JP2006162571A - Connector, and sensor using connector - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a connector capable of bringing an electrode part of an electronic component into sure contact with a plurality of contacts, and capable of preventing the electronic component from being affected unfavorably by static electricity, and a sensor using the connector. <P>SOLUTION: This connector is provided with a spiral contact 12A0 of projected dimension h0 in the outermost array position R0, a spiral contact 12A1 of projected dimension h1 in the first array position R1, a spiral contact 12A2 of projected dimension h2 in the second array position R2, and a spiral contact 12A3 of projected dimension h3 in the third array position R3, on a substrate 11, where h0>hi>h2>h3. A conductive plate 20 contacts with the spiral contacts in order of projected levels of the projected dimensions, starting from the largest one, to detect a micro position change of the conductive plate. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a connection device in which a height from a substrate to a contact point of a contact differs depending on a place, and further relates to a sensor that can measure a load or the like using the connection device.

  Patent Document 1 below discloses a spiral contact for connecting a semiconductor device.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of an insulating substrate using a conventional spiral contact.
A hole 101 is provided in the insulating substrate 100, and a conductive part 102 is formed on the inner surface of the hole 101 by copper plating. On the upper surface (the surface on the Z1 side in the drawing) of the insulating substrate 100, a spiral contact 103 that conducts to the conductive portion 102 is provided. In addition, a connecting portion 104 that conducts to the conducting portion 102 is formed on the lower surface of the insulating substrate 100 (the surface on the Z2 side in the drawing).

In the conventional example described in Patent Document 1 below, each spiral contact 103 is formed flat so that the spiral contact 103 can be deformed toward the inside of the hole 101 when an electrode or the like comes into contact therewith. It has become.
JP 2002-175859 A

  However, in the conventional connection device described in Patent Document 1, since the spiral contact 103 is provided in a plane at the position of the plane H, for example, an electronic component such as an IC (integrated circuit) or an IC package is connected. When used as a part, it is possible that all spiral contacts 103 and the electrode part of the electronic component cannot be reliably contacted.

  In addition, when one of the plurality of spiral contacts 103 is ground potential and the other is a signal terminal, the spiral contact 103 with ground potential is first connected to the electrode portion when an electronic component is mounted. There is no guarantee that the internal circuit of the electronic component will be damaged when static electricity reaches the signal terminal.

  On the other hand, there are conventional devices that use an electrical terminal as a measuring device for measuring a minute mass. However, there is a problem that an extremely light mass cannot be reliably detected because the electrical terminal has mainly high rigidity. It was.

  The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems, and provides a connection device that can reliably bring an electrode portion of an electronic component into contact with a plurality of contacts, and can also prevent adverse effects of the electronic component due to static electricity. The purpose is that.

  Another object of the present invention is to provide a sensor capable of measuring a very light load acting on a measurement object and a change in a minute position of the measurement object.

The present invention provides a connection device in which a plurality of spiral contacts are provided on a substrate.
The contacts include those having different projecting dimensions from the substrate. In the region where the contacts are arranged, the one having a higher projecting dimension from the substrate has a projecting dimension from the substrate. It is characterized by being located outside the lower one.

  In the connecting device of the present invention, when an object comes into contact, the first contact is made with the contact with a high projecting dimension, and then with the contact with a lower projecting dimension, so that all of the contacts can be contacted stably. It becomes like this.

  In particular, when the contact having the highest projecting dimension from the substrate is positioned at the outermost part of the region, or the planar shape of the region is a quadrangle, and is positioned at a corner of the quadrangle region. If the projecting dimension of the contact from the substrate is higher than the projecting dimension of the other contact from the substrate, the object is first supported by the contact with a higher projecting dimension. Since it becomes possible to contact other contacts, all the contacts can be brought into stable contact.

  In addition, it is preferable that the projecting dimension of the contact from the substrate is gradually reduced from the outside to the inside of the region.

  In the above configuration, the object can be further brought into stable contact with all the contacts.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the said contactor with the largest protrusion dimension from the said board | substrate has a larger elastic coefficient than the said other contactor when compressing to the said board | substrate direction.

  If the elastic coefficient of the contact having a high protruding dimension is large, the contact can be reliably supported by the contact when the contact having a high protruding dimension first contacts the object.

  The connection device of the present invention can be used as a device in which individual electrode portions provided in an electronic component are connected to the respective contact elements to be conducted.

  For example, each electrode part of an electronic component having a plurality of electrode parts such as an IC or an IC package can be reliably brought into contact with the contact.

  In this case, it is preferable that the contact having the highest projecting dimension from the substrate is used for grounding.

  If the most projecting contact is for grounding, the contact with the electrode part or the like of the electronic component first can prevent the electronic component from being adversely affected by static electricity.

  In addition, the present invention uses the connecting device to measure a change in the position of the measurement object or a load acting on the measurement object by detecting which contact the measurement object contacts. It is characterized by being possible. For example, the sensor can detect a load acting on the object to be measured with a minute difference of μg.

  The sensor detects the load acting on the object to be measured by measuring the potential difference between the reference potential and another contact as the reference potential with the contact having the highest projecting dimension from the substrate. Can be configured.

  In the connection device of the present invention, an object such as an electronic component can be stably brought into contact with all the contacts. Further, it is possible to prevent the electronic parts from being adversely affected by static electricity.

  Furthermore, the sensor using the connection device of the present invention can accurately measure a minute change in distance and a very small load in a plurality of stages.

  1A is a plan view showing the connecting device of the present invention, FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view taken along line 1-1 of FIG. 1A, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of FIG. 1B showing individual spiral contacts on the substrate. 3 is a plan view of the spiral contactor, FIG. 4 is a partial sectional view showing a sensor using the connection device of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram showing an outline of the circuit configuration of the sensor of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1B and FIG. 4, each spiral contact is indicated by a triangle, and the protrusion dimension from the substrate is exaggerated for easy understanding of the difference in protrusion dimension of each spiral contact element.

  The connection device 10 includes a substrate 11, and a plurality of spiral contacts 12 </ b> A formed in a spiral shape are provided on the upper surface (surface in the Z <b> 1 direction) 11 </ b> A of the substrate 11. The spiral contact 12A is formed by etching process from a thin conductive plate such as copper, nickel or a composite material of copper and nickel, or formed by copper plating, nickel plating, copper plating and nickel plating, or the like. Is. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the spiral contact 12A is formed in a spiral shape by the conductive plate or the plating layer, and the winding center (contact portion 123) protrudes away from the surface of the substrate 11. It is formed in a shape.

  The substrate 11 has an insulating property, and a plurality of connection portions 11a are formed independently of each other on the upper surface 11A. In addition, wiring portions that are electrically connected to the respective connection portions 11a are formed on the upper surface 11A.

  As shown in FIG. 1A, the arrangement region of the connecting portions 11a on the upper surface 11A of the substrate 11 is a quadrangle, and the individual connecting portions 11a are arranged at a constant pitch along the broken line shown in FIG. 1A. Although only a part of the connection part 11a and the spiral contact 12A provided on the connection part 11a is shown, the connection part 11a and the spiral contact are actually formed so as to form a line along the broken line. Many 12A are provided.

  In FIG. 1A, the arrangement position on the outermost peripheral side of the arrangement area is indicated by the outermost arrangement position R0, the arrangement position on the inner side is the first arrangement position R1, and the arrangement position on the inner side is the second arrangement position R2. The arrangement position at the most central portion is shown as a third arrangement position R3.

  A spiral contact 12A is conductively installed on each connection portion 11a regularly arranged at the arrangement positions R0 to R3. Spiral contacts 12A0 having the highest projecting dimension (dimension in the Z1-Z2 direction in the figure) h0 are provided on the individual connecting portions 11a located at the outermost circumferential array position R0. A spiral contact 12A1 having a protruding dimension h1 is provided on the connecting portion 11a, and a spiral contact 12A2 having a protruding dimension h2 is provided on the connecting portion 11a at the second arrangement position R2. The spiral contact 12A3 having a projecting dimension h3 is provided on the connection portion 11a at the third arrangement position R3.

  In the present invention, the relationship between the projecting dimensions of the spiral contacts 12A0 to A3 is h0> h1> h2> h3. In other words, the projecting dimension of the spiral contact 12A decreases from the outer peripheral side of the substrate 11 toward the center.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the spiral contactor 12A has a ring-shaped frame body 121 on its outer peripheral side, and the spiral contactor 12A2 has a lower surface (not shown) of the frame body 121 as shown in FIG. The surface in the Z2 direction) is fixed to the connection portion 11a of the substrate 11 using a bonding means such as a conductive adhesive. Note that the size of the frame body 121 is the same size as the connection portion 11a or slightly smaller than that so as to be within the range of the connection portion 11a. Similarly, in the spiral contacts 12A0, 12A1, and 12A3, the lower surface of the frame body 121 is fixed to the connection portion 11a of the substrate 11 using a bonding means such as a conductive adhesive.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a part of the inner side of the frame 121 of the spiral contact 12 </ b> A serves as a base end part 122 a, and the tip on the free end side spirals toward the center of the frame 121. An extending elastic portion 122 is integrally formed. A contact portion 123 having a large area is provided at the free end of the elastic portion 122. The spiral contact 12A is formed in a shape in which the contact portion 123 protrudes from the frame 121 and can be elastically deformed in the Z1-Z2 direction shown in the figure.

  The distance between the base end portion 122a and the contact portion 123 in the Z1-Z2 direction shown in the figure is the projecting dimension of the spiral contact 12A. Therefore, the distance in the Z1-Z2 direction between the base end portion 122a and the contact portion 123 of each of the spiral contacts 12A0 to A3 is h0, h1, h2, and h3.

  The elastic portion 122 of the spiral contact 12A is formed with the same cross-sectional area from the base end portion 122a to the contact portion 123, that is, a constant plate thickness dimension and a constant width dimension.

  In the present invention, the projecting dimensions h0 to h3 of the spiral contacts 12A0 to A3 are different by a minute difference, but are along the elastic portion 122 from the base end portion 122a to the contact portion 123 of the spiral contacts 12A0 to A3. The distance is the same constant distance. For this reason, the spiral contact 12A having the same dimension such as the maximum diameter D0 is projected using the spiral contact 12A having the same dimension such as the maximum diameter D0 without manufacturing the spiral contact 12A having a dimension different from the maximum diameter D0. Spiral contacts 12A0 to A3 having different dimensions can be easily formed.

  Unlike the present invention, the difference between the projecting dimensions h0 to h3 of the spiral contacts 12A0 to A3 is not a minute, but a projecting dimension difference of a predetermined size, and a plurality of projecting dimensions having such projecting dimension differences. When forming a spiral contact, unlike the above, the length along the elastic part 122 from the base end part 122a of the spiral contactor to the contact part 123, the maximum diameter D0 of the spiral contactor, or the elastic part 122 It is necessary to change the thickness and the like according to the protruding dimension of each spiral contact.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the spiral contact 12 </ b> A is cantilevered with an elastic portion 122 including a contact portion 123 with a base end portion 122 a as a fulcrum. When the spiral contactor 12A is pressed from above, the spiral contactor 12A is elastically deformed in the direction in which the elastic part 122 contracts (Z2 direction in the drawing). At this time, since the contact part 123 side is located on the center side of the spiral and is substantially rigid, the elastic part 122 is elastically deformed first from the base end part 122a side.

  The connection device 10 is provided with an electronic component such as an IC (integrated circuit) alone or an IC unit in which the IC is incorporated in a package. A plurality of electrode portions are provided on the bottom surface of the electronic component, and the individual electrode portions are arranged so as to face each spiral contact 12A.

  In a state where the electronic component is installed on the spiral contact 12A, each spiral contact 12A is elastically deformed, and the electrode part of the electronic component and the spiral contact 12A are reliably in contact with each other. The electronic component is held by holding means (not shown), and the electronic component is positioned and mounted on the substrate 11 without moving. Further, it is possible to replace the electronic component by releasing the holding by the holding means.

  When installing the electronic component, the electronic component is first supported by the spiral contact 12A0 having the highest projecting dimension h0 located at the outermost peripheral arrangement position R0. The spiral contact 12A1 with the projecting dimension h1 located at the array position R1, and the spiral contact 12A2 with the projecting dimension h2 located at the second array position R2 are sequentially contacted, and finally the third array position. Contact is made with the spiral contact 12A3 having a protrusion dimension h3 located at R3.

  Therefore, the electrode part of the electronic component can come into contact with all spiral contacts stably.

  It should be noted that the elasticity of the spiral contact 12A0 in the compression direction is increased by making the cross-sectional area of the elastic portion 122 of the spiral contact 12A0 having the highest projecting dimension located at the outermost peripheral arrangement position R0 larger than other spiral contacts. It is possible to make the coefficient larger than other spiral contacts. By comprising in this way, when an electronic component is installed, after it is first supported by the outermost spiral contact 12A0 having high rigidity, it comes into contact with the spiral contact on the inner side, All electrode parts of the electronic component can come into stable contact with the spiral contact.

  As a modification of the above embodiment, only the protruding dimension of the spiral contact 12A0 located at the outermost peripheral array position R0 is increased, and all spiral contacts located inside the spiral contact 12A0 are set higher than the spiral contact 12A0. Low and all may have the same protruding dimension.

  Alternatively, only the protrusion dimension h of the spiral contact located at each of the four corners of the outermost circumferential array position R0 arranged in a quadrangle is the highest, and the protrusion dimension of the other spiral contact is set to the angle. The protrusion dimension of the spiral contactor located at the corner and the protrusion dimension of several spiral contacts adjacent to the spiral contact located at the corner are the smallest. May be higher. In addition, the elastic coefficient of the spiral contact located at the corner may be larger than the elastic coefficient of the other spiral contacts.

  By adopting any one of the configurations, the electronic component comes into contact with the other spiral contact while being initially supported by the outermost spiral contact 12A0 or the spiral contact located at the four corners, Stable contact can be realized.

  In any of the above, it is preferable that at least one of the spiral contacts having the highest projecting dimension is used as a reference potential for grounding (ground terminal), and the other spiral contact is used for signal transmission. When the electronic component is first installed, the grounding spiral contactor is brought into contact with the ground electrode portion of the electronic component, thereby preventing adverse effects on the electronic component such as an IC due to static electricity around the substrate 11. .

Next, a sensor using the connection device 10 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 4, the connection portion 11 a provided at the outermost peripheral arrangement position R <b> 0 of the substrate 11 is connected to the negative output terminal (ground terminal) of the power supply device E. That is, the spiral contact 12A0 having the largest protrusion dimension h0 is grounded.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, one end of the external resistor r having a predetermined resistance value is connected to each connection portion 11 a provided at the first array position R1 to the third array position R3. It is connected. The other end of each external resistor r is connected to the input line Lin, and is connected to the + side output terminal (+ terminal) of the power supply device E via the input line Lin. That is, the power supply voltage Vcc can be applied to each connection portion 11a provided at the first arrangement position R1 to the third arrangement position R3 via the input line Lin.

  Further, detection lines L1out to L3out are respectively connected from the connecting portions 11a provided in the first arrangement position R1 to the third arrangement position R3, and each of the detection lines L1out to L3out is connected via a connector. Has been pulled out of. The external resistor r, the input line Lin, and the detection lines L1out to L3out are provided on the lower surface of the substrate 11, and are provided at the first arrangement position R1 to the third arrangement position R3 through a through hole (not shown). Connected to the connecting portion 11a.

  As shown in FIG. 5, end portions of the detection lines L1out to L3out are input to a switching unit 31 such as a multiplexer, for example, and are connected to the A / D conversion unit 32 via the switching unit 31. The output of the A / D conversion means 32 is input to a control unit 33 mainly composed of a CPU.

  The control unit 33 gives a command for switching the switching unit 31 according to a predetermined order at a certain switching timing (sampling period). Since the switching means 31 selects the detection lines L1out to L3out one by one in a predetermined order, the detection voltages (analog quantities) V1out to V3out of the spiral contacts 12A1 to A3 are sequentially input to the A / D conversion means 32. . Then, the control unit 33 drives the A / D conversion means 32 according to the predetermined conversion timing (sampling period). Thereby, the detection voltages (analog amounts) V1out to V3out of the spiral contacts 12A1 to A3 are converted into digital outputs, and the converted digital outputs are sequentially given to the control unit 33.

  As shown in FIG. 4, a conductive conductive plate 20 is provided above the substrate 11, and this conductive plate 20 is perpendicular to the upper surface of the substrate 11 (Z1 in the drawing) by a guide mechanism (not shown). -Z2 direction) can be moved up and down with no load or almost no load. Then, the object to be measured W is installed on the conductive plate 20.

  With this sensor, it is possible to measure the amount of movement of the conductive plate 20 in the vertical direction, or to measure the load acting on the object W to be measured, which is very small, for example, in units of μg, or to sort by the load.

  When the conductive plate 20 is lowered, the conductive plate 20 first comes into contact with the spiral contact 12A0 having the largest protruding dimension at the position of the plane H0 through the contact portion 123. At this time, since the spiral contact 12A0 is grounded, the conductive plate 20 is also grounded via the spiral contact 12A0. However, the spiral contacts 12A1 to 12A3 are not in contact with each other and are separated. For this reason, all the detection voltages V1out to V3out obtained from the detection lines L1out to L3out of the spiral contacts 12A1 to 12A3 are the power supply voltage Vcc (detection voltages (Vcc, Vcc, Vcc)), A digital output corresponding to the detected voltage (Vcc, Vcc, Vcc) after the conversion of Vcc, Vcc, Vcc) to a digital output is given. Hereinafter, the detection voltages V1out to V3out obtained from the detection lines L1out to L3out of the spiral contacts 12A1 to 12A3 are expressed as detection voltages (V1out, V2out, V3out) as described above.

  Thereafter, when the conductive plate 20 is lowered, the spiral contact 12A0 is uniformly contracted, and when the conductive plate 20 is lowered by a predetermined distance s1 (= h0-h1), as shown in (ii) in FIG. 20 contacts the spiral contact 12 </ b> A <b> 1 via the contact portion 123. At this time, since the grounded conductive plate 20 comes into contact with the spiral contact 12A1, the detection voltage V1out obtained from the detection line L1out of the spiral contact 12A1 changes from the power supply voltage Vcc to 0. Since the conductive plate 20 is not in contact with the spiral contacts 12A2 and 12A3, a digital output corresponding to the detected voltage (0, Vcc, Vcc) is given to the control unit 33. When the change in the digital output is detected by the control unit 33, the conductive plate 20 comes into contact with the spiral contact 12A1 and is positioned at the height h1 with respect to the position of the connection portion 11a of the substrate 11. Is detected. Also, the detection voltage V1out changes from the power supply voltage Vcc to 0 only after the conductive plate 20 comes into contact with the spiral contact 12A1. Therefore, before the contact between the conductive plate 20 and the spiral contact 12A0 is detected and the detection voltage V1out changes from the power supply voltage Vcc to 0, that is, the detection voltage (Vcc, Vcc, Vcc) is supplied to the control unit 33. When the corresponding digital output is given, it is determined that the conductive plate 20 is located between the heights h0 and h1 (region T1) with respect to the position of the connection portion 11a of the substrate 11.

  Thereafter, when the conductive plate 20 is further lowered, the spiral contacts 12A0 and 12A1 contract downward, and the conductive plate 20 is in a horizontal position without being inclined from the XY plane (horizontal plane) while being in contact with the spiral contacts 12A0 and 12A1. It can be moved downward while keeping At this time, the control unit 33 is continuously provided with a digital output corresponding to the detected voltage (0, Vcc, Vcc). Therefore, it is determined that the conductive plate 20 is located between the heights h1 and h2 (region T2) with respect to the position of the connection portion 11a of the substrate 11.

  After that, when the conductive plate 20 is moved downward by a predetermined distance s2 (= h1-h2), the conductive plate 20 moves all the spiral contacts 12A2 and the contact portions 123 as shown in (iii) of FIG. Contact through. At this time, since the grounded conductive plate 20 comes into contact with the spiral contact 12A2, the detection voltage V2out obtained from the detection line L2out of the spiral contact 12A2 changes from the power supply voltage Vcc to 0. Since the conductive plate 20 is not in contact with the spiral contact 12A3, a digital output corresponding to the detection voltage (0, 0, Vcc) is given to the control unit 33. Then, when the change in the digital output is detected by the control unit 33, the conductive plate 20 comes into contact with the spiral contact 12 </ b> A <b> 2 and is positioned at a height h <b> 2 with respect to the position of the connection portion 11 a of the substrate 11. Is detected.

  Thereafter, when the conductive plate 20 is lowered, the conductive plate 20 is positioned between the heights h2 and h3 (region T3) based on the position of the connecting portion 11a of the substrate 11 according to the above principle, or It is detected that it is located at the height h3 and located between the substrate 11 and the height h3 (region T4).

  In the present invention, it is possible to detect a minute amount of movement of the conductive plate 20 or to detect a minutely different load acting on the workpiece W by the above structure and principle.

  In the present invention, the shape of the array positions R0 to R3 where the spiral contacts 12A0 to 12A3 are provided is not limited to the square shape as shown in FIG. 1A, and the conductive plate 20 is not inclined from the XY plane. As long as it can contact in the state where the horizontal posture is maintained, it may be arranged concentrically.

The top view which shows the connection apparatus of this invention, FIG. 1A is a cross-sectional view taken along line 1-1 in FIG. FIG. 1B is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the individual spiral contacts on the substrate. Top view of spiral contact, The fragmentary sectional view which shows the sensor using the connection apparatus of this invention, The circuit diagram which shows the outline of the circuit structure of the sensor of this invention, Sectional view of an insulating substrate using a conventional spiral contact

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Connection apparatus 11 Board | substrate 12A, 12A0, 12A1, 12A2, 12A3 Spiral contact 20 Conductive plate R0 Outermost periphery arrangement position R1 1st arrangement position R2 2nd arrangement position R3 3rd arrangement position W

Claims (9)

In the connection device provided with a plurality of spiral contacts on the substrate,
The contacts include those having different projecting dimensions from the substrate. In the region where the contacts are arranged, the one having a higher projecting dimension from the substrate has a projecting dimension from the substrate. A connecting device characterized in that it is located outside the lower one.   The connection device according to claim 1, wherein the contact having the highest projecting dimension from the substrate is located at the outermost part of the region.   The planar shape of the region is a quadrangle, and the protruding dimension of the contact located at the corner of the rectangular region is higher than the protruding dimension of the other contact from the substrate. Item 1. The connection device according to Item 1.   The connection device according to claim 1, wherein a protruding dimension of the contact from the substrate is gradually reduced from the outside to the inside of the region.   5. The connection device according to claim 1, wherein the contact having the highest projecting dimension from the substrate has a larger elastic coefficient than the other contacts when compressed in the direction of the substrate.   The connection device according to claim 1, wherein each electrode portion provided in the electronic component is connected to each contactor to be conducted.   The connecting device according to claim 6, wherein the contact having the highest projecting dimension from the substrate is used for grounding.   A load acting on the object to be measured or a change in the position of the object to be measured by detecting which of the contacts contacts the object to be measured using the connection device according to claim 1. A sensor characterized by being capable of measuring.   The contact that has the highest projecting dimension from the substrate is used as a reference potential, and the potential acting on the object to be measured can be detected by measuring a potential difference between the reference potential and the other contact. Item 9. The sensor according to Item 8.

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