Hewlett-packard Company

Bahram Afshari

Farid Matta

Lawrence R Hanlon

An apparatus and method for providing electrical contact between an array of fingers of a tape automated bonding frame and a corresponding array of raised contact areas on a substrate. The tape automated bonding frame is preferably a multi-metal member having at least one utility plane. A load plate having downwardly projecting regions is pressed onto the tape automated bonding frame on a side opposite to the substrate. The substrate may be a printed circuit board and the raised contact areas may be conductive pads. The ends of the fingers of the tape automated bonding frame are precisely aligned with the raised contact areas of the substrate. The downwardly projecting regions of the load plate are generally rigid and provide a compression force between adjacent contact areas and between adjacent finger ends. Displacement of the tape automated bonding frame provided by the downwardly projecting regions of the load plate cause the finger ends to conform to the upper surfaces of the contact areas, thereby insuring effective electrical contact between the finger ends and the contact areas.

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Menlo Park, CA, United States of America

Bahram Afshari