Patent ID: 7371093

Claim:
Apparatus for connecting an electronic probe to a workpiece having a signal of interest that is to be measured, the apparatus comprising: an interconnect circuit board having a plurality of lands along a mating edge and a respective plurality of traces connected thereto and leading toward a second edge; at least one flexible transmission line having a coaxial connector at one end for connection to a corresponding coaxial connector upon the electronic probe, and attached at the other end to a signal trace and to a ground trace each within the plurality of traces leading toward the second edge of the interconnect circuit board; a carrier circuit board; a zero insertion force connector mounted upon the carrier circuit board and in such a manner that the plurality of lands along the mating edge of the interconnect circuit board can enter the zero insertion force connector and the interconnect circuit board mate with the zero insertion force connector; at least one flexible signal conductor, connected at one end to a corresponding signal trace on the carrier circuit board that leads from the zero insertion force connector toward a third edge of the carrier circuit board, and for connection at the other end to a signal of interest; and at least one flexible ground conductor, connected at one end to a corresponding ground trace on the carrier circuit board that leads from the zero insertion force connector toward the third edge of the carrier circuit board, and for connection at the other end to a signal ground within the workpiece.