Page 51 - Chip Scale Review_November December_2021-digital

A coaxial elastomer socket for system-level test

By Dave Oh, BH Kim [TSE]
A s t h e t e c h n o l o g i e s of check the interaction between software and In securing such signal transmission

full-scale 5G, artificial
in order to minimize errors as operational
intelligence (AI), self- hardware in the actual use environment characteristics, crosstalk between the signal
and the adjacent signal becomes a problem
driving automobiles, augmented reality defects occur in new products. Therefore, as the operating frequency increases and
(AR) and virtual reality (VR) are used operation inspection of semiconductors in the ball pitch gradually decreases.
in daily life, the required conditions and the ultimate use environment (i.e., at system Crosstalk occurrence increases as the
environments for use are more diverse level) has become an essential process for frequency increases and becomes a factor
and accordingly, the components of quality assurance [1]. As a result, the socket that interferes with the transmission of
semiconductors continue to become more used in system-level test (SLT) requires high-quality signals [2]. One proposal for
complex. As these components become and becomes important with respect addressing crosstalk is to use a coaxial
more complex, however, the number of to loss-free signal transmission at high spring socket that shields the signal with
test items also increase. At the same time, frequencies in accordance with the complex metal to solve the crosstalk problem.
product launch periods are getting shorter components of semiconductors and the fast However, a coaxial spring socket has the
and shorter, and, it is more important to interaction between software and hardware. disadvantages of high transmission loss

Figure 1: Crosstalk: a) (top) in a silicone rubber test socket; and b) (bottom) in a spring socket structure.

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