Systems for testing and packaging integrated circuits
First Claim
1. A contactor, comprising:
- at least one stress metal spring formed on a surface of a substrate, the stress metal spring having an anchor portion attached to the substrate surface and a free portion extending away from the substrate surface, the stress metal spring comprising a plurality of layers that together impart an inherent level of stress to the spring which effects rotation of the free portion of the stress metal spring from the substrate surface by an effective rotation angle; and
at least one plated metal layer substantially covering the stress metal spring.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Several embodiments of stress metal springs are disclosed, which typically comprise a plurality of stress metal layers that are established on a substrate, which are then controllably patterned and partially released from the substrate. An effective rotation angle is typically created in the formed stress metal springs, defining a looped spring structure. The formed springs provide high pitch compliant electrical contacts for a wide variety of interconnection systems, including chip scale semiconductor packages, high density interposer connectors, and probe contactors. Several embodiments of massively parallel interface integrated circuit test assemblies are also disclosed, comprising one or more substrates having stress metal spring contacts, to establish connections between one or more separated integrated circuits on a compliant wafer carrier.
-
Citations
18 Claims
-
1. A contactor, comprising:
-
at least one stress metal spring formed on a surface of a substrate, the stress metal spring having an anchor portion attached to the substrate surface and a free portion extending away from the substrate surface, the stress metal spring comprising a plurality of layers that together impart an inherent level of stress to the spring which effects rotation of the free portion of the stress metal spring from the substrate surface by an effective rotation angle; and at least one plated metal layer substantially covering the stress metal spring. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
-
10. A process for forming a contactor, comprising the steps of:
-
forming at least one stress metal spring on a surface of a substrate which, upon release from said surface, has an anchor portion and a free portion, the stress metal spring comprising a plurality of layers that together impart an inherent level of stress to the spring; and releasing the free portion of the stress metal spring from the substrate surface, wherein the free portion of the stress metal spring rotates away from the substrate surface by an effective rotation angle due to the inherent level of stress; and
covering the stress metal spring with at least one plated metal layer. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
-
Specification