Itt Corporation

Itt Manufacturing Enterprises, Inc.

Itt Industries, Inc.

Marik Balyasny

Mark S Fisher

Rondal Keith Harmon, Jr

Arthur C Sepmeyer

Raul A Olivares

Kenneth B Baldwin

George Ray Hirvela

A connecting device is described for use in a test clip whose multiple contacts engage multiple leads of an IC (integrated circuit) device, which can be constructed reliably and at low cost. The test clip includes a flat flexible cable (54, FIG. 7) mounted on a clip housing, the cable having parallel conductors (50) mounted on insulation 53. Lower end portions of the conductors serve as lead-engaging contacts. Each conductor lower end portion extends in a substantially 180.degree. loop (62), with one side (70) of each loop being positioned to engage a corresponding lead of the IC device.

Contact arrangement

A test clip is described with contacts (50) for engaging leads (26) of an IC (integrated circuit) device, wherein the contacts have lower lead-contacting parts (56) arranged in a single row (62) at a predetermined lead spacing S, and have header pins (60) lying in a header arrangement that allows connection to a standard instrument connector (40). Each contact has an intermediate portion (70) where the contact has a first offset part (72) extending in a longitudinal direction (L) by a distance S/2, and has a second lower offset part that extends partially in a lateral direction (M) by a lateral distance S. The upper first offset part extends horizontally, with 90.degree. angles (76, 78) at it opposite ends, so the contact can be installed by pressing on a shoulder (90) of the first offset part. The first offset part with 90.degree. angles is formed by initially stamping the contact from sheet metal to form a stamped part with such angles and such first offset part. The second, lower offset part extends at an angle (B) from the vertical of about 45.degree. so its opposite ends form angles of 45.degree., with the second offset part resulting from bending of the stamped contact. The contact intermediate portions (which contains the two offset parts) lie in a recess (104) at the top of the connector housing and are held in place by a header insert (106).

Test clip with standard interface

A mechanism is provided as part of a test clip for locking the clip to the body of an integrated circuit device, at the corner regions of the IC body. The mechanism includes locking fingers (62, FIG. 4 ) that are formed of metal spring wire, with each finger having an upper part (84) fixed to a base (22) that closely engages an upper portion of the IC body, a middle part (84) that extends at a downward-axially outward incline, and a lower finger end (66) that engages a lower portion of the IC body. When a shaft (72) is pushed down against the biasing of a spring (74), the shaft moves down an actuator (64) that has prongs (80) which press against the middle parts of the locking fingers to deflect them radially inwardly, so the finger lower ends slide radially inwardly along grooves (112) formed in the base, to engage the lower portion of the IC body.

Locking mechanism for IC test clip

A test clip is provided, of the type that has multiple contacts that engage the leads of an IC (integrated circuit) device with closely spaced leads, which can be constructed reliably and at low cost. The test clip includes a flat flexible cable (52, FIG. 5) mounted on the clip housing (30), the cable having parallel conductors mounted on an insulative layer. The lower ends (58) of the conductors serve as lead-engaging contacts, and have exposed inner surfaces that directly engage largely vertical parts (60) of the IC device leads. A stiffener (70) formed by a sheet of stiff but flexible material, is attached to the lower portion of the cable on its outer surface, the stiffener having a lower portion that biases the lower ends of the conductors towards the leads. A circuit board (40) is mounted on the clip housing to lie in a horizontal plane, and has contact pads (80) on its lower surface. The flexible cable is bent so its upper end extends horizontally and has exposed upper conductor ends (92) that connect to the pads on the lower surface of the circuit board, the pads being connected to contact elements (36) of connectors on the upper surface of the circuit board.

Flexible interface IC test clip

A connecting device is described for use in a test clip whose multiple contacts engage multiple leads of an IC (integrated circuit) device, which can be constructed reliably and at low cost. The test clip includes a flat flexible cable (54, FIG. 7 ) mounted on a clip housing, the cable having parallel conductors (50) mounted on insulation 53. Lower end portions of the conductors serve as lead-engaging contacts. Each conductor lower end portion extends in a substantially 180.degree. loop (62), with one side (70) of each loop being positioned to engage a corresponding lead of the IC device.

Test clip contact arrangement

A clip is described for making connections to the leads of an IC device whose leads are very closely spaced, which can be constructed reliably and at low cost. The clip includes a flat cable (112, FIG. 8) mounted on a clip frame (44), the cable having parallel conductors (114) mounted on a continuous insulative film (116), with lower portions of the conductors exposed to serve as lead-engaging contacts (50). The film is thin in a lateral direction (154) to easily bend and allow differential deflection of the contacts, while the conductors are thick in a lateral direction to minimize the influence of the film on conductor deflection. The frame of the clip has a cavity (46) with side and end walls that closely align with the body (14) of the IC device without an interference fit thereto. A pair of pivoting arms (34, 36, FIG. 2) press against the opposite ends of an IC device to lock the clip but not to align it. A contact arrangement that includes the flat cable, includes a header ( 122, FIG. 3) whose housing has an inner surface lying facewise against the flat cable and with the flat cable lying facewise against a largely vertical flat surface (132) on the frame.

Clip for small outline IC device

A test clip is provided for IC (integrated circuit) devices of the SOP (small outline package) type which effectively positions the clip on the IC device, which facilitates manufacture of test clips for IC devices of different lengths, and which simplifies connection to the contacts of the test clip. The test clip includes a base (44, FIG. 1) with a cavity at its bottom which closely receives the body of the IC device (18), and a pair of arms (46, 48) pivotally mounted on the base and carrying rows of contacts (42). The cavity has opposite side cavity walls (82, 84) that lie adjacent to the sides of the body of the IC device, and end cavity walls (100, FIG. 5) that lie in interference fit with the ends (30) of the body. A group of test clips for IC devices having different numbers of leads at their opposite sides, have identical arms but have bases (44, 44A, FIG. 7) with different size cavities (80, 80A). A pair of flexible flat cables each has a lower end (60b, FIG. 2) connected to the tops of the contacts and an upper end (60u) directly connected to a header (66) that is directly mounted to the top of the base.

Test clip for IC device

A fine pitch test clip is provided, which assures accurate alignment of the test lead contacts with the IC (integrated circuit) device leads. The test clip includes a center for lying over the IC body and four arms (e.g. 41 in FIG. 4 ) pivotally mounted on the center, with each arm including a row of contacts (52) mounted in the arm housing. Lower portions of the contacts, which engage the IC device leads (30), are separated by barriers of the housing with endmost barriers (106, 108) being positioned so they can engage the endmost leads (30E) of the IC device to assure alignment of the lower contact portions with the IC device leads. A rigid board (204, FIG. 11) with connectors (211-214) thereon is mounted on the center of the test clip frame, above the arms, and flexible resilient circuit boards (231-234) each extend in a horizontal loop between the top of the contacts that lie at the top of an arm, to the rigid board where they are coupled to terminals of one of the connectors on the rigid board.

Test clip for five pitch IC

Lead terminations are provided for terminating the opposite ends of a multimeter test lead to contact devices, including a right angle banana plug contact device and an in-line test probe contact device. The test lead includes a wire having a conductor surrounded by soft easily displaced wire insulation such as silicone. Each termination includes a conductive element with a penetrating portion (such as pin portion 38 in FIG. 3, or prong 110 in FIG. 8) which is advanced into one side of the wire and which moves the wire conductor until the wire conductor moves through the opposite side of the insulation. In a right angle banana plug termination (14, FIG. 3), the contact device (20) has a pin portion (38) which penetrates through a first side of the wire insulation (32) and presses the wire conductor (30) out of an opposite second side of the insulation and against a wall of a bore in an insulative body (40). In an in-line termination (16, FIG. 8), a prong (110) formed in one side of a metal tubular portion of a contact device is advanced into one side of the wire insulation and the prong advances a location (30B) of the wire conductor through the wire insulation to press against the opposite side of the tubular portion.

Lead termination

A test clip is provided which has multiple contacts that can engage the leads of a surface mount integrated circuit device whose leads are very closely spaced, while being reliably held down to the circuit device during a test procedure. The test clip has a housing with a recess (72, FIG. 10) that very closely recieves the top of the body of the circuit device (12) to align the clip with the circuit device, the clip being devoid of engagement with the lower part of the device. Instead, the test clip relies solely on frictional engagement of its contacts (24) with the circuit device leads (64) to hold down the test clip. Each contact has a first part (80) that initially lies against a contact-locating outer surface (82) of the housing. Each contact also has a second part (84) that extends below the contact-locating outer surface and that is positioned to be outwardly deflected slightly as it wipes across a circuit device lead, as the test clip is moved directly downwardly against the circuit device.

Growing community of inventors

Burbank, CA, United States of America

Marik Balyasny