JP3344539B2 - IC test equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an IC test apparatus for testing whether a semiconductor integrated circuit (hereinafter referred to as an IC) operates normally.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIGS. 6 and 7 show a schematic structure of a conventional IC testing apparatus. In the figure, reference numeral 10 denotes a main frame. The main frame 10 includes a pattern generator for supplying a test pattern signal to the IC under test or an I under test.
Various circuit devices for comparing and determining whether or not C operates normally are accommodated. Reference numeral 20 denotes a test head connected to the tip of the cable bundle 11 pulled out from the main frame 10, and reference numeral 30 denotes a handler for electrically contacting the IC under test with the test head 20.

[0003] That is, the handler 30 has a transport means for sequentially transporting the IC under test, and the transport means uses the transport means to transfer the IC.
And the IC is brought into contact with an IC contact socket (or probe) provided on the test head 20, and the IC under test is connected to the main frame 10 through the test head 20.
Test C. The test head 20 has a performance board 21 exposed and mounted on the upper surface thereof, and an IC mounted on the exposed surface of the performance board 21 as shown in FIG.
A contact socket SK (or probe) is mounted. As shown in FIG. 8, a large number of pin electronics boards 22 are housed on the lower surface of the performance board 21. The pin electronics board 22 and the performance board 21 are electrically connected to each other. It is connected to the bundle 11 and is electrically connected to the main frame 10.

The pin electronics board 22 needs to be replaced according to, for example, the standard of the IC under test. For this reason, by removing the performance board 21, the upper surface side of the test head 20 is opened, and the pin electronics board 22 is inserted / extracted from the opened portion and can be replaced. To this end, the test head 20 is supported by the test head stand 40, and the test head 20 is separated from the handler 30 by sliding the slide 41 of the test head stand 40 as shown in FIG. It has a structure.

[0005] With the test head 20 pulled out of the handler 30, the performance board 21 is removed and the pin electronics board 22 is replaced. Although the test head 20 shown in FIGS. 6 to 8 has been described in the case where the upper surface side is the insertion / removal opening of the pin electronics board 22, the performance board 21 is detachable when this structure is adopted. Since the connection structure between the board 21 and the pin electronics board 22 must be a structure that can be separated, there is a disadvantage that the structure is complicated. In addition, since a structure that can be separated is employed, electrical characteristics, that is, characteristic impedance deviates from a predetermined value, and an impedance mismatching portion easily occurs, and reflection of an electric signal occurs at the impedance mismatching portion. Inconvenience occurs.

In order to eliminate this drawback, the performance board 21 is fixed to the test head 20, and the pin electronics board 22 is mounted on the opposite side to the surface on which the performance board 21 is mounted, that is, from the bottom side.
Some models adopt a structure that exchanges data. If the test head 20 is installed in the direction shown in FIG. 9 in a model adopting this structure, the test head 20 must be replaced in the posture shown in FIG. 10 in order to replace the pin electronics board 22. In the arrangement shown in FIG. 10, an operator must enter between the test head 20 and the handler 30.
0, the test head 20 must be
You have to pull it out of In order to draw out the test head 20 largely, the distance between the main frame 10 and the handler 30 needs to be large, so that the installation area becomes large and the installation area can be limited. The inconvenience of reducing the number of test devices occurs.

In order to avoid this inconvenience, it is necessary to mount the test head 20 on the handler 30 with the direction of the test head 20 reversed by 180 ° as shown in FIG. When the test head 20 is mounted in the direction shown in FIG.
2, the pin electronics board 22 can be exchanged in the posture shown in FIG.
It is not necessary to draw a large value from 0, and the above-mentioned inconvenience can be avoided.

However, in this case, the test head 20
6 is reversed by 180 ° as compared with the cases of FIGS. 6 and 7, various inconveniences occur. That is, since the direction of the performance board 21 is also inverted by 180 °, the position A of the 1st pin shown in FIG. 8 moves to the opposite side, and when the handler 30 contacts the IC, the direction of the IC is changed. You have to change it. To change the direction of the IC, the internal structure of the handler 30 must also be changed.

In order to avoid changing the internal structure of the handler 30, only the direction of the performance board 21 may be returned to the original direction shown in FIG. However, in this case, the arrangement of the pin electronics boards in the test head 20 must be replaced.
As described above, if the direction of the test head 20 is changed, the structure of each part must be changed, which is troublesome in terms of manufacturing.

An object of the present invention is to provide a structure in which a model using a test head having a structure in which a pin electronics board is inserted and withdrawn in different directions can be manufactured with a common structure without affecting each part. is there.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention proposes a structure of a test head capable of pulling out a cable bundle of a test head from any of the front and rear directions. According to the structure of the test head of the present invention, the cable bundle can be pulled out from any direction in the front-rear direction, so that the position where the cable bundle is pulled out can be changed without changing the direction of the test head. As a result, even in the case of a structure in which the pin electronics board is inserted and removed from the bottom side of the test head, the pin electronics board can be set to a posture that allows the replacement of the pin electronics board from the main frame side.

[0012]

FIG. 1 shows the structure of a test head 20 used in an IC test apparatus according to the present invention. The test head 20 supports a performance board 21, a pin electronics board 22 (not shown in FIG. 1), and the like, and includes a housing 25 stored therein and an exterior 26 covering the outer periphery of the housing 25. .

In the present invention, a mounting hole is provided in the housing 25 so that the cable clamp 27 can be mounted on either the front side or the rear side. In the example shown in FIG.
3 shows a structure in which the cable bundle 11 is drawn out from the cable bundle 3. Therefore, on this side, the cable clamp 27 is fixed to the rear of the housing 25 by bolts 27A, and the cable bundle 11 pulled out from the bottom surface side of the housing 25 is clamped and pulled out. Each cable of the cable bundle 11 is connected to a pin electronics board housed in the housing 25 by a connector 28 provided on the bottom side of the housing 25. When replacing the pin electronics board,
A cable is disconnected by each connector 28 to perform a replacement operation.

In the present invention, a cable clamp 27 can also be attached to the front of the housing 25 as shown by a dotted line in FIG. Therefore, the cable bundle 11 can be pulled out from the front 24 of the test head 20. According to the present invention, the cable bundle 11 can be pulled out from either the rear 23 or the front 24 of the test head 20. Therefore, even if the pin electronics board 22 is inserted into and removed from the upper surface of the test head 20, the pin electronics Even a model having a structure in which the board 22 is inserted and withdrawn from the bottom side can be mounted on the handler 30 without changing the direction of the test head 20, and the pin electronics board can be replaced without pulling the test head out of the handler from the mounted state. Can do it.

The reason will be described with reference to FIGS. FIGS. 2 and 3 show an embodiment of an IC test apparatus using a test head of a type in which the pin electronics board 22 is inserted and removed from the upper surface side of the test head 20. In this case, the cable clamp 27 may be attached at the same position as in FIG. 1 so that the cable bundle 11 is pulled out from the rear side 23 of the test head 20.

FIG. 3 shows a state where the test head 20 is pulled out to a position where the pin electronics board 22 stored in the test head 20 is replaced in the IC test apparatus shown in FIG. 3, the pin electronics board 22 can be replaced on the upper surface side of the test head 20 by removing the performance board 21.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show a case where a test head of the type in which the pin electronics board 22 is replaced on the bottom side of the test head 20 is used. In this case, as shown by a dotted line in FIG. 1, the cable clamp 27 may be attached to the front side of the housing 25 and the cable bundle 11 may be pulled out from the front 24 of the test head 20. FIG. 5 shows a state where the pin electronics board 22 is replaced. When replacing the pin electronics board 22, the test head 20 is pulled out and the test head 20 is erected with the front 24 facing downward. By standing upright in this position, the test head 20 is moved downward so that its bottom surface is
It can be erected in a posture facing 0. Therefore, the operator can perform the work of replacing the pin electronics board 22 from the main frame 10 side. In this case, since the test head 20 does not need to be drawn out significantly, the space between the main frame 10 and the handler 30 does not need to be large, and therefore, the installation floor area of one set of IC test devices does not need to be large. . Therefore, it is possible to avoid a decrease in the number of installations per floor area.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, as is apparent from FIGS. 2 and 3, and FIGS. 4 and 5, the test head 20 has the pin electronics board 22 on the upper surface side.
The direction of the test head 20, that is, the direction of the performance board 21, does not change regardless of the type in which the pin electronics board 22 is replaced on the bottom surface of the test head 20. Therefore, the same performance board can be used as the performance board 21. Of course, the direction of the IC to be brought into contact with the performance board 21 is unchanged in any type of test head. Therefore, the handler 30 is provided with I
The direction in which C comes into contact can be kept constant. Therefore, according to the present invention, even if the test head 20 replaces the pin electronics board 22 on the top side, the pin electronics board 22 is replaced on the bottom side.
The IC can be brought into contact with the performance board 21 under the same conditions even with a test head of a type that replaces the IC. As a result, the type of the test head 20 does not affect other devices (e.g., handlers), and the structure of the test head 20 differs only in the portion from which the cable bundle 11 is pulled out. Therefore, manufacturing is easy.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view for explaining a configuration of a main part of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing an embodiment of the IC test apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view for explaining a state in which a test head of the IC test apparatus shown in FIG. 2 is pulled out from a handler and pin electronics are replaced.

FIG. 4 is a side view for explaining the operation of the main part of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a view for explaining how the test head of the IC test apparatus shown in FIG. 4 is pulled out of the handler and the pin electronics board is replaced.

FIG. 6 is a side view for explaining a conventional technique.

FIG. 7 is a side view similar to FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view similar to FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a side view for explaining another example of the related art.

FIG. 10 is a side view similar to FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a side view for explaining still another conventional example.

FIG. 12 is a side view similar to FIG. 11;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Main frame 11 Cable bundle 20 Test head 21 Performance board 22 Pin electronics board 23 Rear of test head 24 Front of test head 25 Housing 26 Exterior 27 Cable clamp 27A Bolt 28 Connector 30 Handler 40 Test head stand

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A main frame containing a device for taking in a response signal of an IC under test and comparing it with an expected value to determine whether or not the IC under test is operating normally, and a main frame extracted from the main frame. A test head that is connected to the tip of the cable bundle and comes into contact with the IC under test; a handler that supports the test head so that it can be pulled out during maintenance and performs an operation of sequentially contacting the IC under test with the test head; An IC test apparatus comprising: a front end and a rear end in a mounting / removing direction of the test head with respect to the handler, in which a cable bundle connecting the test head and the main frame is pulled out from the test head. An IC test apparatus characterized in that it can be drawn from any of the above.