JP2019090633A - Probe and method for manufacturing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a probe and a method for manufacturing a probe capable of suppressing the barrel from bulging outward when a plunger and a barrel are joined. SOLUTION: A tube-shaped barrel 10 having a joint region 11 including a constricted portion 12 having an outer wall portion retracted in a central axis direction from the surroundings, and a state in which a tip portion is exposed from an open end of the end portion of the barrel 10. A rod-shaped plunger 20 inserted into the barrel 10 is provided, and the inner wall portion of the barrel 10 and the plunger 20 are joined in the joining region 11. [Selection diagram] Fig. 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a probe used to measure a property of a subject.

  Probes are used to measure the properties of test objects such as integrated circuits. In the measurement using a probe, one end of the probe is brought into contact with the test object, and the other end of the probe is disposed on a printed circuit board or the like to be electrically connected to a tester (hereinafter referred to as “land Contact the

  The probe has a small diameter plunger in contact with the object to be inspected and a barrel which is a large diameter cylindrical portion into which a part of the plunger is inserted, and the inserted part of the plunger and the barrel are joined The structure described above is used (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP, 2011-89918, A

  The plunger and the barrel are joined by spot welding or the like. However, spot welding has a problem that the barrel bulges outward due to pressurization. For this reason, in order to prevent the contact of probes, it is necessary to widen the space | interval of a probe, and there existed a problem that narrowing of the arrangement | positioning of a probe was inhibited.

  In view of the above problems, the present invention has an object to provide a probe and a method of manufacturing a probe that can suppress the barrel from expanding outward when the plunger and the barrel are joined.

  According to one aspect of the present invention, a tubular barrel having a junction area including a narrowed portion in which the outer wall portion is retracted in the central axial direction relative to the periphery, and a state in which the tip is exposed from the open end of the end of the barrel And a probe having a rod-shaped plunger inserted into the barrel, wherein the inner wall of the barrel and the plunger are joined in the joining area.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a tube-shaped barrel having a junction area including a constricted portion in which the outer wall portion is retracted in the central axial direction with respect to the periphery so that the tip portion of the plunger is exposed. A method of manufacturing a probe is provided, comprising the steps of inserting a plunger from the open end of the end and joining the inner wall of the barrel and the plunger in the joining area.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a probe and a method of manufacturing a probe which can suppress the barrel from expanding outward when the plunger and the barrel are joined.

It is a schematic diagram which shows the structure of the probe which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention, FIG. 1 (a) is a general view, FIG.1 (b) is an enlarged view of the area | region A of FIG. 1 (a). . It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating spot welding. It is a schematic diagram which shows the shape of the probe of a comparative example. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the manufacturing method of the probe which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the manufacturing method of the probe which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention (the 1). It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the manufacturing method of the probe which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention (the 2). It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the manufacturing method of the probe which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention (the 3). It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the manufacturing method of the probe which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention (the 4). It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the manufacturing method of the probe which concerns on the modification of the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the structure of the probe which concerns on the modification of the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the manufacturing method of the probe which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

  Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description of the drawings, the same or similar parts are denoted by the same or similar reference numerals. However, it should be noted that the drawings are schematic, and the ratio of thickness of each part is different from the actual one. Moreover, it is a matter of course that parts having different dimensional relationships and ratios among the drawings are included. The embodiments described below exemplify apparatuses and methods for embodying the technical concept of the present invention, and the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the materials, shapes, structures, arrangements and the like of components. Not specific to

First Embodiment
In the probe according to the first embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 1 (a) to 1 (b), the distal end is exposed from the open end of the tubular barrel 10 and the end of the barrel 10. A rod-shaped plunger 20 inserted into the barrel 10 in the state is provided. The barrel 10 has a joint region 11 including a constricted portion 12 in which the outer wall portion is axially retracted more than the periphery. The joint area 11 is provided in the area close to the end where the plunger 20 of the barrel 10 is inserted. In the joint area 11, the inner wall portion of the barrel 10 and the plunger 20 are joined.

  The constricted portion 12 orbits around the barrel 10 perpendicularly to the axial direction of the barrel 10. Further, a bulge is formed at the central portion of the bonding region 11. The constricted portion 12 includes a portion in which the outer wall portion is retracted in the central axial direction between the boundary portion 13 and the central portion of the joint region 11. As shown in FIG. 1 (b), the boundary portion 13 between the joint region 11 and the adjacent region is a portion that gradually narrows from the outer edge of the joint region 11 toward the central portion along the axial direction of the barrel 10. Have.

  Barrel 10 and plunger 20 are joined at joint area 11 by spot welding, for example. The bulge at the central portion of the constricted portion 12 is formed by spot welding as described below.

  Below, spot welding is explained. First, a comparative example in which the barrel 10A having no constricted portion 12 and the plunger 20A are joined will be described.

  In spot welding, as shown in FIG. 2, a current is applied while pressing (pressing) the barrel 10A and the plunger 20A in the direction of the arrow by the welding electrode 100. Thereby, resistance heat is generated on the contact surface between the barrel 10A and the plunger 20A. The heat resistance causes the metal to melt and solidify inside the barrel 10A and the plunger 20A, and the barrel 10A and the plunger 20A are welded.

  At this time, the shape change occurs due to the press, and as shown in FIG. 3, the surface of the spot welded region on the surface of the barrel 10A has a bulge that protrudes outside the other region. When such a bulge occurs on the surface of the probe, it is necessary to widen the distance between the probes in order to prevent contact between the probes.

  For this reason, in the case of the probe of the comparative example in which the barrel 10A does not have the constricted portion 12, the narrowing of the arrangement of the probes is inhibited by spot welding.

  On the other hand, in the probe according to the first embodiment, the barrel 10 is spot-welded to the plunger 20 in the joint area 11 including the constricted portion 12. Since the constricted portion 12 is not easily deformed, the shape change in the barrel 10 due to spot welding is suppressed. For this reason, it can suppress that the outer diameter of the joining area | region 11 of a probe becomes larger than the outer diameter of another area | region.

  Therefore, the difference in level at the constricted portion 12, ie, the difference between the outer diameter of the constricted portion 12 and the outer diameter of the other portion, is set so that the bulge generated by spot welding is suppressed by the constricted portion 12.

  The magnitude of the shape change generated by spot welding depends on the material of the probe, conditions such as current and pressure of spot welding. The level difference of the constricted portion 12 is set according to the likelihood of shape change. That is, the level | step difference of the constricted part 12 is set so that the height of the swelling which arises in the joining area 11 by spot welding may not exceed the level | step difference of the constricted part 12.

  Conductive materials are used for the barrel 10 and the plunger 20. For example, a Ni material or the like is used for the barrel 10, and an AgPdCu material or the like is used for the plunger 20. In this case, the step of the constricted portion 12 is set to about several μm, for example.

  Hereinafter, a method of manufacturing a probe according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  First, in step S1, a tube-shaped barrel 10 having a joint area 11 including the constricted portion 12 and a rod-shaped plunger 20 having an outer diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the barrel 10 are prepared. As in the cross-sectional view shown in FIG. 5, the size of the inner diameter of the barrel 10 is constant in the constricted portion 12 and the other portions. That is, the thickness of the constricted portion 12 is thinner than the other portion of the barrel 10.

  Next, in step S2 of FIG. 4, the plunger 20 is inserted into the barrel 10 so that the tip end of the plunger 20 is exposed from the open end of the end of the barrel 10. FIG. 6 shows a cross-sectional view of the barrel 10 with the plunger 20 inserted.

  Thereafter, in step S3 of FIG. 4, the inner wall portion of the barrel 10 and the plunger 20 are joined in the joining region 11. That is, as shown in FIG. 7, a current is supplied while being pressurized by the welding electrode 100. In FIG. 7, the plunger 20 is displayed through the barrel 10.

  Thus, the probes shown in FIGS. 1 (a) to 1 (b) are completed. 1 (a) to 1 (b) show the case where the pressure by spot welding is applied to the probe in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface.

  The spot welding in the joining area 11 deforms the barrel 10 in the direction perpendicular to the direction in which the pressure is applied, as shown in the cross-sectional view of FIG. However, since the neck portion 12 is formed, the shape change of the barrel 10 is suppressed, and the outer diameter of the expanded portion does not exceed the outer diameter of the region of the barrel 10 other than the joint region 11.

  The probe shown in FIG. 1A has a coil spring-shaped spring portion 15 in which a spiral cut penetrating the side surface of the barrel 10 is formed in the central portion of the barrel 10. Thus, the barrel 10 is axially expandable. For this reason, the probe can be brought into contact with the object to be inspected or the land with an appropriate pressure.

  As described above, according to the probe according to the first embodiment, when the barrel 10 and the plunger 20 are joined, the joining area 11 can be prevented from expanding outward beyond the other areas of the barrel 10 . Therefore, narrowing of the arrangement of the probes can be realized.

<Modification>
In FIG. 7, the axial length (hereinafter simply referred to as “length”) of barrel 10 of welding electrode 100 brought into contact with barrel 10 for spot welding is shorter than the length of joining region 11. showed that. However, as in the modification shown in FIG. 9, the length of welding electrode 100 may be longer than the length of joining region 11.

  For example, when the total length of the probe is short, it is necessary to shorten the length of the junction region 11. In such a case, spot welding shown in FIG. 9 is effective.

  The state of the probe when spot welding is performed using the welding electrode 100 shown in FIG. 9 is shown in FIG. FIG. 10 shows the case where the pressure by spot welding is applied to the probe in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface.

  The bonding area 11 of the probe shown in FIG. 10 has a shape that gently expands from the boundary 13 between the bonding area 11 and the adjacent area toward the central part, and the expanded part is shown in FIG. It is wider in the length direction than the bulge of the junction area 11. However, the outer diameter of the central portion of bonding region 11 does not exceed the outer diameter of the region other than bonding region 11. For this reason, it can suppress that narrowing of arrangement | positioning of a probe is inhibited.

Second Embodiment
In the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, the constricted portion 12 of the joint region 11 has been described as circling around the barrel 10. However, in spot welding, the barrel 10 deforms in a direction that is normally perpendicular to the direction in which the pressure is applied. Therefore, the constricted portion 12 may be formed only in a part of the circumferential direction of the barrel 10 in consideration of the direction in which the barrel 10 is deformed. That is, the constricted portion 12 is formed in the direction perpendicular to the direction in which the pressure is applied.

  In the probe according to the second embodiment, for example, as shown in FIG. 11, at two points opposite to each other across the central axis of the barrel 10 along the direction perpendicular to the direction pressurized by the pair of welding electrodes 100. The neck portion 12 is formed. That is, the direction in which pressure is applied in spot welding is set to be perpendicular to the straight line connecting the portions where the narrow portions 12 are formed. Thereby, the swelling of the barrel 10 by spot welding can be suppressed. Others are substantially the same as in the first embodiment, and redundant descriptions will be omitted.

(Other embodiments)
Although the present invention has been described by the embodiments as described above, it should not be understood that the descriptions and the drawings that form a part of this disclosure limit the present invention. Various alternative embodiments, examples and operation techniques will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.

  For example, although the configuration in which the plunger 20 is inserted into one end of the barrel 10 has been described above, the plunger 20 may be inserted into the open ends of both ends of the barrel 10, respectively. That is, the tip of the one plunger 20 may be in contact with the object to be inspected, and the tip of the other plunger 20 may be in contact with the land.

  Although the embodiment of the probe in which the spring portion 15 is formed in the barrel 10 has been described, the present invention is also applicable to a probe in which the spring portion 15 is not formed.

  Also, although the method of joining the barrel 10 to the plunger 20 by spot welding has been described above, the present invention is also applicable to another joining method in which the barrel 10 is deformed. For example, also in the case of a bonding method of bonding to the plunger 20 while caulking the barrel 10, the expansion of the barrel 10 can be suppressed.

  Thus, it goes without saying that the present invention includes various embodiments that are not described herein. Accordingly, the technical scope of the present invention is defined only by the invention-specifying matters according to the scope of claims appropriate from the above description.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Barrel 11 ... Joint area 12 ... Bore part 20 ... Plunger 100 ... Welding electrode

Claims (11)

A tube-shaped barrel having a junction area including a constricted portion in which the outer wall portion is axially retracted more than the periphery;
And a rod-shaped plunger inserted into the barrel in a state in which the end is exposed from the open end of the barrel, and the plunger is joined to the inner wall of the barrel in the joining region. A probe characterized by A bulge is formed at the center of the junction area,
The constricted portion includes a portion in which the outer wall portion is retracted in a central axial direction between a boundary portion between the joint region and the adjacent region and the central portion,
The probe according to claim 1, wherein the height of the bulge does not exceed the step of the constricted portion.   The probe according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the constricted portion orbits around the barrel perpendicularly to the axial direction of the barrel.   The probe according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the constricted portion is formed at two opposing positions across the central axis of the barrel.   The probe according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the barrel and the plunger are spot-welded in the joint area.   The probe according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the size of the inner diameter of the barrel is constant in the constricted portion and the other portion. The plunger is opened from the open end of the end of the tubular barrel having a junction area including a constricted portion in which the outer wall portion is retracted in the central axial direction with respect to the periphery so that the tip end portion of the plunger is exposed. Inserting step,
Bonding the inner wall portion of the barrel and the plunger in the bonding area.   The method for manufacturing a probe according to claim 7, wherein the barrel is joined to the plunger by spot welding.   The length according to the axial direction of the barrel of the welding electrode which contacts the barrel for the spot welding is shorter than the length along the axial direction of the joint area. Method of manufacturing a probe.   The length according to the axial direction of the barrel of the welding electrode which contacts the barrel for the spot welding is longer than the length along the axial direction of the joint area. Method of manufacturing a probe.   The method for manufacturing a probe according to any one of claims 8 to 10, wherein a direction in which pressure is applied in the spot welding is set to be perpendicular to a straight line connecting the formed portions of the narrow portions. .

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