The latest IC test contactor to debut from ECT Semiconductor Test Group is available as a stand-alone contactor or with a performance board as a fully integrated tester interface unit.

Pomona, California, October 3, 2000 - Decades of POGO® pin development experience at Everett Charles Technologies (ECT) have been put to the test by the newest chip scale arrays. Now there is a solution from ECT for applications that require a robust short contact that supports fine pitch and high bandwidth production test needs. The 0.5mm pitch contactor configuration is the latest product offering in the BantamPak™ series and promises the quality performance and long life associated with the company's POGO spring-loaded probes. The test height of the 0.5 millimeter Bantam® probe is a mere .090 inches.

Bantam® features a uniquely engineered POGO pin configuration utilizing a larger diameter, stainless steel MicroSpiral" spring which provides greater strength and operating life for extended production use.

The tip geometry on the Bantam® probe sheds contamination and assures solder ball probing integrity while distributing contact force over a large area of the sphere. Unlike other spring probes, the preloaded Bantam® design has only a single sliding/wiping contact surface providing consistent low resistance levels while maintaining a high level of Z-Axis compliance.

The ultra-short path length of the Bantam® pin provides an ideal electrical environment for virtually all semiconductor test applications. At <1dB insertion loss through 10GHz, Bantam probes are ideally suited for wireless communications and other RF devices. The superior test accuracy offers optimized test yields in all applications.

Ray Cronin, ECT Vice-President of the Semiconductor Test Group said, "the explosive growth in cellular telephones and Internet infrastructure is driving miniaturization. Our customers are demanding ultra-high bandwidth test interfaces for BGA packages at 0.8 and 0.5mm pitches today and will specify finer pitch in the near future."

"Electrical performance, precision alignment, package fragility, and test reliability at these fine pitches represent a significant challenge and are almost conflicting requirements, so we took a revolutionary approach in designing the Bantam® pin and our BantamPak" contactor. Our engineers have achieved an unprecedented compliance/stroke ratio with performance to electrical specifications over virtually the entire compression. Bantam® customers that have switched from conventional spring pin contactors cited improvements in both yield and reliability," he stated.

The newest addition to the Bantam® probe series will be available in production quantities as part of ECT's BantamPak" contactor product line in January 2001. Bantam® probes are designed and manufactured to be used in BantamPak" test contactors.

Everett Charles Technologies, a subsidiary of Dover Corporation (NYSE: DOV), is a leading manufacturer of electrical test products and services, including semiconductor test products, bare-board automatic test systems, POGO® test contacts, and bare and loaded PCB test fixtures. Corporate manufacturing, service, and support facilities are ISO registered with locations in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

ECT Semiconductor Test Group is located at 4837 White Bear Parkway, ST. Paul, MN 55110.

Additional information is available on the World Wide Web at https://ectinfo.com.

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Media Contacts
Ellen Santoni, Everett Charles Technologies (909) 625-9357 [email protected]
Patricia Rosenberg, Rosenberg Public Relations (714) 953-2975 [email protected]

MicroSpiral and BantamPak are trademarks and Bantam and POGO are registered trademarks of Everett Charles Technologies.