Oct 27, 2010 
Contactors in final test greatly impact cost when it comes to lifespan and cleaning cycle. Cleaning frequency is a major cost contributor in terms of cost of test (COT), especially at high parallel test setups. The challenge is to provide contacting solutions which overcome the challenges given by solder migration / diffusion and wear (among others) in order to achieve the minimum need for cleaning and maximum lifespan.
Multitest’s DURA® Kelvin is a new contacting solution for final test. The innovative solution provides optimum parameters based on the design of experiment methods. Optimized parameters include: contact force, contact scrub, spring tip geometry, spring coating, and surface roughness. The architecture of the new DURA® Kelvin contactors allow users to adjust the parameters according to the specific final test application. Another important performance criterion is the lifespan of more than 1Mio for contact springs.
The DURA® Kelvin improves the throughput of a test cell by reducing downtime due to contactor cleaning. The improvement is based on the number of parallel sites, but even at a single site environment, a five percent improvement was observed. Looking at a quad site setup, the improvement increases by approximately 20 percent. This is a huge improvement for overall cost of test cost of ownership.
Premiering in 2005, the Global Technology Awards program is an annual celebration of product excellence in electronics surface mount assembly. Premier products based on the finest examples of creative advancement in technology are chosen by a distinguished panel of industry experts.
