Carrier for guiding and supporting semiconductor devices

Abstract

This carrier for a plurality of transistors or other semiconductor devices comprises a unitized body of plastics material having inclined guide surfaces between adjacent guide walls of laterally spaced positioning blocks extending upwardly from a base of the carrier. These guide surfaces and walls guide the leads of the transistors into laterally spaced openings formed through the carrier base which align with openings in a printed circuit board after the carrier is attached to the board by snap-in fasteners. The transistors are seated and held in an upright and aligned position on the carrier by integral leaf-type springs which bias them against the front walls of the blocks for subsequent handling and wave soldering to the board. In a preferred embodiment, the transistors are seated on the top of the springs so that their installed positions are predetermined by the springs to ensure that there is no contact of the transistor leads with a bottom wall of a metallic housing in which the circuit board is installed. This effectively reduces or eliminates damage to the leads or the electrical shorting thereof.