The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 11, 2002
Filed:
Feb. 11, 1999
Harvey C. Hamel, Poughkeepsie, NY (US);
Charles H. Perry, Poughkeepsie, NY (US);
Yuet-Ying Yu, Hopewell Junction, NY (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A buckling beam probe assembly and a process to make the assembly using insulated metal to hold the vertical beam probe wires. The buckling beam probe assembly electrically connects a test apparatus with contact pads on the surface of a device to be tested. The assembly is formed with a plurality of buckling beam wires each having a head, a body, and a tail. Each of the beam wires is pressed vertically onto the contact pads and buckles laterally to adapt to height differences of the contact pads caused by irregularities on the surface of the device to be tested. A top plate has a first plurality of apertures receiving the heads of the plurality of buckling beam wires. A bottom plate has a second plurality of apertures receiving the tails of the plurality of buckling beams wires. A plurality of intermediate metal sections are positioned between the top plate and the bottom plate. Each of the intermediate metal sections is formed with a plurality of thin metal layers and has a plurality of openings coated with an insulation layer. The bodies of the plurality of buckling beam wires pass through the openings.