Method for a universal, detachable, and reusable in-circuit
test fixture gate assembly and electronic kit
Disclosed is a method for a universal, detachable, and reusable
in-circuit test (ICT) fixture gate assembly and electronic kit. Benefits
include improved test environment, improved equipment reusability, cost and
time savings.
Background
Every
conventional ICT solution consists of a test program and ICT fixture. The ICT
fixture is typically comprised of a standard fixture kit and a fixture gate assembly.
The fixture kit includes the following standard items:
• Top
plate
• Probe
plate
• Alignment
plate
• Two
side handles
• Aluminum
frame
The
kit is installed with probes, personality pins, and
wires that are customized for a particular board product and cannot be reused.
The fixture gate assembly is a custom-made item to suit the board requirement
by the fixture vendor and contains some test hardware, such as header switches
and battery pushdowns. The cost for this fixture is significant.
Fabrication takes about 2 weeks, of which 2–3 days are for fabrication of the fixture gate assembly. The
long lead-time of fixture fabrication typically lies in the critical path of
time-to-market product test development projects. Sometimes due to schedule
pressures, builds are completed without the gate assembly, losing test coverage
for some period of time. The conventional fixture is typically shipped
by the vendor to the ICT developer without the
fixture gate assembly to allow more time for fixture and test debugging. The
gate assembly is typically shipped 2–3 days later when it is completed. Some
tests may need to be debugged a second time, when the gate assembly arrives and
is attached to the fixture.
Some
tests require fixture electronics that are built into
an ICT fixture. This kit includes several items, for example:
• Flash
memory card
• Load
relay
• Load
resistor
• TestJet
Mux Card
These
fixture electronics are not part of the conventional ICT tester and are
duplicated in every ICT fixture, adding to its overall cost.
Conventionally,
the cost and reusability issues are not addressed. The entire ICT fixture is thrown away when the product life is ended.
No part of the fixture is designed for reusability, so no cost-savings occur
from reusing parts.
General description
The
disclosed method is a universal, detachable, and reusable ICT fixture gate
assembly and eletronics kit. The key
elements include:
• Fixture
gate assembly consists of:
- Universal detachable
fixture gate
- Product-specific mounting
plate, holding test hardware (such as header switches and
battery
push...