US 11,940,487 B2
Thermal solution for massively parallel testing
Samer Kabbani, San Jose, CA (US); Kazuyuki Yamashita, San Jose, CA (US); Ikeda Hiroki, San Jose, CA (US); Ira Leventhal, San Jose, CA (US); Mohammad Ghazvini, San Jose, CA (US); Paul Ferrari, San Jose, CA (US); Karthik Ranganathan, San Jose, CA (US); Gregory Cruzan, San Jose, CA (US); and Gilberto Oseguera, San Jose, CA (US)
Assigned to Advantest Test Solutions, Inc., San Jose, CA (US)
Filed by Advantest Test Solutions, Inc., San Jose, CA (US)
Filed on Jan. 9, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/094,899.
Application 18/094,899 is a continuation of application No. 17/479,998, filed on Sep. 20, 2021, granted, now 11,549,981.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/086,522, filed on Oct. 1, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0228812 A1, Jul. 20, 2023
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G01R 31/28 (2006.01)
CPC G01R 31/2891 (2013.01) [G01R 31/2875 (2013.01); G01R 31/2877 (2013.01); G01R 31/2889 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus for thermal control of a device under test (DUT), the apparatus comprising:
a cooling structure operable to provide cooling, said cooling structure operable to inlet cooling material via an inlet port thereof and operable to outlet cooling material via an outlet port thereof;
a variable thermal conductance material (VTCM) layer disposed on a surface of said cooling structure;
a heater layer operable to generate heat based on an electronic control, and wherein said VTCM layer is operable to transfer cooling from said cooling structure to said heater layer;
a thermal interface material layer disposed on said heater layer, and operable to provide thermal coupling and mechanical compliance with respect to said DUT; and
a compression mechanism for providing compression to said VTCM layer to vary a thermal conductance of said VTCM layer.