Mechanical design and analysis of innovative integrated circuit test socket

Mechanical design and analysis of innovative test socket is done in this study by using ANSYS as Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software. It is designed to solve the problems brought to the IC leads by pogo pins in the IC testing process. Proposed test socket is formed as an array of holes filled with electrical conductive cells. Each cell consists of three different parts, including micro-contactors, polymer house and liquid metal. Liquid metal is used to absorb the pressure and prevent damaging to the IC leads. Mechanical and electrical analysis was done on the different models with 4, 8, 12, 16 and 20 micro-contactors. The 16 pin model showed the best results. This model was analyzed with different height and the results indicate that the 5mm height electrical conductive cell has the best characteristics. In optimization process, the 16 pin model with 5 mm height was optimized by changing the polymer house material and copper thickness. The enhancement was over 50 percents in some cases such as stress, strain and deformation. Stress and strain analysis shows that all of models have better results with many novelties to be commercially viable.