Ironwood Electronics has recently introduced a new high performance BGA socket for 0.61mmx0.635mm pitch BGA 378 pin IC’s.

The SG-BGA-7303 socket is designed for 18.2×9.7mm BGA package and operates at bandwidths up to 30 GHz with less than 1dB of insertion loss. The sockets are designed to dissipate up to several watts without extra heat sinking and can handle up to 100 watts with custom heat sink. It also connects all pins with 30 GHz bandwidth on all connections. The contact resistance is typically 20 milliohms per pin.

The socket is mounted using supplied hardware on the target PCB with no soldering, and uses smallest footprint in the industry. The smallest footprint allows inductors, resistors and decoupling capacitors to be placed very close to the device for impedance tuning. The socket also incorporates a simple hardware installation method so that IC’s can be changed out quickly.

The SG-BGA-7303 sockets are constructed with high performance and low inductance elastomer contactor. The temperature range is -35 C to +100 C. The pin self inductance is 0.15 nH and mutual inductance of 0.025 nH while the capacitance to ground is 0.01 pF. Current capacity is 2 amps per pin. Elastomer requires proper force for operation which is applied through a torque limiting driver via compression screw.

Typical IC’s that can be tested using this socket have 378 balls, 18.2×9.7mm with 0.61mmx0.635mm pitch and 27×14 ball array.

Pricing for the SG-BGA-7303 is $890 at qty 1; with reduced pricing available depending on quantity required.