JP3137174B2 - Test head for IC tester - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a test head of an IC tester for cooling electronic components mounted on a printed circuit board provided radially with a cooling liquid, and in particular, can detect leakage of the cooling liquid. It relates to a test head of an IC tester.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An IC tester places an object to be tested, such as an IC or an LSI, on a central portion of a test head and tests the object to be tested. In such a test head, printed circuit boards are radially arranged in order to shorten the distance from the test object. The electronic components mounted on the printed circuit board are cooled by a fan, that is, air cooling.

[0003] However, the increase in the number of pins and the speed of the IC tester,
With the miniaturization, electronic components to be used have been integrated into ICs, and high-density mounting on printed circuit boards has led to the problem of cooling due to higher heat generation densities of electronic components. With conventional air cooling, the cooling capacity has been limited. . Therefore, cooling is performed by water cooling to increase the cooling capacity. An example is an apparatus as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-196656. Such an apparatus has a supply pipe which is arranged circumferentially at the upper part of the test head and a discharge pipe which is arranged circumferentially at the lower part. The cooling plate receives a supply of cooling water (cooling liquid) from the supply pipe, cools the electronic components of the printed circuit board, and discharges the cooling water to the discharge pipe. As for the cooling water supplied to the cooling plate, the heat exchanger supplies the cooling water to the supply pipe, and takes in the cooling water from the discharge pipe to circulate the cooling water.

[0004]

As described above, since the inside of the test head is cooled by water cooling, if the coolant leaks, the electronic components on the printed circuit board are short-circuited due to the leak and destroyed. There was a problem that would be done.

An object of the present invention is to provide a test head of an IC tester capable of detecting leakage of a coolant.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention, through the tube
The cooling plate supplied with the cooling liquid
IC tester that cools electronic components mounted on a board
In the strike head, the cooling plate and the tube
Joint and, this Joy for removably connected bets
A liquid absorbing member mounted on cement, taken up in the liquid absorbing member
And a leak sensor that detects leaks.
When the sensor detects a leaking coolant, an alarm or
At least one of the stoppages is performed .

[0007]

[0008]

[0009]

According to the present invention, the liquid absorbing member of the joint is provided.
A leak sensor installed at the
Know. Then, the leak sensor detects the leaked coolant.
At least one of an alarm and device shutdown
U.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of the configuration of an IC tester. In the figure, TH is a test head, which is supported on a stand ST in a vertical and rotatable manner so as to be easily coupled directly to a test object (not shown). The test head TH has a configuration in which a large number of test signal generators for supplying a test signal to each pin to be tested are mounted. TM is a terminal operated by an operator. CNT is a control unit, which is connected to terminal TM, and test head T
H operation control, overall system control, and the like. HC
Is a heat exchanger, in which coolant flows from the test head TH,
The cooling liquid is sent to the test head TH at a constant temperature (for example, about 35 ° C.) to cool the test head TH.

Next, the configuration inside the test head TH will be described. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram inside the test head TH. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a housing, which has a shape in which a box is attached to a cylindrical side wall. A top plate 11 and a bottom plate 12 are attached to the housing 1. The top plate 11 can be detached from the surface for transmitting and receiving signals to and from the object under test. The top plate 11 and the bottom plate 12 are attached to the housing 1 with, for example, screws.

A performance board PB is provided between the device under test and the test head TH, and connects the device under test to the test head TH. RB is a relay board on which a relay is mounted, which is connected to the printed board BD1 via a connector and electrically connected to the performance board PB.

The printed circuit boards BD1 and BD2 are provided radially on a cylindrical portion of the housing 1 and have electronic components (here,
For example, not only an LSI but also a power supply module is included). The printed board BD3 is provided in a box-shaped portion of the housing 1 and has an electronic circuit mounted thereon.

Reference numeral 2 denotes a joint, each of which has a cooling plate 31, which is attached to the printed circuit boards BD1 and BD2.
32. The cooling plates 31 and 32 have printed circuit boards BD1 and BD2 attached to both surfaces. here,
The joint 2 includes a supply for supplying the cooling liquid to the cooling plates 31 and 32 and a discharging for discharging the cooling liquid from the cooling plates 31 and 32, respectively. The joint 2 used here has a configuration in which the opening is automatically closed and the coolant does not leak even when the joint 2 is cut off. Reference numeral 4 denotes a liquid absorbing member which is sandwiched between the joints 2 and absorbs the cooling liquid leaking from the joints 2. Reference numeral 5 denotes a liquid leakage sensor that detects the cooling liquid absorbed by the liquid absorbing member 4.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a manifold for supplying the coolant flowing from the heat exchanger and discharging the coolant used in the test head TH to the heat exchanger. T is a tube, and a cylindrical portion in the casing 1 is circumferentially piped by the tube guide 7, and is also piped to the manifold 6 and the joint 2. Numeral 8 denotes a liquid leak sensor provided on the top plate 11 or the bottom plate 12, and detects leaked coolant.

FIG. 3 shows the structure of the liquid leakage sensors 5 and 8. 4 shows a specific configuration of the liquid leakage sensor 5, in which (a) is an exploded perspective view and (b) is an assembled perspective view.
FIG. 5 shows a state in which the liquid leakage sensor 8 is attached to the top plate 11.
FIG. 6 shows a state in which the liquid leakage sensor 8 is attached to the bottom plate 12. In both figures, (b) shows the view from A in (a).

The liquid leak sensor 5 includes lines 51 and 52, a terminating resistor 53, a connector 54, and a detecting unit 55.
The connector 54 and the detection unit 55 are connected to the cooling plates 31 and 3.
Two times as many as two are provided. The lines 51 and 52 are connected to a terminating resistor 53. The connector 54 is connected to the lines 51 and 5
2 and the detection unit 55 are detachably connected. Detector 5
5 is a line 51 by the cooling liquid absorbed by the liquid absorbing member 4.
And the line 52 are short-circuited. The liquid absorbing member 4 includes a sponge 41 and an adhesive tape 42, and both have the same planar shape. That is, there is a hole through which the joint 2 penetrates, and the detection unit 55 is fixed to the sponge 41 with the adhesive tape 42. Further, the sponge 41 has a coloring material that develops a color when absorbing the cooling liquid. The detecting unit 55 has two lines coated at a constant interval, and a portion along the line is not coated at a constant interval so that the leaked coolant can be detected, that is, There is a hole.

The liquid leak sensor 8 is composed of lines 81 and 82, and the lines 81 and 82 are coated at a constant interval, and the uncoated portion, that is, a hole is formed so as to detect the cooling liquid. It is. A plurality of liquid leakage sensors 8 are provided and scattered on the top plate 11 or the bottom plate 12. Reference numeral 9 denotes a detection circuit provided in the control unit CNT and connected to the lines 51, 52, 81, and 82.
Line 51 and line 52 are short-circuited, or line 8
Detecting that the line 1 and the line 82 are short-circuited, outputting an alarm to the operator and stopping the apparatus.

The operation of such a device will be described below.
When the coolant leaks from the joint 2, it is absorbed by the sponge 41. Due to the cooling liquid absorbed by the sponge 41, the sponge 41 develops color and the detection unit 55 is short-circuited. As a result, the lines 51 and 52 are short-circuited, and the short-circuit causes the detection circuit 9 to output an alarm to the operator and stop the apparatus.

When the IC tester is connected to the handler, the coolant leaks from the tube T or the like, and the bottom plate 12
The liquid coolant leaks and the leaked liquid causes a short circuit between the line 81 and the line 82. Due to this short circuit, the detection circuit 9 outputs an alarm to the operator and stops the apparatus.

When the IC tester is connected to the prober, since the test head TH is turned over, the coolant leaks from the tube T or the like and accumulates on the top plate 11, and the leaked coolant is connected to the line 81. The line 82 is short-circuited. Due to this short circuit, the detection circuit 9 outputs an alarm to the operator and stops the apparatus.

As described above, the apparatus having the above configuration has the following effects. Since the liquid leakage sensors 5 and 8 are provided in the test head TH, the leakage of the cooling liquid can be detected. As a result, a highly reliable device can be realized. Since the leak sensor 5 is provided in the vicinity of the joint 2 where there is a high possibility that the coolant leaks, the leak of the coolant can be detected quickly.

Since the liquid absorbing member 4 is attached to the joint 2, it is easy to detect the leakage of the cooling liquid from the joint 2. Since the color is developed when the coolant leaking to the liquid absorbing member 4 is absorbed, it is easy to know from which joint 2 the coolant leaked. Since the liquid leakage sensor 8 is provided on the top plate 11 or the bottom plate 12, the leakage of the cooling liquid can be detected regardless of the portion where the cooling liquid leaks.

The detecting part 55 of the liquid leak sensor 5 is connected to the sponge 4
1 and the adhesive tape 42, the degree of adhesion of the detecting portion 55 to the sponge 41 is improved, and the ability to detect the leaked coolant is improved. Moreover, the sponge 41 can be prevented from being broken by the joint 2 with the adhesive tape 42.

The present invention is not limited to the above, and may be as follows. Although the liquid leakage sensor 5 is configured so that the detection unit 55 is detachable by the connector 54, it may be configured as shown in FIG. That is, the line 51 and the line 52 are wired near the joint 2,
The wired portion is referred to as a detection unit 56. The detecting unit 56 detects the leaked coolant. Further, the liquid leakage sensor 5 may have a configuration without the terminating resistor 53. In this case, the liquid leak sensor 5
Can no longer be detected.

The example in which the liquid absorbing member 4 is constituted by the sponge 41 and the adhesive tape 42 has been described. However, a structure in which the detecting portion 55 of the liquid leakage sensor 5 is sandwiched by the sponge, and a reinforcing member is used instead of the adhesive tape 42. A configuration may be adopted in which the detection unit 55 is sandwiched between the sponges 41 to prevent the sponge 41 from breaking. Further, the configuration is described in which both the alarm and the stop of the device are detected when the leakage of the coolant is detected.

[0027]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the leak sensor is provided near the joint where there is a high possibility that the coolant leaks, the leak of the coolant can be detected quickly.

Further, since the attachment of the liquid absorbing member to the joint, it becomes easier to detect the leakage of the coolant from the joint. According to the second aspect , since the color is developed when the coolant leaking to the liquid absorbing member is absorbed, it is easy to know from which joint the coolant leaked .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration conceptual diagram of an IC tester.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram inside a test head TH.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of liquid leakage sensors 5 and 8;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a specific configuration of the liquid leakage sensor 5.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a state in which the liquid leakage sensor 8 is attached to the top plate 11.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state in which the liquid leakage sensor 8 is attached to the bottom plate 12.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram showing another embodiment of the detection unit 5.

[Explanation of symbols]

 TH Test head BD1, BD2, BD3 Printed circuit board T tube 2 Joint 4 Liquid absorbing member 5, 8 Liquid leakage sensor 11 Top plate 12 Bottom plate 31, 32 Cooling plate

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Teruhiko Tokuge 2-9-132 Nakamachi, Musashino City, Tokyo Inside Yokogawa Electric Corporation (72) Yoshikazu Yoshikawa 2-9-132 Nakamachi, Musashino City, Tokyo Inside Yokogawa Electric Corporation (72) Inventor Kazuhisa Fuchigami 2-9-132 Nakamachi, Musashino-shi, Tokyo Examiner in Yokogawa Electric Corporation Naoyuki Nakamura (56) References JP-A-7-135396 (JP, A) JP-A-3-56873 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01R 31/26 G01R 31/28 H01L 21/66

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A cooling system in which a cooling liquid is supplied through a tube.
Electronic components mounted on a printed circuit board using a mounting plate
In the test head of the IC tester for cooling the cooling plate , the cooling plate and the tube are detachably connected.
A joint, a liquid absorbing member attached to the joint, and a liquid leakage sensor attached to the liquid absorbing member for detecting liquid leakage.
And the leak sensor detects the leaked coolant.
Alarm and / or shut down the equipment.
And a test head for an IC tester. 2. The test head of an IC tester according to claim 1, wherein the liquid absorbing member develops a color when the leaked cooling liquid is absorbed.