Aehr Test Systems, Inc.

Larry J Lape

Rhea J Posedel

James Wrenn

Paul W Burke

Carl N Buck

Ernie Wang

See-Hack Foo

A reusable carrier 10 for temporarily holding an integrated circuit 12 during burn-in and electrical test includes a base 14 and a lid 16 attached to the base 14 by hinges 18. A flexible substrate 19 is attached to the base 14. Alignment posts 20 have tapered surfaces 22 that engage corners 24 of the integrated circuit 12 to position the integrated circuit 12 precisely on upper surface 26 of the substrate 19. A spring-loaded latch 28 engages projection 30 in aperture 32 of the base 14 to hold the lid 16 closed over the integrated circuit 12. Electrically conductive traces 34 on the surface 26 have contact bumps which engage contact pads on the underside of the integrated circuit 12 to connect the integrated circuit 12 to peripheral contact pads 38 around edges 40 of the substrate 19. A spring 42 engages upper surface 43 of the integrated circuit 12 when the lid 16 is in its closed position over the integrated circuit 12, to provide a biasing force to urge the contact pads against the conductive traces 34 with sufficient force to insure a reliable electrical connection. For burn-in, the temporary package 10 containing the integrated circuit die 12 is now loaded into a socket 48 on a burn-in board 50, which is then loaded into a burn-in system, where otherwise standard burn-in is performed.

Reusable die carrier for burn-in and burn-in process

A reusable carrier (10) for temporarily holding an integrated circuit (12) during burn-in and electrical test includes a base (14) and a lid (16) attached to the base (14) by hinges (18). A flexible substrate (19) is attached to the base (14) with a suitable adhesive. Alignment posts (20) have tapered surfaces (22) that engage corners (24) of the integrated circuit (12) to position the integrated circuit (12) precisely on upper surface (26) of the substrate (19). A spring-loaded latch (28) engages projection (30) in aperture (32) of the base (14) to hold the lid (16) closed over the integrated circuit (12). Electrically conductive traces (34) on the surface (26) have contact bumps which engage contact pads on the underside of the circuit (12) to connect the integrated circuit (12) to peripheral contact pads (38) around edges (40) of the substrate (19). A spring (42) engages upper surface (43) of the circuit (12) when the lid (16) is in its closed position over the integrated circuit (12), to provide a biasing force to urge the contact pads against the conductive traces (34) with sufficient force to insure a reliable electrical connection. For burn-in, the temporary package (10) containing the integrated circuit die (12) is now loaded into a socket (48) on a burn-in board (50), which is then loaded into a burn-in system, where otherwise standard burn-in is performed.

A printed circuit board loader and unloader in which a printed circuit board carrier is horizontally translationally moved in a straight line along a first axis and a pick and place head unit is horizontally translationally moved above the carrier in a straight horizontal line along a second axis perpendicular to the first axis. A device stager holds a tube containing integrated circuit devices fed to it by a tube transporter. In a straight path from the opening of the tube facing the carrier is a slideway operatively connected with the tube holder. The slideway has gating and device fixing vacuum ports. The device stager is pivotable to (i) a pivot down position to slide devices from the tube onto the slideway and vacuum arrest and gate them, (ii) a pivot level position in which the devices are picked up from over the forward ports on the slideway, and (iii) a pivot up position which devices slide from the forward portion of the slideway into a tube in the tube holder of the device stager. The pick and place system loads the printed circuit board by vertically picking up devices from the level slideway, traveling horizontally to a pre-calculated position, and placing the devices in sockets on the printed circuit board on the carrier positioned at that calculated position, employing in one aspect a special zero insertion force socket opener. The pick and place system unloads the board by vertically extracting the devices from the precisely positioned board, horizontally moving them to the slideway, and vertically depositing the devices on the level slideway, which then pivots up to deposit them in a tube being loaded.

Growing community of inventors

Sugar Land, TX, United States of America

Larry J Lape