Probe unit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9291645-B2
Application number	US-201214349410-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 4, 2012
Priority date	Oct 7, 2011
Publication date	Mar 22, 2016
Grant date	Mar 22, 2016

Abstract

A probe unit includes: contact probes; and a probe holder, each of the contact probe including a plunger and a spring coil, each of the plunger including: a contact portion contacting an electrode of a contacted body; a flange portion extending from a base end of the contact portion and having a diameter larger than a diameter of the contact portion; a boss portion extending from an end of the flange portion different from an end continuing to the contact portion and having a diameter smaller than the diameter of the flange portion; and a base end portion extending from an end of the boss portion different from an end continuing to the flange portion and having a substantially same diameter with the boss portion.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A probe unit contacting an electrode of a contacted body and an electrode of a contact target at both ends in a longitudinal direction, the probe unit comprising:
a plurality of conductive contact probes, each contacting the electrode of the contacted body at one end in the longitudinal direction; and
a probe holder accommodating the plurality of contact probes, wherein
each of the contact probe includes:
a plunger including:
a contact portion contacting the electrode of the contacted body;
a flange portion extending from a base end of the contact portion and having a diameter larger than a diameter of the contact portion;
a boss portion extending from an end of the flange portion different from an end continuing to the contact portion and having a diameter smaller than the diameter of the flange portion; and
a base end portion extending from an end of the boss portion different from an end continuing to the flange portion and having a substantially same diameter with the boss portion; and

a spring coil attached to the boss portion,

the probe holder is made of a conductive material and includes a plurality of holder holes, each having a stepped shape in which diameters at both ends in a thickness direction are decreased and accommodating the respective contact probes, and
the flange portion abuts one of step portions of the stepped shape, one end of the spring coil abuts the flange portion, another end of the spring coil abuts another one of the step portions such that the spring coil biases the plunger,
the plunger is configured to abut an inner wall surface of the holder hole when a load is applied to the plunger so as to electrically connect the contacted body and the contact target via the probe holder, and
the spring coil is made of a conductive material having a higher resistance than the plunger or made of an elastic and insulating material.

2. The probe unit according to claim 1 , wherein the base end portion is connected with the electrode of the contact target by a conductive member.

3. The probe unit according to claim 2 , wherein the conductive member is a wire.

4. The probe unit according to claim 3 , wherein the conductive member is wound around the base end portion.

5. The probe unit according to claim 1 , wherein the probe holder contacts the electrode of the contact target.

6. The probe unit according to claim 5 , wherein at least one of the contact portion and the base end portion of the contact probe contacts a wall surface of the holder hole.

7. The probe unit according to claim 1 , wherein the probe holder includes a large diameter section communicating with an outside thereof and being formed in an area including the holder holes.

8. The probe unit according to claim 7 , wherein an end of the base end portion is positioned in the large diameter section.

Assignees

• Nhk Spring Co Ltd

Inventors

• Matsui Akihiro
• Mori Takashi

Classifications

• G01R31/2889

  Interfaces, e.g. between probe and tester (G01R31/31905 and G01R1/07364 take precedence) · CPC title

• G09G3/006

  Electronic inspection or testing of displays and display drivers, e.g. of LED or LCD displays (testing individual LED's G01R31/2635; testing lamps G01R31/44; testing of optical features of LCD displays G02F1/1309) · CPC title

• G01R1/07314 Primary

  the body of the probe being perpendicular to test object, e.g. bed of nails or probe with bump contacts on a rigid support (on an elastic support, e.g. a film, G01R1/0735) · CPC title

• G01R1/06722 Primary

  Spring-loaded · CPC title

• G01R31/2886

  Features relating to contacting the IC under test, e.g. probe heads; chucks (G01R31/2865 takes precedence, test connections, e.g. test sockets, or probes per se, G01R1/04 or G01R1/06) · CPC title