Credence Systems Corporation

Intel Corporation

David A Baker

John K Montgomery

Nabil Khater

Pavlin B Entchev

Larry Mercer

Zhihua Wang

William A Sorem

Dennis H Petrie

Carlos Ramos

Richard Koonwai Wong

Kevin W Bross

Wen Wei

Henry Hanson

Joel H Baum

Sidney Peng

David Collins

According to some embodiments, an apparatus includes a chassis to house a plurality of electronic cards, a backplane housed in the chassis, and a fan housed in the chassis. A first portion of the fan may be lower than a top edge of the backplane, and a second portion of the fan may be higher than the top edge of the backplane.

Chassis cooling system

A test head manipulator for a semiconductor integrated circuit tester includes a support frame, a vertical guide attached to the support frame, a carriage mounted on the vertical guide and movable vertically therealong, a manipulator arm attached to the carriage and projecting therefrom, a counterbalance assembly mounted to the support frame for vertical movement relative thereto, a drum mounted to the support frame for rotation about a horizontal axis, a flexible tension member trained over the drum and having one end connected to the carriage and an opposite end connected to the counterbalance assembly whereby upward movement of the carriage is accompanied by downward movement of the counterbalance assembly and downward movement of the carriage is accompanied by upward movement of the counterbalance assembly, a hand operated power input element at a fixed height relative to the drum, and a force transmission mechanism which couples the power input element to the drum for transmitting manual effort from the power input element to the drum for raising or lowering the carriage.

Test head manipulator for semiconductor tester with manual assist for vertical test head movement

A floating interface assembly provides signal paths between an integrated circuit (IC) test head and contact pads on a load board or probe card accessing an IC to be tested. Pogo pins or other contactors for contacting the contact pads are mounted on the interface assembly and linked to the test head by flexible conductors. The interface assembly is attached to the test head by springs to allow it the freedom to rotate to some extent about any axis. As the test head approaches the contact pads, alignment pins engage and orient the interface assembly so that its contactors will mate with the contact pads. As the contactors come into contact with the contact pads, the interface assembly adjusts the plane of the contactors so as to evenly distribute contact pressure over all contactor pads.

Floating interface for integrated circuit test head

A test head for a semiconductor integrated circuit tester comprises a housing which has an air inlet opening and an air outlet opening and bounds a pin card space and an air chamber. Multiple pin cards are located in the pin card space and radiate from an interior cavity which is within the pin card space. A baffle structure divides the air chamber, which is separated from the pin card space by a boundary surface, into an air supply duct which provides communication between the air inlet opening and the interior cavity and an outlet plenum which provides communication between the pin card space and the air outlet opening by way of the boundary surface. A fan is mounted in the interior cavity for inducing a flow of air from the interior cavity to the plenum by way of spaces between the pin cards.

Cooling system for test head

A manipulator with an expanded range of motion. The manipulator attaches to a testing head for manipulation of the testing head for testing semiconductor devices. A vertical bearing assembly is coupled to a horizontal bearing assembly so as to give vertical and horizontal motion. An expansion joint attaches to the horizontal bearing assembly such that the length of the manipulator may be expanded and retracted. A swing arm attaches to the expansion joint such that it may rotate horizontally. A tumble assembly couples a rotary bearing assembly to the swing arm. The test head attaches to the rotary bearing assembly such that the rotation of the tumble assembly gives tumble rotation and such that the rotation of the rotary bearing assembly gives twist rotation. By rotating the swing arm, tumble rotation may be obtained by rotating the rotary bearing assembly and twist rotation may be obtained by movement of the tumble assembly. The component systems work together to give smooth motion and easy control of the head such that testing may be accomplished for DUT up, DUT down, DUT side and DUT forward using the same tester.

Manipulator with expanded range of motion

A semiconductor tester includes a support frame and a test head assembly mounted to the support frame for vertical movement relative thereto. A counterbalance assembly also is mounted to the support frame for vertical movement relative thereto. A force transmission member interconnects the test head assembly and the counterbalance assembly, whereby upward movement of the test head assembly is accompanied by downward movement of the counterbalance assembly and downward movement of the test head assembly is accompanied by upward movement of the counterbalance assembly. A force sensing transducer which is coupled to the test head assembly develops an output signal dependent on an external effort applied to the test head assembly to cause vertical movement thereof in a selected direction. A force amplifier is responsive to the output signal of the force sensing transducer and has an output member coupled drivingly to at least one of the assemblies for applying a force thereto dependent on and assisting the external effort applied to the test head.

Semiconductor tester with power assist for vertical test head movement

A cable tray assembly for a manipulator within a testing device. A manipulator including cables is used for manipulating a testing head for testing semiconductor devices. The cable trays of the present invention are mounted within the manipulator within a cable housing and are mounted on respective rails allowing them to move longitudinally in and out with respect to the cable housing. The cable trays receive and support the cables that run from a frame of a tester system to the testing head. As the manipulator is moved to position the testing head, this causes the cables to move. In response, the cable trays independently move with the movement of the cables so as to allow for a full range of motion of the manipulator while simultaneously relieving compression and tension within the cables which reduces long term cable damage. The cable trays have a greater height with respect to their width so that the cables can more readily flex about an axis parallel to the cable tray height. The cable trays also contain a contoured flange at the bottom of each cable tray to prevent cable chafing. Further, the ends of the cable trays are tapered in length at different angles to maximize cable support while reducing cable tension during flexing. In one instance, three cable trays are used. As the cables are flexed in a direction toward a one cable tray, it moves inward to relieve cable compression as another cable tray on an opposite side moves outward to relieve cable tension.

Growing community of inventors

Hillsboro, OR, United States of America

David A Baker