BY MAJEED AHMAD
Ironwood Electronics has unveiled a new socket for testing ball grid array (BGA) devices; it uses a compression screw to apply downward pressure and thus allows the device to conveniently interconnect to the target PCB. The 77-pin BGA socket is mounted using supplied hardware on the target PCB with no soldering.
The contactor in the Ironwood’s SBT-BGA-6537 test socket is a stamped spring pin with 31-g actuation force per ball and cycle life of 125,000 insertions. And the self-inductance of the contactor is 0.88 nH, insertion loss <1 dB at 15.7 GHz, and capacitance 0.097 pF.
Next, the current capacity of each contactor is 4 A at 30°C temperature rise, while the socket temperature range is –55°C to 180°C. The SBT-BGA-6537 test socket also features a floating guide for precise ball-to-pin alignment.
To test a BGA device, simply put it into the socket base and swivel socket lid onto the base using the shoulder screws. The BGA socket can be used for hand test as well as specialized applications with the most stringent requirements like extreme temperatures.
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