BGA CONNECTOR WITH HEAT ACTIVATED CONNECTION AND DISCONNECTION MEANS
Background of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a ball grid array ("BGA") connector used in connecting circuit boards to BGA packages having soldering balls arranged in the form of a lattice, and more particularly, to an improved BGA connector having a heat-activated connection and disconnection means.
Conventional semiconductors or integrated circuits ("IC") are commonly formed as chips, that are referred to in the art as "packages". Conventional packages may have their leads formed on two sides, such as in DIPs or on four sides, such as in QFPs or TCPs. The number of leads connecting to such semiconductors and ICs have been increasing and accordingly, the distance, or pitch, between the leads has been reduced. The reduction of spacing between the leads increases the difficulty with which the closely spaced leads are soldered to a printed circuit board. In the case of the four- sided QFPs and TCPs mentioned above, the leads cannot be easily soldered to a circuit board because of the close lead-to-lead distance.
In order to meet this situation, a lattice-array or grid-array of electrically conductive raised lands are formed on the bottom surface of the semiconductor package in place of the conventional leads on the four sides of the package. These lands typically have balls of soldering material or metal physically connected to them and are referred to in the art as BGA. BGA sockets are known in semiconductor arts.
A conventional BGA connector used to connect a BGA package to a circuit board having soldering balls arranged in the form of lattice includes an insulating board,
includes an insulating board, or an insulative connector base. The connector base typically has a series of metal spring contacts arranged thereon in one-to-one correspondence with the soldering balls of the BGA package as demonstrated in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-
330005. A selectively releasable electrical connection is made between the soldering balls of the
BGA package and the contacts of the insulating board of the BGA connector by keeping the
BGA package pushed against the connector. This requires the BGA connector to have one or
more pushing elements that press the BGA package into the socket of the BGA connector.
Unfortunately, this structure and the result of the soldering balls of the BGA package abutting the
connector is likely to cause the soldering balls to become scarred or deformed because of the
great force required to maintain the BGA package in contact with the BGA connector.
To assure that a reliable electric connection is made between the soldering balls of the
BGA package and the contacts of the BGA connector, it is necessary with this structure to apply a relatively high pressure to the contact-to-soldering ball interface. Therefore, the connector
needs to be equipped with a pushing means for pressing the connector against the BGA package,
which may unduly complicate the structure of the connector. The contacts of the BGA connector
must also be long enough in order to have a desired resiliency, and accordingly their height is
increased. Unfortunately, the inductance of each conductor increases with an increase of its
length so that increasing the length of the contacts results in increasing the inductance of the
connector.
A need therefore exists for an improved BGA connector that does not require a pressing member which complicates the overall structure of the connector and a BGA connector that may
be easily inserted into and removed from a BGA package-receiving socket.
Summary of the Invention
It is therefore a general object of the present invention to provide an improved BGA connector that does not rely upon a pressure contact system in which the connector has the
lengths of its contacts maintained at a desired minimum so as not to increase the inductance of
the contacts.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a BGA connector which requires no
pressing means for pushing the connector against a BGA package, thus guaranteed to be free of damaging the soldering balls of the BGA package.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a BGA connector whose profile is
reduced to possible minimum. Still, yet another object of the present invention is to provide an
improved BGA connector having a heat-activated means for selectively connecting and
disconnecting a BGA package to the BGA connector.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improved BGA connector having a heat-activated connection and disconnection means that eliminates the need for a
pressure member to keep a BGA package in contact with a BGA connector, the heat-activated means being disposed on a surface of the BGA connector and further being arranged in a pattern
that extends between conductive pads formed on one surface of the BGA connector.
To attain these objects a low-profiled BGA connector uses a high-resistance heater
provided in the vicinity of a plurality of conductive pads disposed on the BGA connector for
partially melting a series of solder balls, or preforms, arranged on a contact surface of a BGA package when current is passed through the heater, so that the solder balls are put in a
connective, confronting position relative to the conductive pads of the BGA connector.
In one principal aspect of the present invention, the BGA connector of the present
invention includes a planar, insulated connector base having a plurality of electrically conductive
pads, or lands, provided on front and rear (or top and bottom) opposing surfaces, the conductive
pads being electrically connected together in one-to-one correspondence through via holes formed in the connector base. A plurality of conductive metal balls are provided in association with the rear (bottom) surface of the connector base, such that single balls are provided on single conductive pads. A high-resistance heating means is provided on one surface of the connector, and preferably the front (or top surface) so that the heating means extends on the front surface in
a pattern that threads itself between the conductive pads arranged on the front surface.
A BGA connector according to the present invention may also include a plate-like
insulative connector base having a plurality of electrically conductive pads provided on opposing
top and bottom surfaces of the connector base. The conductive pads on these two opposing
surfaces are connected electrically in a one-to-one correspondence by way of conductive via
holes that communicate with the conductive pads and which extend through the connector base.
A plurality of metal balls are provided on the bottom surface of the connector base, with a single
ball being arranged in electrical contact with each of the conductive pads. A high-resistance
heating means, preferably in the form of a high-resistance, heat-generating wire is arranged in a
pattern proximate to the front surface of the connector base and extending between conductive
pads.
By energizing this high-resistance heating means, soldering balls typically associated with
a BGA package that abut the conductive pads of the front surface of the connector base, may
then be partially melted and soldered to the conductive pads of the connector by supplying
electrical current to the high-resistance heater for heating. The high-resistance heating means is
positioned proximate to the front surface of the connector base so that the soldering balls of the
BGA package may be easily removed from their contact with the conductive pads when the wire
is energized. Therefore, the BGA package may be easily connected to and easily removed from its connection with the BGA connector.
The high resistance heater may include one or more high resistance heating wires, such as Nichrome wire, that is stretched close to the front surface of the connector base. One or more coatings of high-resistance heating material may also be applied to the front surface of the connector base. Such coatings can be formed by a suitable vacuum-coating process such as vaporizing or sputtering, or may be formed by way of printing or photolithography.
The soldering balls may be of a conventional soldering material or of copper or any other
metal which can be soldered an resoldered to the conductive pads of the connector. The
connector base may be of ceramic material, BT resin or any other synthetic resin, or a composite
resin containing glass filaments.
The BGA connector structure of the present invention can therefore be fixed to and
removed from the BGA package simply by heating the soldering balls of the BGA package with
the aid of the high-resistance heater. By using heating alone, the invention prevents the soldering
balls from being damaged under relatively intense pressure to which, in the absence of such a
heating means, the soldering balls would be subjected. The ball-to-pad soldering assures that the
required electric connection is made therebetween without the application of possibly detrimental
pressure to the ball-and pad interface. Therefore, no pressing means is required for the BGA connector. The connector-to-package distance can be set equal to the thickness of the connector
base, thus permitting the profile of the connector, and hence the intermediate inductance of the
contacts to be reduced to a possible minimum.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become
apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts.
Brief Description of the Drawings
In the course of the following detailed description reference will be made to the attached
drawings wherein like reference numerals identify like parts and wherein:
FIG. 1. is an enlarged sectional view of a fragment of a BGA connector according to the
present invention; and,
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the BGA connector, partly in section.
Description of Preferred Embodiments
As mentioned above, the present invention finds its greatest utility in providing
connections for semiconductors, or other electronic components, having a BGA-type structure or
as shown in FIG. 1, where the semiconductor body, or package 10, has a plurality of conductive raised portions, or preforms 100, formed in a pattern on a lower surface 102 thereof. Although
the preforms 100 are illustrated in FIGS. 1 & 2 as raised hemispherical balls 11 and are formed
from a solder material, it will be understood that the configuration of the preforms 100 may differ
from that shown.
Referring to the drawings, a BGA connector 1 comprises a plate-like connector base 2 of
insulating material having a plurality of electrically conductive pads, or lands 3 a and 3b, arranged
in the form of lattice on its front and rear (or top and bottom) surfaces 2a and 2b. The
electrically conductive pads 3 a and 3b of the connector are electrically connected in one-to-one
correspondence by way of through, or via holes 4, as a result of conventional plating 101 that extends around the interior of the via holes 4.
As seen from FIG. 1, a corresponding plurality of soldering balls 5 are provided on the
electrically conductive pads 3 b on the rear surface 2b of the plate-like connector base 2. A length
of Nichrome wire 6 is extended over the front surface 2a of the plate-like connector base 2 in a
pattern that threads between the electrically conductive pads 3a. The wire 6 is used as a high-
resistance heater 7, and is supplied with electric current from a power source (not shown) to generate heat in the vicinity of the surface 2a of the connector base 2. The wire, as shown, passes through holes in the connector base 2 so as to permit it to run through pairs of adjacent
rows 104 of the conductive pads 3a.
As seen from FIG. 1, the BGA connector 1 when used, is laid over or on a circuit member
in the form of a circuit board 8, which may be the base circuit board of an IC testing socket for testing the BGA package 10. The circuit board 8 has a corresponding plurality of electrically
conductive pads 9 provided thereon in one-to-one corresponding relation relative to the soldering
balls 5 located on the rear surface 2b of the connector base 2. When the BGA connector 1 is
used, the soldering balls 5 are soldered to the electrically conductive pads 9. The BGA package
10 is then laid on the front surface 2a of the connector base 2 with the soldering balls 11
confronting the conductive pads 3 a on the top surface 2a in one-to-one correspondence. Then,
the high-resistance heater 7 is energized to generate heat in the vicinity of the surface 2a of the connector base 2 and, more importantly, in the vicinity of the BGA soldering balls 11. (FIG. 1.)
Once the heater 7 is energized, the soldering balls 11 of the BGA package 10 will at least
partially melt and fix themselves to the conductive pads 3 a of the front surface 2a of the BGA
connector 1 to provide a connection between the BGA package 10 and the circuit board 8 via the BGA connector 1. The surface tension of the soldering balls 11 will tend to retain their shape
and effect a reliable contact between the BGA package 10 and the connector first contacts 3a.
The interior conductive plating 101 of the via holes 4 provides a connection to the second
contacts 3b and the conductive traces 9 of the circuit board 8.
When the BGA package 10 must be removed from the socket, the high-resistance heater
7 is again energized to generate heat in the vicinity of the surface 2a of the connector base 2.
Then, the soldering balls 11 of the BGA package 10 are again partially melted to permit the
removal and disconnection of the BGA package 10 from the BGA connector 1. The surface tension of the solder balls 11 keeps them from substantially losing their shape when melted and facilitates repeated connections in this manner.
The high-resistance heater 7 may be formed from a Nichrome wire, as illustrated in the FIG. 2, but it may also be formed from tantalum wire or any other appropriate high-resistance heating wire. Alternatively, the heating means may take the form of a conductive high-resistance coating, which may be formed on the front surface 2a of the connector base 2 by a vacuum-
coating method such as vaporizing or sputtering, or formed directly on the front surface 2a of the
connector base 2 by way of a photolithography process or by acid-resist etching. In these latter
instances, the coating on the front surface 2a of the connector base 2, as illustrated generally in
FIG. 1, can be advantageously effected simultaneously with the forming of conductive pads 3 a on
the front surface 2a of the connector base 2.
In instances where the heating means rests on the top surface 2a of the connector base 2,
it is preferred that it be arranged in a pattern that extends between the conductive pads 3 a, such
as in a serpentine pattern, without contacting the conductive pads 3 a so as to prevent shorting of
the conductive pads 3a and the BGA circuits. This contact is avoided when the heating means is
located close to, but spaced apart from and above the conductive pads. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the heating means 7, when it takes the form of a wire 6, is threaded between adjacent rows 104 of
conductive pads 3 a and may further pass through openings 106 formed in the circuit board 8 at
the ends of the rows 104.
The soldering balls 5 on the rear side 2b of the connector base 2 can be of copper or any
other metal or alloy which can be soldered both to the electrically conductive pads 3b of the rear surface 2b of the connector base 2 and to the conductive pads 9 of the circuit board 8.
The connector base 2 may be made of a thin, planar sheet of tough insulating material,
such as a BT resin used in the field of plastic BGA connectors, a composite resin-containing glass
fibers, etc. The connector base 2 of such a composite resin may also have a laminated structure
that includes a signal-conveying layer, a grounding layer, a Vcc layer, a wiring layer and the like.
The electrically conductive pads 3 a and 3 b are illustrated as being provided in the form of a lattice having distinct rows 104, but it will be understood that these conductive pads 3 a and 3b can be provided on the top surface 2a of the connector base 2 in a concentric or radial pattern.
As may be understood from the above, a BGA connector according to the present
invention has a high-resistance heater provided on the front (or top) surface of its base, thereby
permitting the soldering balls of a BGA package to be partially melted and remelted for fixing to or removing from an associated circuit board via the intervening connector 2.
While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will
be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made therein
without departing from the spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the appended
claims.