Electrical contact

Abstract

In a test system, a silicon interconnect is provided that can accommodate a packaged part, such as a Land Grid Array (LGA) package. The interconnect can be made by etching a silicon substrate to form projections therefrom; forming an insulation or passivation layer through deposition or growth; depositing a seed layer over the insulation layer; depositing a metal layer over the seed layer; and etching contact members from the seed and metal layers using a single mask step. In a preferred embodiment, the metal layer is coated with another metal layer that matches the metal of the packaged part's electrical communication nodes. In one embodiment, the contact surfaces of the silicon contact are plated in gold and are planar. Included within the scope of the current invention are at least one method of testing an LGA package and at least one method of allowing electrical communication with a packaged part.

1 . A socket, comprising: 
 a housing configured to receive a packaged electronic device having a plurality of electrical contact nodes; and    a silicon insert removably located within the housing, comprising a plurality of non-penetrating contact members, the plurality of contact members is arranged in accordance with a configuration of the plurality of electrical contact nodes, each non-penetrating contact member of the plurality of contact members having a substantially planar top surface plated in accordance with a metal of the plurality of electrical contact nodes.    
   
   
       2 . The socket in  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of non-penetrating contact members arranged in accordance with electrical contact nodes of a selection of packages consisting of an LGA, BGA, DIP, ZIP, LCC, SOP, TSOP, QFP, SOJ, PGA, chip scale, flip chip, bare die, and combinations thereof.  
   
   
       3 . A silicon insert, comprising: 
 a first non-penetrating contact having a substantially planar top surface extending from a silicon substrate to a first height, the first non-penetrating contact coated in gold; and    a second non-penetrating contact having a substantially planar top surface extending from the    silicon substrate to a second height, the second non-penetrating contact coated in gold.    
   
   
       4 . A socket comprising: 
 a housing for receiving a portion of a packaged electronic device having a plurality of electrical contact nodes; and    a removable silicon insert located within a portion of the housing comprising a plurality of non-penetrating contact members, the plurality of contact members having the configuration of the plurality of electrical contact nodes of the electronic device, each non-penetrating contact member of the plurality of contact members having a substantially planar top surface plated in accordance with a metal of the plurality of electrical contact nodes.    
   
   
       5 . The socket in  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of non-penetrating contact members having the configuration of the plurality of electrical contact nodes of a selection of packages consisting of an LGA, BGA, DIP, ZIP, LCC, SOP, TSOP, QFP, SOJ, PGA, chip scale, flip chip, bare die, and combinations thereof.  
   
   
       6 . A removable silicon insert comprising: 
 a first non-penetrating contact having a substantially planar top surface extending from a silicon substrate to a first height, the first non-penetrating contact coated at least with gold; and    a second non-penetrating contact having a substantially planar top surface extending from the    silicon substrate to a second height, the second non-penetrating contact coated at least with gold.