Multitest to Discuss Contact Force Change at BiTS 2011

Multitest announces that Marcus Frey, Material Engineer, will present the paper "Contact Force Change as a Measure for Current Carrying Capability” at the upcoming Burn-in and Test Socket Workshop (BiTS), scheduled to take place March 6-9, 2011 at Mesa, AZ, USA.

Determining the current carrying capacity of contact springs typically is accomplished by measuring the increase in temperature. The upper temperature limit is set by the temperature stability of the spring and the insulation material, and the current limit is set accordingly. As miniaturization continues, the direct measurement of the temperature becomes more difficult. Not every part of the contact spring is accessible, so hot spots cannot be detected reliably. The need for a custom fixture as well as the presence of the temperature sensors creates a different thermal environment for the probe.

The presentation will cover the current carrying evaluation of the Multitest ECON probe using the described method and a comparison of the results with the conventional temperature-rise technique.

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