final inspection step before shipment. If damage is caused during the shipment test, it may come to the customer with the shipment, and it is difficult to find out in advance. The loss of goodwill caused by it is even more difficult to estimate.

The aforementioned probe is designed as a probe with a larger diameter, such as a probe with a diameter of 1 mm or other diameters. When the pitch between the sensing points on the integrated circuit becomes smaller and smaller, the size of the probe must be reduced accordingly. In the prior art, a probe with a high slender ratio material can be used. The high slenderness ratio material is more likely to cause slippage when subjected to axial force, making the test result more likely to be unstable.

To solve this problem, the present invention provides a probe technology, which is not easy to form compression marks on the pins of the integrated circuit, and it is not easy to slip the needle in the probe test, which can greatly improve the quality and reliability of the test.

From one point of view, the present invention provides a probe structure to solve the aforementioned problems. The probe structure includes: a center reference line located in the central part of the probe structure; a head part, in the direction of the center reference line, sequentially includes a sensing end, at least one positioning recess, and a first spring clip Connecting part; a bottom part, including a connecting end; and a spring, arranged between the head part and the bottom part, the spring is wound around and clamped into the first spring clamping part, and abutted against the bottom part.

In one embodiment, the sensing terminal includes a multi-point contact terminal, a line contact terminal, or a surface contact terminal. The sensing terminal is used for contacting a sensing point or pin on an integrated circuit to sense the integrated circuit.

From another point of view, the technical features provided by the present invention may not be limited to the probe structure, such as the probe according to the present invention and the sensing fixture provided with the probe.

In one embodiment, the sensing fixture provided by the present invention includes: a plurality of probes, each probe includes a sensing end, a first spring clamping portion, a spring, and a second spring clamping portion , And a connecting end, in which the spring is wound around and clamped into the first and second spring clamping parts; a positioning plate has a plurality of probe guide holes, respectively corresponding to the plurality of sensing side positions of an integrated circuit, so that the probe The sensing end of the needle protrudes from the positioning plate, and there is a push-pull structure above the positioning plate to assist the alignment of the integrated circuit into a predetermined position; and a bottom plate containing a plurality of probe holes corresponding to the positions of the probe guide holes , The probe hole is used for accommodating the probe so that the connecting end protrudes from the bottom plate; wherein, the sensing end includes a multi-point contact end, a line contact end, or a surface contact end.

The connection terminal is used to contact or be coupled to a signal contact on a test circuit.

The following detailed descriptions are given through specific embodiments, so that it will be easier to understand the purpose, technical content, features, and effects of the present invention.

The drawings in the present invention are all schematic and are mainly intended to show the relationship between the various circuit components. As for the shapes and sizes, they are not drawn to scale.

Figure 2 shows an embodiment of the present invention. Wherein, the probe structure 10 of the present invention includes: a central reference line 110 located in the central part of the probe structure 10; a head part 120, in the direction of the central reference line 100, sequentially includes a sensing end 121, at least A positioning recess 122, a top stop portion 123 adjacent to the positioning recess 122, and a first spring clamping portion 124; a bottom member 130, in the direction of the center reference line 110, sequentially includes a bottom stop portion 131, And a connecting end 132; and a spring 140, which is disposed between the head part 120 and the bottom part 130, the spring 140 is wound around and clamped into the first spring clamping portion 124 and abuts against the bottom part 130.

According to the present invention, the bottom member 130 may optionally include a second spring clamping portion 133 (FIGS. 2, 3, 4, and 5). However, some embodiments of the present invention (Figures 6, 7, 8) do not include this second spring clamping portion. The setting of the second spring clamping portion may depend on the design of the probe structure or the matching method of the probe structure and the sensing fixture.

In one embodiment, the sensing terminal 121 can have a variety of different designs as required, such as a surface contact terminal (FIG. 2 ), a wire contact terminal (FIG. 3 ), or a multi-point contact terminal (FIG. 4 ). The sensing terminal 121 is used for contacting a sensing point or pin on an integrated circuit to sense the integrated circuit. The design of the sensing terminal 121 is different from the prior art in that it greatly increases the contact (or abutment) range. On the one hand, it avoids excessive force on a point of the pin, which may cause damage to the pin; on the other hand, it increases the contact with the pin. Friction reduces the possibility of slipping needles. Among them, for example, compared to the surface contact end, the line contact end can be used for a smaller pin range and can be pressed on the pin more accurately.

In particular, the sensing terminal 121 provided in FIG. 4 can be changed in its contact manner as required. For example, when the sensing end 121 contacts a plane, it can be multi-point contact. Or, when the sensing end 121 contacts a sphere or an arc (for example, a ball grid array package, BGA pins), the contact portion may be a line contact. In this way, the user can decide the contact method according to his needs.

In the present invention, the spring 140 is a helical spring (Figures 2, 3, 4) or a spiral spring (Figures 5, 6, 7). The spring can be clamped to the first spring clamping portion 124 of the head member 120, such as a toothed clamping portion (Figures 2, 3, 4), or a shuttle-shaped clamping portion (Figures 5, 6, 7). ). In one embodiment, the spiral spring may not be limited to the toothed-type clamping portion, but may also be clamped to the shuttle-type clamping portion. When the head part 120 and the bottom part 130 both have clamping parts (both have the first and second spring clamping parts 124, 133), the shape of the first and second spring clamping parts 124, 133 may include a shuttle type and a tooth pattern Any combination of type to snap into the spring 140. For example, the first and second spring clamping portions 124, 133 are shuttle-shaped and toothed-shaped clamping portions respectively; or, the first and second spring clamping portions 124, 133 are respectively toothed-shaped and shuttle-shaped clamping portions Section; or, the first and second spring clamping portions 124, 133 are shuttle-shaped clamping portions. In addition, regardless of the helical spring or the vortex spring, an appropriate material can be selected to adjust the mechanical characteristics of the sensing end and provide an appropriate thrust (for example: 30gf) during sensing. The material can be adjusted as needed, such as stainless steel, copper alloy, etc.

According to the probe of the present invention, the spring is mainly designed to be selectively exposed. This advantage is that when the size of the probe can be as small as 0.3mm (equivalent to the diameter of the probe's outer diameter less than 0.3mm), or smaller (for example, 0.2mm) , It can still have considerable expansion margin in the direction of the center reference line, without sliding the needle to the side (perpendicular to the direction of the center reference line) due to a slight pressure, so the design of the present invention can greatly increase the stability of the probe Spend.

According to the technical features of the present invention, the size of the probe can be greatly reduced, while still having a stable resistance, inductance or capacitance impedance value, and it is not easy to cause sensing errors. Referring to FIG. 9, it shows that in the sensing of different batches in the same type of integrated circuit, the probe of the prior art is used first and then the probe of the present invention is used for sensing. The defect rate caused by using the probe of the present invention is at least 4% lower than the prior art. The example shown in FIG. 9 is the first use of the technology of the present invention, and the defective rate gradually decreases after multiple uses, which is more than 5% lower than the prior art. Therefore, the present invention does improve the shortcomings of the high defect rate in the prior art, and after a little adjustment, the improvement effect can be further improved.

In the present invention, whether it is a helical spring or a vortex spring, the probe structure 10 can use the spring to form a conductive circuit between the head part 120 and the bottom part 130 for coupling to the sensor on the integrated circuit IC. Test point to the signal contact point on the PCB of the test circuit (refer to Figures 10 and 11). Among them, the vortex spring is a structure generated by the rotation of a plate-shaped material, and has a larger surface area than the spiral spring, so the surface resistance of the vortex spring is lower than that of the spiral spring. In addition, there are some slight differences in the process of assembling the spring for the toothed-type clamping portion or the shuttle-type clamping portion. For example, if the spring is clamped on the tooth-shaped clamping part, the spring needs to be rotated on the tooth-shaped clamping part several times to fix the spring; while the shuttle-shaped clamping part is used to clamp the spring by the shuttle The geometric features of small section-large section-small section make the spring not easy to loosen after being pushed into the shuttle-type clamping part, achieving a tight fit between the spring and the shuttle-type clamping part and maintaining low contact resistance.

2, in one embodiment, the head part 120 further includes a central convex shaft 125, the bottom part 130 includes a central hole 134, a part of the central convex shaft 125 in the probe structure 10 is aligned with and inserted into the central hole 134 , The spring 140 surrounds the central convex shaft 125 outside, and the central hole 134 is located in the second threaded portion 133. According to the present invention, the head part 120 may not include a central convex shaft. For example, in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 5 and 7, the spring 140 is only exposed to the probe structure 10, instead of having an outer central convex shaft 125 as in other embodiments. feature.

According to the present invention, the surface contact end, line contact end, or multi-point contact end of the sensing end 121 is not limited to the design of the spiral spring, the spring is exposed to the probe structure, or the spring is designed around the central convex shaft, which can be used for the scroll type. The spring, the spring is embedded in the probe structure, or the design without a central convex shaft. For example, referring to FIG. 8, in the design where the spring is embedded in the probe structure, the sensing end 121 may also be a surface contact end design. For another example, in a design where the spring is embedded in the probe structure, the sensing end 121 may also be a design of a line contact end or a multi-point contact end.

In the present invention, the head part 120, the spring 140, and the bottom part 130 are designed with different elements, and the elements are easy to replace during maintenance, which can reduce unnecessary waste requirements and has an environmental protection effect.

From another point of view, the technical features provided by the present invention may not be limited to the probe structure, such as the probe according to the present invention and the sensing fixture provided with the probe.

10, 11, in one embodiment, the sensing fixture 20 provided by the present invention includes: a plurality of probes 10, each probe 10 (can be compared with the probe structure 10 of the previous embodiment, the fixture Different types of probes 10 are shown, which means that the same or different types of probes can be contained in the same jig.) It includes a sensing end 121 and a connecting end 132; a positioning plate 210 has a plurality of probe guide holes (as shown in the figure). As shown in the figure, a space for accommodating a plurality of probes 10 is provided, so that the sensing end 121 corresponds to a plurality of sensing side positions of an integrated circuit IC, so that the sensing end 121 protrudes from the positioning plate 210, and the positioning plate 210 There is a push-pull structure Tap on the top (it can be set on the positioning plate 210, or the push-pull structure Tap can be set on the positioning plate 210 as another independent component [Figure 11]), which assists the alignment of the integrated circuit IC into a predetermined position , It is convenient for the sensing end 121 to be aligned with the position of the upper sensing side of the integrated circuit IC; and a bottom plate 220, which contains a plurality of probe holes corresponding to the positions of the probe guide holes, and the probe holes are used to accommodate the probe 10 for connection The end 132 protrudes from the bottom plate 220. As mentioned above, the sensing terminal 121 may include a multi-point contact terminal, a line contact terminal, or a surface contact terminal.

The aforementioned integrated circuit IC packaging methods can include specifications such as BGA, WDFN, LQFP, QFN, etc. The user can determine the type and use of the corresponding probe according to the requirements of the specifications.

In one embodiment, the probe structure 10 is viewed from the direction of the center reference line 110 (ie viewed from the direction of the head part 120 to the probe structure 10), the peripheral geometry of the sensing end 121 may include various shapes, for example: at least everything The side of the circle (Figure 2), circle, polygon, hexagon, etc. The jig 20 accommodating the probe structure 10 may also have a corresponding probe guide hole shape, for example: a circle, a circle, a polygon, a hexagon, etc. with at least a cut edge. However, the shape of the probe guide hole accommodating the outer shape of the sensing end 121 may not correspond to the outer geometry of the contact end, but may have other shapes. Importantly, the probe guide hole must provide a space for the probe to pass through in order to sense the sensing point on the integrated circuit.

In one embodiment, the positioning recess 122 and a top stop 123 adjacent to the positioning recess 122 can be used to guide the head member 120 into the probe guide hole of the jig 20, so that the sensing end 121 protrudes from the jig 20 , Used to sense an integrated circuit IC. The top stop portion 123 can limit the protruding height of the sensing terminal 121, so as not to increase the integrated circuit IC due to its high height, and cause other sensing terminals 121 to be unable to couple to other signal contacts on the integrated circuit IC. Alternatively, the top stop portion 123 can limit the protruding height of all the sensing ends 121, and appropriately contact or couple other signal contacts on the integrated circuit IC. On the other side of the jig 20, the connecting end 132 is used to contact or be coupled to the signal contact on the test circuit PCB for judgment or analysis of the relevant information of the integrated circuit IC. In addition, the coupling between the connection terminal 132 and the test circuit PCB may not be limited to tight contact, but a method such as a wire jumper (Wiring), etc., and the contact method may be determined according to needs.

The present invention has been described above with reference to the embodiments, but the above description is only for making it easier for those skilled in the art to understand the content of the present invention, and is not used to limit the scope of rights of the present invention. Under the same spirit of the present invention, those skilled in the art can think of various equivalent changes. For example, the term "coupled" in the present invention includes direct connection and indirect connection. The scope of the present invention should cover the above and all other equivalent changes.

10: Probe structure, probe 110: Center reference line 120: head part 121: sensing end 122: positioning recess 123: Top stop 124: The first spring clamping part 125: Central convex shaft 130: bottom part 131: bottom stop 132: connection end 133: The second spring clamping part 134: Center hole 140: spring 20: Sensing fixture 220: bottom plate 210: positioning plate IC: Integrated Circuit PCB: test circuit Tap: push and pull structure

Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of the probe structure in the prior art. 2 to 8 show schematic diagrams of probe structures according to various embodiments of the present invention. Figure 9 shows the difference between the prior art and the probe of the present invention when applied to actual operations. 10 and 11 show schematic diagrams of sensing fixtures according to two embodiments of the present invention.

10: Probe structure, probe

110: Center reference line

120: head part

121: sensing end

122: positioning recess

123: Top stop

124: The first spring clamping part

125: Central convex shaft

130: bottom part

131: bottom stop

132: connection end

133: The second spring clamping part

134: Center hole

140: spring

Claims (11)

A probe structure including: A center reference line; A head component, in the direction of the center reference line, sequentially includes a sensing end, at least one positioning recess, and a first spring clamping portion; A bottom part including a connecting end; and A spring is arranged between the head part and the bottom part, and the spring is wound around and clamped into the first spring clamping part and abuts against the bottom part. The probe structure according to claim 1, wherein the sensing end includes a multi-point contact end, a line contact end, or a surface contact end. The probe structure according to claim 2, wherein when viewed from the direction of the center reference line, the surface contact end includes a circular shape, a polygonal shape, and a hexagonal shape. The probe structure according to claim 1, wherein the at least one positioning concave portion and a top stop portion adjacent to the positioning concave portion are used to guide the head member to be inserted into a probe guide hole of a jig so that the The sensing end protrudes from the fixture and is used for sensing an integrated circuit. The probe structure according to claim 1, wherein the spring is a spiral spring or a spiral spring. The probe structure according to claim 5, wherein the bottom member optionally has a second spring clamping portion, wherein the shape of the one and two spring clamping portions includes any combination of a shuttle type and a tooth pattern, It is used for clamping the spring, wherein the spring surrounds the second spring clamping part. The probe structure according to claim 1, wherein the head member further includes a central convex shaft, the bottom member further includes a central hole, a part of the central convex shaft is inserted into the central hole, and the spring surrounds the center Convex shaft. A sensing fixture, including: A plurality of probes, each probe includes a sensing end, a first spring clamping portion, a spring, and a connecting end, wherein the spring is wound around and clamped into the first spring clamping portion; A positioning plate has a plurality of probe guide holes, respectively corresponding to a plurality of sensing side positions of an integrated circuit, so that the sensing ends protrude from the positioning plate, and a push-pull structure is provided above the positioning plate, Assist the integrated circuit to enter a predetermined position for sensing; and A bottom plate including a plurality of probe holes corresponding to the positions of the probe guide holes; the probe holes are used for accommodating the probes so that the connecting ends protrude from the bottom plate; Wherein, the sensing end includes a multi-point contact end, a line contact end, or a surface contact end. The sensing fixture according to claim 8, wherein the connecting ends are used for contacting or coupling with signal contacts on a test circuit. The sensing fixture according to claim 8, wherein each of the springs is a spiral spring or a spiral spring. The sensing fixture according to claim 8, wherein the probe has a second spring clamping portion, and the shape of the one and two spring clamping portions includes any combination of a shuttle type and a tooth pattern for Click in the spring.

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