EAGAN, MN. – August, 2004 –The Giga-snaP™ 1 mm pitch BGA Surface Mount Feet Adapter line of products provide an inexpensive and reliable method for socketing 1mm BGA chips. The product line consists of patent pending female sockets with machined pins epoxy over molded into an assembly that matches a particular BGA pattern. The epoxy over molded female BGA socket is soldered to a PCB using standard soldering methods. A corresponding male pin BGA adapter, to which the user attaches a target BGA chip, is plugged into the female socket on the board and the chip is interconnected and the system is ready to go. The SMT adapters have the same solder ball types as the IC’s they are emulating. A complete description and drawings of Giga-snaP™ 1 mm pitch BGA Surface Mount Feet Adapter can be found at:

http://www.ironwoodelectronics.com/catalog/indexes/main.cfm?ID=70&ProcessID=15.

Benefits

The patent pending over molding method for the adapter results in a much more reliable device. The coefficient of thermal expansion of the BGA SMT foot adapter exactly matches that of the PCB to which it is attaché thus eliminating failures caused by CTE mismatch. Thermal changes from either heat from components or drastic environments will not result in fractured solder ball connections. Secondly the Gig-snaP SMT adapters can be reflowed up to at least 3 times while maintaining full integrity of all solder ball connections. Adapters with pressed pins fracture the substrate and this allows the solder ball to flow up the pin and basically disappear – sometimes on the initial solder attachment.

With ball counts exceeding 1000 and approaching more than 2000 there are huge forces when inserting the male device. The force to mate conventional adapters can exceed 98 pounds or 436 Newtons for a 1000 pin device. The Giga-snaP™ BGA Surface Mount Feet Adapters require half the force of 48.5 pounds or 215 Newtons for a 1000 pin device.

The electrical path of the Giga-snaP™ BGA SMT foot adapters is a high priority performance issue. The physical length from the point where the top connection point on the male adapter to the solder ball on the female is 4.5 mm. This is the shortest connection length by far and therefore providing better transmission of high frequency signals.

Ironwood Electronics has the tooling, software, and equipment in place to deliver any array, custom or standard 1 mm Giga-snaP™ in a week or less. Our speed of delivery for BGA SMT adapters is the industry’s best.

Description of the Giga-snaP™ Epoxy Overmold Adapter

Our patent pending epoxy over mold method for Giga-snaP™ uses FR4 substrate with pins held in place by a thin ring of epoxy holding the pin in place in the FR4 and sealing the pin for the best possible solderability. This solves the PCB fracturing problem and warping caused by press fitting into a substrate. This also allows us to use FR4 rather than plastic and therefore avoiding CTE mismatch.

Call for pricing information.


Mike Fedde
11351 Rupp Dr.
Suite 400
Burnsville, MN 55337


Tel: 952-229-8200 or (800) 404 – 0204
Fax: 952-229–8201
info@ironwoodelectronics.com
www.ironwoodelectronics.com