Patent Publication Number: US-2005115062-A1

Title: Chip assembling structure and socket

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention is related to the design of a chip assembling structure and socket, specifically, to a design that can be widely applied in memory (such as DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM, Flash, DDR, or Rambus) chips, microprocessor, logical or RF (Radio Frequency) chips; and related to the design of the assembling structure and socket of the chip.  
     DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART  
      Traditionally, a semiconductor chip cut from a wafer will set a plurality of soldering points and integrated circuit elements on its selected surface. If the chip is to be applied in an electrical apparatus such as circuit board, it often needs to undertake a package structure process. Referring to  FIG. 1 , an outward electric leadframe is set on the surface of the chip  10  that has a plurality of soldering points  101 . The leadframe will form a plurality of leads  20 , and a metal conductive line  30  is soldered between the selected surface of these leads  20  and these soldering points  101 , such that a package consisted of the chip  10  and leads  20  can be formed by a sealant  40 , and only the respective other end of every lead  20  is left outside the sealant  40  in advance for the application of soldering with other electric devices such as circuit boards.  
      As can be seen from the above description, before a conventional chip being applied in other electric devices such as circuit boards, it must undertake complicated package processes and use precise and expensive machines and molding apparatuses to package it. Consequently, in addition to resulting that unable to efficiently reduce the cost of manufacture and use, it also limits the application flexibility of the chip. For example, we can not randomly replace a chip to attain the benefit of expanding and altering, or we can not make a chip randomly match different circuit soldering points (such as soldering points of a circuit board surface), we even have to discard the whole circuit board only due to one chip being difficult to replace. Therefore, the implementation of the traditional package structure is neither reasonable nor practical.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention aims at providing the design for a chip assembling structure and socket, such that packaging processes and equipment can be avoided through this innovative assembling structure design consisting of the socket and the combination of the socket and chips, therefore reducing the cost for manufacture and utilization, as well as making it more flexible to replace chips or sockets.  
      With reference to the above objective, the present invention relates to form a chip assembling structure by use of semiconductor chips that contain multiple contacts and integrated circuit elements and a single socket. Wherein, said socket consists of either a single or a combination of insulating housings with at least one receiving face which is completely open or can be freely opened, which contain the contact ends of multiple transition media for matching the contacts of the chips, and extend each transition medium to form soldering terminals (or plug terminals) on the pre-selected panel of the receiving face, thereby enabling the flexible applications of any assembling and disassembling along with semiconductor chips, as well as eliminating the high cost packaging process. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram showing the conventional packaging structure of chips.  
       FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram showing the implementation of the receiving face formed in a recession according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram showing the assembly of the receiving face implemented in a recession according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram showing the implementation of the receiving face implemented on a protruding plane according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram showing the implementation of the receiving face implemented on the flat of the socket according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 6  is a schematic diagram showing the implementation of the transition media&#39;s soldering terminals according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 7  is a schematic diagram showing the implementation of the transition media&#39;s soldering terminals according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 8  is a schematic diagram showing the implementation of the transition media&#39;s soldering terminals according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 9  is a schematic diagram showing the implementation state of the step-like recession according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 10  is a schematic diagram showing the implementation state of multiple recessions according to of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      Hereinbelow, the structural features and other functions, objectives of the present invention are described in details with reference to the embodiments illustrated in the attached drawings:  
      With reference to  FIG. 2 , the present invention relates to the design of “chip assembling structure and socket” that applies to a diversity of chips. In details, the chip&#39;s assembling structure and socket design consists of a chip  1  and a socket  2 , wherein:  
      Chip  1  is carved from silicon, gallium arsenide, or other semiconductor materials, where multiple contacts  11  and specially designed integrated circuit elements (not shown) are positioned on the pre-selected face; The specific embodiments of the chip can include, but not limited to, memory chips such as DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM, Flash, DDR or Rambus, etc., microprocessors, logical or RF (Radio Frequency) chips, etc;  
      Socket  2  consists of either a single or a combination of insulating housings with one receiving face  21  that is completely open orcan be freely opened at the pre-selected location for placing chips  1 . Said socket  21  contains multiple contact ends  221  of the conductive transition media  22  that match plural contacts  11  on the chips. These ends serve to extend each transition medium  22  to and thus create soldering terminals  222  (or plug terminals) on the pre-selected surface for the socket  2 ;  
      Thereby, with reference to  FIG. 3 , when placing a particular chip  1  on the receiving face  21  of the socket  2 , and connecting the multiple contacts  11  on the pre-selected face of the chip  1  to the transition medium  22  contact ends  221  on the receiving face  21 , the chip assembling structure for flexible utilization and eliminating the packaging process of the present invention is then realized.  
      According to the present invention, the completely open or free opening receiving face  21   2  of the socket  2  can be implemented in several forms: a recession  23  on the pre-selected terminal face of the socket  2 , utilizing its bottom face as said receiving face  21 , on which multiple transition media  22 &#39;s contact ends  221  are positioned in order, thereby forming an assembly connection with the chip  1  (as shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 ); or a protruding plane  24  on the pre-selected terminal face of the socket  2 , utilizing its terminal face as said receiving face  21 , on which multiple transition media  22 &#39;s contact ends  221  are positioned in order, thereby forming an assembly connection with the chip  1  (as shown in  FIG. 4 ); or just a flat surface on the socket  2 , utilizing this surface as said receiving face  21 , on which multiple transition media  22 &#39;s contact ends  221  are positioned in order, thereby forming an assembly connection with the chip  1  (as shown in  FIG. 5 ). As described above, the receiving face  21  of the present invention is by far not restricted to only one form.  
      Next, said multiple transition media  22  of the socket  2  may be made of metallic structural materials and fixed to any pre-selected locations on the socket  2 . When extended to the receiving face  21 , their corresponding contact ends  221  can be implemented as fixed contacts, flexible contacts, or in any other structural forms that are able to come in contact with the multiple contacts  11  on the chip  1  (as shown in FIGS.  2  to  5 ); As for the soldering terminals  222  of the multiple transition media  22  extended outside of socket  2 &#39;s pre-selected face, various implementations are adopted: legs projecting from the sides or bottom of the socket  2  (as shown in FIGS.  2  to  5 ), at least one plane on the exterior of socket  2 &#39;s sides or bottom (as shown in  FIGS. 6 and 7 ), or any other structural forms that are able to extend outside the socket and sufficient for contact purposes. For example, the soldering terminals  222  illustrated by  FIG. 8  are slightly withdrawn from the socket  1 , however adequate external contacts are still made present by the tin balls  223  held at these terminals; In summary, any structural forms that enable complete match or partial match between the structural contact ends  221  of multiple transition media  22  and chip  1 &#39;s contacts  11 , as well as allow soldering terminals  222  to connect with other equipment, can be implemented within the field of the present invention.  
      With the technical measures revealed by the present invention, it is not only possible to pre-make a special socket  2  corresponding to chips of particular functions, such that assembly is realized through the complete match between the contact ends  221  and the contacts  11 , but a socket  2  that applies to various chips can also be produced in advance, such that assembly is achieved by the selective partial match between the contact ends  221  and the contacts  11 ; it is therefore clear that in addition to avoid the conventional complicated packaging process of chips (for example, the elimination of the routing process) and the use of expensive packaging machinery, thus effectively reducing the cost for manufacture as well as utilization, the present invention also allows for flexible applications, specifically matching different chips  1  with the same socket  2 , or matching the same chip  1  with various sockets  2 , etc. through the socket  2 &#39;s complete open or free opening receiving face  21  and the diverse structural forms of the multiple contact ends  221  on the receiving face  21 . For example, in order to meet the different application demands, one can replace the socket when the number of contacts of the corresponding circuit board or other equipment changes, or utilize the socket  2  as a test jig, or integrate the socket  2  with already packaged chips, therefore improving the practicality of chips&#39; conventional fixing and packaging technique.  
      Another point to take into consideration is that said socket  2  is not restricted to integrate with only one chip  1 . Namely, the structural form of said recession  23  can be implemented in a step-like pattern  23  (as shown in  FIG. 9 ), where each step layer is utilized as said receiving face  21 , on which the structural contact ends  221  of said multiple transition media  22  are placed, allowing a number of chips  1  to be stacked in the step-like recession  23 ; Furthermore, another alternative is to set multiple recessions  23  on the socket  2  (as shown in  FIG. 10 ), selecting its bottom or sides as said receiving face  21 , on which the structural contact ends  221  of said multiple transition media  22  are located, so as to allow a number of chips  1  to be randomly inserted. It is thus evident that in addition to achieve the above effects, the present invention can be implemented to further save space and reduce cost.  
      In summary, the present invention of “chip assembling structure and socket” has been proved to be both practicable and creative, with the invention&#39;s undoubtedly innovative embodiments combined with the perfect realization of the design goals through functionality, reasonable improvement is thus evidently traced. It is therefore decided to apply for an innovation patent according to related legal regulations. It is with great honor and sincere appreciation to have the esteemed patent bureau approve the present invention upon detailed review.