WO2021045502A1

WO2021045502A1 - Test probe, method of manufacturing the same, and test socket supporting the same

Info

Publication number: WO2021045502A1
Application number: PCT/KR2020/011782
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hak-Jae Lee; Seung-Ha Baek
Original assignee: Leeno Industrial Inc.
Priority date: 2019-09-06
Filing date: 2020-09-02
Publication date: 2021-03-11
Also published as: CN114174840A; JP2022545046A; TW202111332A; KR102208381B1; TWI778403B

Abstract

Disclosed is a test probe for testing a device to be tested. The test probe includes a line contact portion comprising a first contact line set and a second contact line set each comprising two contact lines linearly extending to be spaced apart from each other, wherein the first contact line set and the second contact line set are disposed in a V shape or U shape.

Description

TEST PROBE, METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME, AND TEST SOCKET SUPPORTING THE SAME

The disclosure relates to a test probe for testing electrical characteristics of a device to be tested, such as a camera module, a method of manufacturing the same, and a test socket for supporting the same.

An ultra-small camera module applied to a small mobile device has a connector 10 which has partially cylindrical contact terminals 12 as shown in FIG. 1. The contact terminals 12 are formed by bending metal strips in a partial cylinder shape. In a test of the connector 10, plungers of pogo pins come into contact with the contact terminals 12.

In general, a plunger of a pogo pin has one or more tips to come into contact with a bump terminal formed of lead in a test. Tips of plungers may cause a contact error due to slippage when coming into contact with the contact terminals 12 having a curved convex shape. To solve this problem, the present inventor proposed a test probe having a fork-shaped plunger as disclosed in Korean Patent No. 10-1920824. The fork-shaped plunger has a V-shaped contact plane and may accommodate a terminal to be tested to come into surface contact with the terminal for a test.

However, after a number of repeated tests, a foreign material is transferred to and accumulated on a contact surface of such a conventional test probe, and thus a contact resistance is increased, which is problematic. Also, the test is performed by two surface-contact points with the terminal to be tested. However, a contact resistance of a surface contact point is increased abnormally due to the accumulated foreign material, and reliability of the test is degraded accordingly. As a result, a normal camera module may be identified as being defective. Such accumulation of a foreign material or unstable contact between the test probe and a contact terminal results in equipment maintenance or cleaning, error reading, etc. thus having negative effects on a mass-production yield.

An aspect of one or more exemplary embodiments is to provide a test probe for reducing transfer and accumulation of a foreign material and improving reliability of a test, a method of manufacturing the same, and a test socket for supporting the same.

There is provided a test probe for testing a device to be tested. The test probe includes a line contact portion including a first contact line set and a second contact line set each including two contact lines linearly extending to be spaced apart from each other, wherein the first contact line set and the second contact line set are disposed in a V shape or U shape .

A concave portion may be provided in a space between the two contact lines.

A curvature of the concave portion may decrease along a downward extension direction of the contact lines.

The line contact portion may include one or more other contact line sets including two contact lines linearly extending to be spaced apart from each other.

There is provided a method of manufacturing a test probe. The method includes: providing a cylindrical member; forming a concave on an end of the member in a longitudinal direction; and performing planar cutting on the end to leave a predetermined width including a central axis of the member.

The concave may include a cone or hemisphere.

The method may further include forming a hole at a vertex of the concave in the longitudinal direction.

There is provided a test socket for testing a device to be tested. The test socket includes: a test probe including a line contact portion including a first contact line set and a second contact line set each including two contact lines linearly extending to be spaced apart from each other; and a probe support configured to support the test probe

wherein the first contact line set and the second contact line set are disposed in a V shape or U shape.

The test probe according to the present invention can reduce the transfer and accumulation of foreign substances occurring during test, and as a result, can improve the reliability of test.

Further, according to manufacturing method of the present invention, a highly reliable probe can be manufactured simply and conveniently.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a connector of a camera module;

FIG. 2 is a detailed perspective view of a line contact portion according to a first embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a set of diagrams showing a method of manufacturing the line contact portion according to the first embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a test probe according to the first embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a test socket according to the first embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of the test socket of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the test socket of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a test probe according to a second embodiment of the disclosure; and

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of a test socket to which the test probe of FIG. 8 is applied.

Hereinafter, a test probe 40, a method of manufacturing the same, and a test socket according to a first embodiment of the disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a connector 10 of a device to be tested such as a camera module. The connector 10 may include contact points 12 to be tested which have a partially cylindrical shape by bending metal plates in a "U" shape.

FIG. 2 is a detailed perspective view of a line contact portion 20 of the probe 40 according to the first embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 2, the line contact portion 20 may include a V-shaped end 22, a flange 24 which integrally extends from the V-shaped end 22, and an extension 26 which integrally extends from the flange 24.

The V-shaped end 22 may include a V-shaped contact portion 221 which comes into line contact with a contact point to be tested in a test.

The V-shaped contact portion 221 may include a first contact line set 222 and a second contact line set 223 each of which has two contact lines linearly extending to be spaced apart from each other. Each of the first contact line set 222 and the second contact line set 223 may extend so that two contact lines are inclined downward side by side at an interval. The first contact line set 222 and the second contact line set 223 may converge on one point at the center. The V-shaped contact portion 221 may include four contact lines provided at the four edges. As a result, in a test, the contact point to be tested may come into line contact with the four contact lines of the V-shaped contact portion 221.

The V-shaped end 22 may include a first concave portion 224 between the two contact lines of the first contact line set 222 and a second concave portion 225 between the two contact lines of the second contact line set 223. The curvature of the first concave portion 224 decreases along a downward extension direction of the first contact line set 222. The curvature of the second concave portion 225 decreases along a downward extension direction of the second contact line set 223.

The V-shaped end 22 may include a depressed portion 226 which extends in a longitudinal direction at a point on which the first contact line set 222 and the second contact line set 223 converge.

The V-shaped end 22 may have a plate shape which has a thickness suitable for a pitch of a contact point to be tested provided in a device to be tested.

The flange 24 may integrally extend backward from the V-shaped end 22. The flange 24 may be formed in a plate shape having a larger width than the V-shaped end 22 to improve strength. Also, the flange 24 may be formed in the plate shape to prevent rotation in a test.

The extension 26 may integrally extend backward from the flange 24. The extension 26 having a cylindrical shape may come into contact with an end of a first plunger (34). Here, the extension 26 may be omitted, and the flange 24 may integrally form with the first plunger (34). The extension 26 is not limited to a cylindrical shape and may have various shapes.

A contact point to be tested having partially cylindrical shape is accommodated between the first contact line set 222 and the second contact line set 223 of the V-shaped contact portion 221 and comes into contact with four contact points P1, P2, P3, and P4. As a result, even when location errors of the four contact points P1, P2, P3, and P4 occur due to an alignment error and a tolerance, a probability that a contact error will occur between the V-shaped contact portion 221 and the contact point to be tested may be reduced. Also, even when a foreign material is transferred to the four sharp linear contact points P1, P2, P3, and P4 due to repeated tests, the transferred foreign material is pushed to the first and second

concave portions

224 and 225 or pushed out so that the foreign material is not accumulated at the four contact points P1, P2, P3, and P4. In particular, a contact point to be tested comes into contact with a plurality of, for example, four contact points P1, P2, P3, and P4 and thus may reduce a contact resistance.

In general, a contact point to be tested of a device to be tested is disposed to have a very narrow pitch. Therefore, the V-shaped end 22 may be formed in a plate shape having a narrow width in consideration of a plurality of contact points to be tested having a narrow pitch. Also, the flange 24 may be formed in a plate shape having a wider width than the V-shaped end 22 to improve strength.

The line contact portion 20 may be manufactured with a plate having a uniform thickness overall, but strength and durability may be degraded. Consequently, only the V-shaped end 22 may have a small thickness to avoid interference of an adjacent contact point to be tested, and the rest may be processed as the flange 24 or the extension 26 having a greater width.

A method of manufacturing the line contact portion 20 of FIG. 2 will be described below with reference to FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 is a set of diagrams schematically showing a method of manufacturing the line contact portion 20 according to the embodiment of the disclosure.

In step S11, a cylindrical member 21 corresponding to a length of the line contact portion 20 is provided.

In step S12, a V-shaped drill is used to form a concave 212, for example, a cone or hemisphere, at one end of the cylindrical member 21 in a longitudinal direction.

In step S13, a straight drill is used to form a hole 214 at a vertex of the concave 212 in the longitudinal direction.

In step S14, first and second planar processing is performed on the end to leave a predetermined width including a central axis of the cylindrical member 21 using a cutting tool. The V-shaped end 22 may be formed by the first planar processing, and the flange 24 may be formed by the second planar processing.

As described above, after the concave 212 is formed at an end of the cylindrical member 21, only planar cutting is performed to leave the predetermined width including the central axis so that the V-shaped contact portion 221 having the first contact line set 222 and the second contact line set 223 may be easily formed.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a test probe 40 according to the first embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 4, the test probe 40 may include a line contact portion 20 and a pogo pin 30.

Since the line contact portion 20 is the same as the structure shown in FIG. 2, description thereof is omitted.

The pogo pin 30 may include a cylindrical barrel 32, a first plunger 34 which is partially accommodated in one side of the barrel 32, and a second plunger 36 which is partially accommodated in the other side of the barrel 32 and comes into contact with, for example, a pad of a test substrate.

The barrel 32 may include a spring interposed between the first plunger 34 and the second plunger 36 therein. At least one of the first plunger 34 and the second plunger 36 may be supported to be elastically slid by compression or restoring of the spring in the barrel 32.

In a test, an end of the first plunger 34 may come into contact with an end of the extension 26 of the line contact portion 20.

The second plunger 36 may come into contact with, for example, a pad of a test circuit substrate.

FIGS. 5 and 6 are perspective and exploded perspective views of a test socket 50 according to the first embodiment of the disclosure, respectively.

As shown in the drawings, the test socket 50 may include a contact portion support 51 which accommodates and supports a plurality of line contact portions 20, a housing 52 which accommodates and supports the contact portion support 51 in a floating state, and a probe support 53 supporting a plurality of pogo pins 30 which are accommodated and supported in a lower part of the housing 52 and disposed at locations corresponding to the plurality of line contact portions 20.

The contact portion support 51 may include a first contact portion support 512 in which the line contact portions 20 are inserted to partially protrude and a second contact portion support 514 which is disposed under the first contact portion support 512. The first contact portion support 512 includes first openings 5122 in which V-shaped ends 22 of the line contact portions 20 are inserted. The second contact portion support 514 may include second openings 5142 in which extensions 26 of the line contact portions 20 are inserted. The contact portion support 51 may be supported in the floating state by four springs 526 in a first accommodation portion 522 of the housing 52.

The first accommodation portion 522 which accommodates the contact portion support 51 and a second accommodation portion (not shown) which accommodates the probe support 53 may be respectively formed in an upper part and a lower part of the housing 52 with a partition interposed therebetween. The partition may include third openings 524 in which first plungers 34 of pogo pins 30 to be described below are accommodated.

The pogo pins 30 may include a cylindrical barrel 32, a first plunger 34 which is partially accommodated in one side of the barrel 32, a second plunger 36 which is partially accommodated in the other side of the barrel 32, and a spring 38 which is interposed between the first plunger 34 and the second plunger 36 in the barrel 32 and biasing the first plunger 34 and the second plunger 36 away from each other.

The probe support 53 may be inserted and fixed in the second accommodation portion which is present in the lower part of the housing 52, and the second plunger 36 may include fourth openings 532 which accommodate the pogo pins 30 so that the second plungers 36 may partially and externally protrude. The probe support 53 may be fixed in the lower part of the housing 52 by fixing pins 536.

The contact portion support 51 which supports the line contact portions 20 may be inserted and supported in the first accommodation portion 522 in a removable manner. As a result, the line contact portions 20 may be easily replaced when they are defective or their lives end.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a test socket 60 to which the test probes 40 of FIG. 4 are applied.

Referring to FIG. 7, the test socket 60 may include a contact portion support 61 which accommodates and supports line contact portions 20 and a probe support 63 which accommodates and supports pogo pins 30.

The contact portion support 61 may include a first contact portion support 612 which accommodates V-shaped ends 22 and flanges 24 of the line contact portions 20 and a second contact portion support 614 which accommodates extensions 26 of the line contact portions 20.

The first contact portion support 612 may include contact terminal accommodation holes 6122 which accommodate the V-shaped ends 22 of the line contact portions 20 and flange accommodation holes 6124 which accommodate the flanges 24 of the line contact portions 20.

The second contact portion support 614 may include extension accommodation holes 6142 which accommodate extensions 26 of the line contact portions 20.

The probe support 63 may include a first probe support 632 which accommodates barrels 32 and first plungers 34 and a second probe support 634 which accommodates second plungers 36.

The first probe support 632 may include first plunger accommodation holes 6322 which accommodate the first plungers 32 of the pogo pins 30 and barrel accommodation holes 6324 which accommodate the barrels 32.

The second probe support 634 may include second plunger accommodation holes 6342 which accommodate the second plungers 36 of the pogo pins 30.

Before a test, the first plungers 34 may protrude to the extension accommodation holes 6142 of the second contact portion support 614.

FIG. 7 shows a situation in which test terminals 12 are pressed for a test and springs 38 are compressed. When the test is finished, pressing the test terminals 12 is stopped, and the first plungers 34 project upward due to the springs 38 and push up the line contact portions 20. As a result, when the test is finished, the V-shaped ends 22 of the line contact portions 20 may externally protrude.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a test probe 70 according to another embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 8, the test probe 70 may include a cylindrical barrel 72, a first plunger 74 partially accommodated in one side of the barrel 72, and a second plunger 76 which is partially accommodated in the other side of the barrel 72 and comes into contact with, for example, a pad of a test substrate.

The barrel 72 may include a spring interposed between the first plunger 74 and the second plunger 76 therein. At least one of the first plunger 74 and the second plunger 76 may be supported to be elastically slid by compression or restoring of the spring in the barrel 72.

In a test, an end of the first plunger 74 may come into contact with a contact point to be tested of a device to be tested. The first plunger 73 may include a V-shaped end 742, a flange 744, and an extension 746. The first plunger 74 has a similar shape as the line contact portion 20 of FIG. 2 except for the extension 746, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted. The extension 746 may include an expanded end 748 which is accommodated in the barrel 72 and does not come out.

The second plunger 76 may come into contact with, for example, a pad of a test circuit substrate.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of a test socket 80 to which the test probe 70 of FIG. 8 is applied.

Referring to FIG. 9, the test socket 80 may include a first plunger support 81 which accommodates and supports first plungers 74, a barrel support 82 which accommodates and supports barrels 72, and a second plunger support 83 which is provided under the barrel support 82 and accommodates and supports second plungers 76.

In a test probe according to an embodiment of the disclosure, two pairs of contact lines spaced apart from each other are disposed to extend in a V shape or U shape so that the test probe can come into line contact with a device to be tested at four points when the device to be tested is accommodated in a V-shaped groove. As a result, in the test probe of the disclosure, transfer and accumulation of a foreign material can be effectively prevented in spite of repeated tests, and a contact resistance is reduced so that reliability of a test can be improved.

Although the disclosure has been described with reference to the limited exemplary embodiments and drawings, the disclosure is not limited to the above-described exemplary embodiments. Various modifications and variations may be made by those skilled in the art from the description.

Therefore, the scope of the disclosure should not be limited to the above-described exemplary embodiments and should be determined by not only the following claims but also equivalents thereof.

Claims

A test probe for testing a device to be tested, the test probe comprising a line contact portion comprising a first contact line set and a second contact line set each comprising two contact lines linearly extending to be spaced apart from each other,

wherein the first contact line set and the second contact line set are disposed in a V shape or U shape.
The test probe of claim 1, wherein a concave portion is provided between the two contact lines.
The test probe of claim 2, wherein a curvature of the concave portion decreases along a downward extension direction of the contact lines.
The test probe of claim 1, wherein the line contact portion comprises one or more other contact line sets comprising two contact lines linearly extending to be spaced apart from each other.
A method of manufacturing a test probe, the method comprising:

providing a cylindrical member;

forming a concave on an end of the member in a longitudinal direction; and

performing planar cutting on the end to leave a predetermined width including a central axis of the member.
The method of claim 5, wherein the concave comprising a cone or hemisphere.
The method of claim 5, further comprising forming a hole at a vertex of the concave in the longitudinal direction.
A test socket for testing a device to be tested, the test socket comprising:

a test probe comprising a line contact portion comprising a first contact line set and a second contact line set each comprising two contact lines linearly extending to be spaced apart from each other; and

a probe support configured to support the test probe

wherein the first contact line set and the second contact line set are disposed in a V shape or U shape.