JP3378671B2 - Test head for semiconductor test equipment - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention When a pin card mounted on a board is replaced in a test head of a semiconductor test apparatus for performing measurement by connecting a semiconductor device under test and a semiconductor test apparatus. The present invention relates to a test head capable of improving the performance and the contact reliability of a connector of a connection portion. 2. Description of the Related Art FIGS. 3 and 4 show the configuration of a conventional test head for a semiconductor test apparatus. In a mounting structure of a board in a test head of a semiconductor test apparatus according to a conventional technique, a pin electronics card, that is, a plurality of printed board mounting boards called pin cards is usually mounted on a back board. As shown in the side view of FIG. 3 and the front view of FIG. 4, a plurality of pin cards 4 are mounted on the back board 1 in the test head 6, and an upper part of one of the pin cards 4 is provided with a motherboard. 2
Are connected by the connector 3. In order to replace the pin card 4 with the test head 6, it was necessary to detach and attach the connector 3 connecting the mother board 2 and the plurality of pin cards 4 each time. In recent years, with the advancement of functions of semiconductor test equipment,
The size of the motherboard 2 is remarkably increased. Therefore, the size of the motherboard 2 is, for example, 1 m square, and the weight is, for example,
There is also around 20kg, so the work of removing and attaching the motherboard 2 and the pin card 4 for the replacement work of the pin card 4 at the time of failure or setup for changing the model will be a heavy burden for the operator, both in size and weight. There was a difficulty in the workability during the replacement work. In addition, with the increase in the scale of the test apparatus, the pin card 4 and the backboard 1 or the motherboard 2
Also, the number of contact pins of the connector 3 for connection between the connector and the cable tends to increase, and a mechanism for maintaining the contact reliability of that portion and a mechanism for coping with an increase in the insertion / extraction force are required. Had the disadvantage that [0004] In the prior art mounting structure of the pin card on the board of the test head of the semiconductor test apparatus, if it becomes necessary to replace the pin card, it must be replaced each time. Work to remove and attach the motherboard was necessary. In addition, the work of attaching and detaching is inferior in workability due to the size and weight of the motherboard, and a heavy burden is imposed on the operator. Furthermore, there is a mechanism for maintaining the contact reliability of the connector portion connecting the pin card to the backboard or motherboard, and a mechanism for coping with an increase in the insertion / extraction force due to an increase in the number of contact pins of the connector portion. There was a problem that it was necessary. Therefore, in the mounting structure of the pin card to the test head section board according to the present invention, the mother board does not need to be attached and detached every time the pin card needs to be replaced. It is an object of the present invention to provide a structure that does not require various mechanisms provided for maintaining or increasing the insertion / extraction force. In order to achieve the above object, in a mounting structure of a pin card for a test head board of a semiconductor test apparatus according to the present invention, a back board installed at a lower portion is provided. Is mounted next to and below the motherboard at the top. By doing so, there is no board at the lower part, so the pin card is inserted from the lower part, moved to the upper part or the center part and pushed into the connector of the attached backboard. (1) According to the structure of the present invention, only the pin card to be newly inserted or exchanged needs to be detached, so that the force for inserting and extracting the connector is extremely small, and the operator in the exchange work is required. Has become much less burdensome. (2) In contrast to the conventional wisdom of stacking the configurations of the housings of the test head in order from the bottom, the upper portion is fixed and inserted from the lower side of the housing. And B, it is often used by connecting to peripheral devices, and the lower side of the housing is 90 ° or 180 °.
ピ ン The pin card can be attached and detached while it is rotated, and the workability is not impaired. Here, FIG. 2A shows an example of connection with a handler device, and FIG. 2B shows an example of connection with a prober device. (3) By mounting the backboard adjacent to and below the motherboard at the top, the motherboard can be made smaller than that of the conventional technology, and furthermore, depending on the circuit configuration, it can be integrated into only one backboard Became possible. FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are side views showing the concept of the construction of an embodiment according to the present invention. (1) As shown in FIG. 1, in the mounting structure of the pin card on the board of the test head of the semiconductor test apparatus according to the present invention, the back board 1 installed at the lower part is moved to the upper part, It was mounted under and adjacent to a certain motherboard 2. (2) The pin card 4 is pushed into the back board 1 by the connector 3 from the lower direction shown in FIG. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, since the test head can be rotated, the pin card 4 can be connected by pushing the pin card 4 upside down. A connector 3 and a cable necessary for signal input / output are connected to a lower portion, which is one end surface of the pin card 4. (3) Above the test head 6, there is a performance board 7 and a ring 8 for supporting the performance board 7 to constitute the whole. However, the weight of the entire test head 6 is very small in this embodiment. became. Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects. (1) In the work of exchanging the pin card for the board in the test head of the semiconductor test equipment, it is no longer necessary to remove and attach the motherboard every time the exchanging work required in the prior art, so that the workability of exchanging the pin card is improved. It has improved dramatically. (2) Therefore, a mechanism for assisting the work of attaching and detaching the motherboard is not required, so that the cost of the entire test head unit as a housing can be reduced. (3) According to the mounting structure of the pin card to the board in the test head section of the present invention, it is not necessary to remove and attach the pin card other than the pin card to be replaced. Therefore, as in the prior art, the connector portion other than the pin card to be replaced is also attached and detached each time, so that the uncertainty for contact does not enter, thereby improving the contact reliability of the connector portion. .

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side view showing the concept of the configuration of an embodiment according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram of an example of use of a test head, FIG. 2A is a diagram of a connection example with a handler device, and FIG. 2B is a diagram of a connection example with a prober device. FIG. 3 is a side view showing the concept of the configuration of a mounting structure according to a conventional technique. FIG. 4 is a front view showing the concept of the configuration of a mounting structure according to a conventional technique. [Description of reference numerals] 1 Backboard 2 Motherboard 3 Connector 4 Pin card 5 Cable 6 Test head 7 Performance board 8 Ring 9 Handler device 10 Prober device

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-4-21881 (JP, U) JP-A-3-65987 (JP, U) (58) Fields surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01R 31/26 G01R 31/28-31/3193 H01L 21/66

Claims (1)

(57) [Claim 1] Adjacent to a motherboard (2) installed in an upper part inside a test head (6), in parallel with an upper surface of the test head (6) housing. A back board (1) provided, and a plurality of pin cards (4) for inserting or removing the connector (3) of the back board (1) from below the test head (6) housing. A test head for a semiconductor test apparatus, characterized in that: