Test Sockets and Contactors for Final Test
Highly consistent dimensional stability, resistance to wear from repeated test cycles and mechanical stiffness are critical to the life and reliable performance of these precision parts. Some devices must also perform at extreme tri-temp test conditions ranging from -65°C to over 175°C depending on the device’s end use environment. Materials used in these test applications must also exhibit minimum outgassing and sloughing to minimize any contamination of the tested chips. As the industry moves to next-generation chips and IC designs shift to more dense arrays within smaller packaging constraints, these performance demands only increase.
Drake has responded to the changing and stricter requirements for semiconductor test sockets and nests by developing shapes in exceptionally durable, strong and stable ultra high-performance polymers ideally suited to the performance demands of this phase of semiconductor manufacturing:
Torlon 5030 is a 30% glass fiber reinforced polyamide-imide that exhibits high dimensional stability with half the thermal expansion rate of unreinforced grades. Its glass fibers provide very high stiffness at elevated temperatures without the conductivity associated with carbon fibers. Its resistance to creep under load above 150°C/ 302°F exceeds that of any of the ultra-high-performance polymers used in semiconductor testing applications. With a compressive strength of 38KSI/ 260 MPa and PAI’s inherent wear resistance, Torlon 5030 resists compression set and affords long life and dependable service in finished parts. It also enables high speed testing of IC’s under the most severe test conditions from cryogenic temperatures to 250°C/ 482°F.
Torlon 4203L (also designated 4203), an unreinforced pigmented grade, allows precise hole-to-hole spacing and long life under cryogenic testing conditions in chip nests. Its strength and toughness exceed that of PEEK and polyimides from cryogenic conditions on up to 250°C/ 482°F.
Drake 4200 PAI, an unreinforced non-pigmented grade, also allows precise hole-to-hole spacing and long life under cryogenic testing conditions in chip nests. Unlike Torlon 4203L however, the 4200 grade contains no TiO2 pigment and is preferred by some in the semiconductor industry to eliminate trace metal contamination from titanium and aluminum present in the pigmented grade. The strength and toughness of Drake 4200 PAI also exceed that of PEEK and polyimides, from cryogenic conditions on up to 250°C/ 482°F.
