JPH08172286A - Cooling device and test head of semiconductor testing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To cool even parallel-arranged printed-circuit boards uniformly with little noise. CONSTITUTION: A cooling operation is formed to be of a heat-pipe system. Planar heat pipes 2 are attached to a plurality of parallel-arranged printed-circuit boards 1 in such a way that they come into contact with MCMs 4 mounted on the respective printed-circuit boards 1, and they receive heat generated by the respective heat-generating components 4 so as to be dissipated from heat-dissipating parts 7 on both sides. Cooling plates 10 are attached respectively to the heat-dissipating parts 7 on both sides of the respective heat pipes 2, a liquid 9 is made to flow to flow passages 8 inside the cooling plates 10 so as to cool the heat-dissipating parts 7, and the heat pipes 2 function. Pipe passages 11 are constituted in such a way that they supply the liquid 9 for cooling to the flow passages 8 inside the respective cooling plates 10 through branch pipes 13 from distribution main pipes 12 and that the liquid 9, after a cooling treatment, which has flowed through the flow passages 8 inside the respective cooling plates 10 is returned to gathering main pipes 14 through the branch pipes 13. In order to make the resistance of the respective branch pipes 13 uniform, it is preferable that the ratio (d)/D of the pipe diameter D of the distribution main pipes 12 and the gathering branch pipes 14 to the pipe diameter (d) of the branch pipes 13 is set at 0.2 or lower.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cooling device and a test head of a semiconductor testing device, and more particularly to a printed circuit board arranged in parallel using a heat pipe.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a large number of printed circuit boards are housed in an electronic device, but in view of storage space or cooling efficiency, board arrays are mainly divided into two types: radial arrays and parallel arrays.

The radial arrangement is disadvantageous in terms of storage efficiency because the space between the substrates opens as it goes outward in the radial direction, but it is possible to flow uniform cooling air between the substrates by sucking air from the center. Therefore, there is an advantage that uniform cooling can be performed by the blower.

On the other hand, the parallel array is excellent in terms of storage efficiency because the gaps between the substrates can be made uniform, but when air is sucked from one side, air resistance is closer to the side closer to the suction and far from the suction. Has a demerit that uniform cooling by blower suction cannot be performed. Therefore, in order to cool the printed circuit boards arranged in parallel, a cooling method using a fan is exclusively used, and the number of installed units is increased to perform uniform cooling.

[0005]

In a relatively small electronic device such as a test head of a semiconductor test apparatus,
Conventionally, since the substrate density has not been required to be so high, in many cases, the radial array is adopted as the substrate array from the viewpoint of cooling efficiency. However, due to the dramatic increase in the degree of integration of ICs, the increase in the number of pins in test heads, and the increase in size associated with higher functionality, it has become necessary to further increase the packing density of substrates, and the radial array is no longer used. The storage density is limited. So parallel arrays have come to the fore again.

However, the fan cooling system used in the parallel arrangement has a drawback that noise is large. In particular, MCM (Multi Chip Mo) mounted on the board
The heat-generating electronic components called "dule)" generate a large amount of heat,
Since a large fan is required to cool this, there is a problem that the noise becomes louder. Further, a temperature difference occurs between the upstream side and the downstream side of the fan, which causes a drawback that the heat-generating electronic component cannot be cooled uniformly.

An object of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art by cooling with a heat pipe, and to make it possible to perform uniform cooling even with printed circuit boards arranged in parallel, with less noise. To provide a device.

However, when the cooling device using the heat pipe is incorporated in the test head of the semiconductor testing device, there is a problem that the cooling capacity is lowered when the test head is rotated. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a test head for a semiconductor test apparatus in which the cooling capacity does not decrease even when the test head is swung.

[0009]

A cooling device according to a first aspect of the present invention is mounted so as to cover a plurality of printed circuit boards arranged in parallel, and makes contact with each heat generating component mounted on each printed circuit board to generate heat. Surface heat pipes that receive the heat generated by the parts and radiate from the heat radiating parts on both sides and heat radiating parts on both sides of each heat pipe. The cooling plate for cooling the cooling plate and the liquid for cooling are supplied from the distribution main pipe to the channels of each cooling plate through the branch pipes, and the liquid after the cooling process that has flowed through the channels of each cooling plate is returned to the collecting main pipe through the branch pipes. And the ratio d / D of the pipe diameter D of the distribution main pipe and the collecting main pipe to the pipe diameter d of the branch pipe is set to 0.2 or less.

In the cooling device of the second invention, in the first invention, the distribution main pipe is connected to the collecting main pipe by making a U-turn after making a complete circle around a plurality of printed boards on which the distribution main pipes are arranged in parallel. The main pipe is arranged so as to return along the distribution main pipe.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the cooling apparatus of the first aspect, the distribution main pipe and the collection main pipe are not connected to each other to form a set, and are arranged along both ends of a plurality of printed circuit boards arranged in parallel. They are arranged one by one.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the cooling apparatus according to the first aspect, the distribution main pipe and the collection main pipe are not connected to each other to form a set, and both end portions of a plurality of printed circuit boards arranged in parallel are arbitrarily arranged. One set is provided at each point, and the branch pipe extends from the set to each cooling plate attached to each printed circuit board with the same length.

A cooling device according to a fifth aspect of the present invention is the cooling device according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, further comprising a cooling fan for cooling the heat-generating component that is not in contact with the heat plate.

A test head according to a sixth aspect of the present invention is a test head for a semiconductor test apparatus incorporating the cooling device according to the first to fifth aspects of the invention, wherein the test head is swiveled along a vertical plane about a rotation axis. In a normal position before turning, the heat pipe provided inside is attached to a printed circuit board in a parallel arrangement so that the heat dissipation portions on both sides of the heat pipe are oriented in the horizontal direction. It is arranged parallel to the axial direction so that the direction of the heat radiating portions on both sides of the heat pipe is maintained in the horizontal direction even when the test head is swung.

[0015]

When the heat pipe cooling system is applied to a plurality of printed circuit boards arranged in parallel as in the first aspect of the invention, each heat pipe is different from the case of a radial printed circuit board where the center side is narrow and the center side cannot be cooled. Since the heat pipes can be cooled from both sides, the heat received by each heat pipe can be efficiently dissipated, and the heat generating components mounted on the printed circuit board can be effectively cooled. Further, since the pipe diameter ratio between the branch pipes and the main pipes forming the pipeline is 0.2 or less, the resistance of each branch pipe becomes uniform, and the liquid can be evenly flowed to each cooling plate attached to each printed circuit board. Therefore, the heat radiating portion of each heat pipe can be cooled uniformly. Furthermore, since the source of noise is a pump sound that circulates the fluid, the noise can be significantly reduced compared to the cooling fan.

As in the second aspect of the invention, if the main pipe is arranged so as to make a U-turn after returning around the circumference of the plurality of printed boards, the liquid can be more evenly flowed to each cooling plate. Therefore, each heat pipe can be cooled more uniformly.

As in the third invention, if the distribution main pipe and the collecting main pipe are arranged along the both ends of the plurality of printed circuit boards one by one without being connected to each other, the pipe length can be shortened and the structure can be simplified. Can be achieved.

As in the fourth invention, if the distribution main pipe and the collecting main pipe are arranged at one point without being connected and the branch pipe is extended therefrom, the structure can be further simplified.

As in the fifth aspect of the invention, in addition to cooling by the heat pipe, cooling by a cooling fan can also effectively cool heat-generating components that cannot be cooled by the heat pipe. Further, since the heat pipe system is mainly used, noise can be reduced as compared with the case where the cooling fan alone is used for cooling.

When the heat pipe is arranged parallel to the axial direction of the rotating shaft as in the sixth aspect of the invention, the heat radiating portions on both sides of the heat pipe are always kept horizontal even when the test head is swung. Since the heat radiating portion of the pipe does not face the vertical direction, top heat and bottom heat do not occur, and the cooling capacity of the heat pipe can be stably exhibited.

[0021]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 2 is a plan view of a heat pipe 2 on a printed circuit board 1 so as to cover it.
The state which attached is shown, (a) is a top view, (b) is a side view. The printed circuit board 1 is mainly mounted with a heat-generating electronic component 3 having a relatively small heat generation amount and a small size, and a heat generating electronic component having a large heat generation amount and a large size, for example, an MCM 4, of which the MCM 4 has a planar shape. Heat pipe 2
The heat-generating electronic component 3 having a small heat generation amount is cooled by the cooling fan 5 as needed.

In order to cool the MCM 4 by the heat pipe 2, the heat receiving portion 6 of the planar heat pipe 2 is attached in close contact with the plurality of MCMs 4 by means such as screwing. The heat pipe 2 is formed to be longer than the printed circuit board 1, and both sides of the heat pipe 2 are protruded from both ends of the printed circuit board 1.
The heat radiating portion 7 dissipates the heat received in. When the heat pipe 2 is attached to the MCM 4 so as to be in close contact with the MCM 4, short electronic components cannot contact the heat pipe 2. Therefore, the air from the cooling fan 5 provided on the end side of the printed circuit board 1 is sent to the gap formed between the printed circuit board 1 and the heat pipe 2 to generate the heat-generating electronic component 3 having a small heat generation amount.
Can be cooled.

FIG. 1 shows the basic structure of the cooling device according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, cooling water or the like is provided in the heat radiating portion 7 on both sides of the heat pipe 2 and in the internal flow passage 8. A cooling plate 10 for functioning the heat pipe 2 by flowing the liquid 9 to cool the heat dissipation portion 7 of the heat pipe 2 is detachably attached.
The attachment / detachment means may be screwed, clamped, crimped, or the like. A conduit 11 is connected to the cooling plate 10 for flowing the liquid to the cooling plate 10. The pipe line 11 is composed of a distribution main pipe 12, a plurality of branch pipes 13 branched from the distribution main pipe, and a collecting main pipe 14 in which the branch pipes 13 are combined, and the distribution main pipe 12 to the branch pipes 13 are provided in the flow passage 8 of the cooling plate 10. The cooling liquid 9 is supplied through the cooling plate 10 and flows through the channel 8 of the cooling plate 10 after the cooling process.
Is returned to the collecting main pipe 14 through the branch pipe 13.

The ratio d / D between the diameter D of the distribution main pipe 12 and the collecting main pipe 14 and the diameter d of the branch pipe 13 is set to 0.2 or less.
By doing so, the flow rate of the cooling water supplied from each branch pipe 13 to each cooling plate 10 becomes uniform, and the cooling in each cooling plate 10 becomes uniform.

Next, the basic structure of such a cooling device will be described.
Three modes applied to a cooling device for cooling a plurality of printed boards arranged in parallel will be described.

FIG. 3 shows a loop-shaped conduit. The pipe line 20 is connected to the collecting main pipe 23 by making a U-turn after the distribution main pipe 21 makes one turn around a plurality of printed boards 22 mounted upright on the mother board 25, and the collecting main pipe 23 is connected to the collecting main pipe 21. It is constituted by being arranged so as to return again along. The U-turn portion has a narrow cross-sectional area in order to equalize the reciprocating pressure. A branch pipe 24 extends from the middle of each of the main pipes 21 and 23 to the cooling plate of each printed circuit board 22 to connect them.

FIG. 4 shows a so-called manifold type, in which the conduit 20 is not connected to the main distribution pipe 2.
6 and the main assembly pipe 27 form one set, and the sets are arranged in parallel along both ends of the plurality of printed circuit boards 22 arranged in parallel. This differs from that of FIG. 3 in that the main pipe is a dead end on the way. In FIG. 3, the main pipe is not a dead end, and the pressure tends to be somewhat uniform.

FIG. 5 shows a modification of the manifold type in which the distribution main pipe and the collecting main pipe are formed in a dot shape instead of a linear shape.
In the vicinity of both ends of the plurality of printed circuit boards 22 arranged in parallel, a branch pipe 28 is attached to the cooling plate of each printed circuit board 22 from one place.
, And conversely, the branch pipes 28 gather from each cooling plate at one location. In order to make the resistance of each branch pipe 28 the same, the length of each branch pipe 28 needs to be the same.

According to the present embodiment, since the heat pipe cooling system is applied to the printed circuit board of the parallel array in which the clearances between the boards can be kept the same over the entire length, unlike the printed circuit board of the radial array in which the clearance is not formed in the central portion. The cooling plates having the same ability can be attached to both sides of the printed circuit board, and the heat received by the heat pipe can be effectively released to the outside through the cooling plates.

When all of the heat-generating electronic components that need to be cooled are cooled by the heat pipe, noise can be almost eliminated, and even if the heat-generating components that could not be covered by the heat pipe are cooled by the cooling fan. Since the cooling capacity required for the cooling fan is extremely small,
Even if a fan is used together, noise can be reduced significantly. Further, since the MCM contacting the heat pipe is cooled from both sides of the heat pipe, the MCM on the printed circuit board is
The MCM can be cooled uniformly regardless of the arrangement.

By the way, the heat pipe has a directional property, and depending on its orientation, a phenomenon called bottom heat in which the heat-generating electronic components on the lower side are easily cooled, or top heat which is difficult to cool the electronic component on the upper side is called. It is known that a phenomenon exists. It is thought that this is because the movement of the refrigerant in the heat pipe is affected by gravity. There is no problem if you do not move the device incorporating the printed circuit board with the heat pipe attached, but it is a problem when rotating the test head by connecting it with a handler or prober, such as the test head of a semiconductor test device. Occurs.

As shown in FIG. 6, such a test head 30 has a rotating shaft 31 on the outer side thereof, and can rotate about the rotating shaft 31 along a vertical plane. In this test head 30, the printed circuit boards 32 are arranged in parallel.
When the printed circuit board 32 is installed in the direction as shown in the drawing, that is, in the direction orthogonal to the axial direction of the rotary shaft 31, the heat pipe 33 provided in the test head 30 is moved to the normal position before the test head 30 is rotated. (A) or the reversal position (c) after turning, even if the heat radiating portions on both sides of the heat pipe 33 are attached to the printed circuit board 32 in a horizontal direction, the intermediate position (b) during turning Top heat,
Bottom heat will occur.

Therefore, in order to avoid this, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, the heat pipe 33 is placed at the normal position (a) before turning of the test head 30 or the reversal position (c) after turning. The surface of the printed circuit board 32 is oriented so that the surface is arranged parallel to the axial direction of the rotary shaft 31.
Install in the test head so that it is parallel to the axial direction of. By doing so, the orientation of both sides of the heat pipe 33 is always maintained in the horizontal direction even when the test head 30 is swung, and top heat and bottom heat do not occur and a stable cooling capacity can be exhibited.

[0034]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the heat pipe cooling system is used, noise can be significantly reduced as compared with the cooling fan system. Moreover, since the heat pipe cooling method is applied to a plurality of printed circuit boards arranged in parallel,
Compared with the case of applying to a printed circuit board of a radial arrangement in which the central side cannot be structurally cooled, cooling can be performed from both sides of each heat pipe, so that the printed circuit board can be cooled effectively. Further, since the pipe diameter ratio between the branch pipe and the main pipe forming the pipe line is set to 0.2 or less, each heat pipe can be cooled uniformly.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the main pipe is
Since it makes a U-turn after returning around the circumference of the plurality of printed boards, each heat pipe can be cooled more uniformly.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the main pipes are arranged in parallel along both ends of the plurality of printed circuit boards without being connected to each other, the pipe length can be shortened and the structure can be simplified. be able to.

According to the invention described in claim 4, the main pipe is arranged at one point without being connected, and the branch pipe is extended therefrom, so that the structure can be further simplified.

According to the invention described in claim 5, since the cooling fan is used together with the heat pipe, noise can be reduced.

According to the sixth aspect of the invention, since the heat pipe is arranged parallel to the axial direction of the rotating shaft, the orientation of both ends of the heat pipe is always kept horizontal even when the test head is swung. Since both ends of the heat pipe do not face up and down, top heat and bottom heat do not occur, and stable heat pipe performance can be exhibited.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a basic structure of a cooling device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2A and 2B show a heat pipe attached to a printed circuit board according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2A is a plan view, and FIG.
Is a side view.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a loop type cooling device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a manifold type cooling device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a modification of the manifold type.

FIG. 6 is a swivel diagram of a test head for explaining that conventional top heat and bottom heat phenomena occur in a heat pipe.

FIG. 7 is a swivel diagram of a test head incorporating a heat pipe in a direction in which the top heat and boat heat phenomena do not occur in the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Printed Circuit Board 2 Heat Pipe 4 MCM (Exothermic Electronic Component) 7 Heat Dissipation Section 8 Flow Path 9 Liquid 10 Cooling Plate 11 Pipeline 12 Distribution Main Pipe 13 Branch Pipe 14 Assembly Main Pipe

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A heat radiating section on both sides, which is attached so as to cover a plurality of printed circuit boards arranged in parallel, contacts with each heat generating component mounted on each printed circuit board, receives heat generated by the heat generating component, and receives the heat generated by the heat generating component. The surface heat pipes that radiate heat from the heat pipes, the cooling plates that are attached to the heat radiation parts on both sides of each heat pipe, and that cool the heat radiation parts of the heat pipes by flowing the liquid into the internal flow paths, and the flow paths of each cooling plate. And a conduit configured to supply a cooling liquid from the distribution main pipe through the branch pipe and to return the liquid after the cooling process that has flowed through the channels of each cooling plate to the collecting main pipe through the branch pipe. A cooling device in which the ratio d / D of the pipe diameter D of the main pipe and the pipe diameter d of the branch pipe is set to 0.2 or less. 2. The distribution main pipe is connected to the collective main pipe by making a U-turn after making a complete circle around a plurality of printed boards arranged in parallel, and the collective main pipe is arranged so as to return along the distribution main pipe. The cooling device according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The distribution main pipe and the collecting main pipe are not connected to each other to form one set, and are arranged one set along both ends of a plurality of printed circuit boards arranged in parallel. The cooling device according to claim 1. 4. The distribution main pipe and the collecting main pipe are not connected to each other to form one set, and one set is provided at any one of both ends of a plurality of printed circuit boards arranged in parallel, and the branch pipe is provided from there. 2. The cooling device according to claim 1, wherein the cooling plate is extended to each cooling plate attached to each printed circuit board with the same length. 5. The cooling device according to claim 1, further comprising a cooling fan that cools a heat-generating component that is not in contact with the heat plate. 6. A test head for a semiconductor testing device incorporating the cooling device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the test head swivels along a vertical plane about a rotation axis and is normal before swiveling. At a position, the heat pipes provided inside are attached to the printed circuit boards in a parallel arrangement so that the heat dissipation portions on both sides of the heat pipes are oriented in the horizontal direction. A test head for a semiconductor test apparatus, wherein the test heads are arranged in parallel so that the directions of the heat radiating portions on both sides of the heat pipe are maintained in a horizontal direction even when the test head is swung.