Evaluation Engineeering - 26

Market outlook
According to a report released in June 2019 by Mordor Intelligence,
a few of the key factors impacting the IC test socket market
include1:

TEST SOCKETS

The increasing popularity of enterprise technologies like
Big Data, and cloud-based services and the dependency
on servers and CPUs with high computing power has been
increasing significantly over the past few years, further leading
to the growth of this market. Companies like Intel and AMD
are using new processors. These new processor platforms
require socket designs to meet the design requirements and
offer higher performance and better system scaling.

With the advent of the Internet of Things, coupled with an
increasing focus on automation in the automotive and manufacturing industries, the IC socket market is expected to grow
during the forecast period.

The trend of miniaturization has been a challenge for the IC
sockets market, as they tend to occupy additional space and
add an extra electrical signal path to the IC device.

That same report forecasts that the IC socket market is
expected to see a CAGR of 9.11% between 2019 to 2024,
adding that their consumption has witnessed rapid growth
over recent years in correlation to the increasing demand for
performance and efficiency.

MAXIMIZING

CONNECTIONS

Serving the role of connecting a device and its tester, test sockets-
also known as package probes-play a crucial interconnect
role in integrated circuits (IC), and therefore the greater field of
semiconductor testing.
Depending on the purpose of the test, IC sockets are categorized
into two either 1) test sockets for measuring electrical
characteristics, or 2) burn-in sockets for testing reliability. Both
types are generally referred to as IC sockets, although their
required performance varies depending on the difference in use.
IC sockets' applications include the aforementioned burn-in test,
failure analysis, engineering test, production test, and more. Most
IC sockets are compression-mounted and can be designed to fit an
existing printed circuit board footprint.
Designs of test and burn-in sockets are robust, cutting
edge, and are often produced in small quantities but at very
high costs. They are typically tested in excess of 100,000
touchdowns before socket rebuild.

Here's a look at a few recent product introductions in test sockets.
REFERENCE

1. Mordor Intelligence, "The IC Socket Market: Global Growth, Trends,
and Forecast (2019-2024)," June 2019.

75GHz BGA Socket for NXP's BGA388
Ironwood Electronics has introduced a new BGA socket design using
high performance elastomer capable of 75GHz, very low inductance,
and wide temperature applications. The GT-BGA-2105 socket is
designed for 15x15 mm package size and operates at bandwidths up
to 75GHz with less than 1dB of insertion loss. The socket is designed
to dissipate 5 watts using a heat sink compression screw and an
axial flow fan. The contact resistance is typically 30 milliohms per
pin. The socket is mounted on the target PCB with no soldering
and uses very small real estate, allowing capacitors/resistors to be
placed close by. Other passive components can be placed on the
back side of a PCB by creating custom cutouts in the stiffener plate.
The socket is constructed with swivel lid which incorporates a quick insertion method so that ICs can be changed
out quickly. The GT-BGA-2105 socket's temperature range is -55 C to +160 C. It works with ICs such as 388 BGA,
15x15mm with 35x35 array, and mixed pitch (min 0.56mm). Ironwood Electronics

EVALUATION ENGINEERING SEPTEMBER 2019

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Evaluation Engineeering

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