Electronic assembly with detachable components

Abstract

The present invention provides systems and methods for assembling an electronic assembly using an anisotropic conducting membrane (ACM) as a component interconnect and a substrate embossed with placement cavities or a positional fixture to facilitate component placement on the substrate in the electronic assembly. The fixture may comprise multiple layers of interconnects to improve routing density for the electronic assembly enclosed in a housing. An alignment chain may be used to monitor positional and contact integrity of the ACM interfaced components in a complex assembly. The systems and methods allow components to be detached for reuse. Interconnection elements or conduction pathways at the components can be used to interconnect a plurality of neighboring substrates over the ACM layers into a stacked electronic assembly.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 351,418 entitled “Apparatus and Method for Predetermined Component Placement to a Target Platform,” filed Feb. 10, 2006, which is hereby incorporated by reference.BACKGROUND[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The present invention relates generally to electronic assemblies, and more particularly to assembly techniques on the use of anisotropic conducting material as a component interconnect and the use of substrate embossed with placement cavities or the use of positional fixtures to facilitate the placement of component on the substrate in an electronic assembly.[0004]2. Related Art[0005]Electronic assemblies are typically assembled by using surface mount technology (SMT), or more recently, the chip-on-board (COB) technology. Using SMT, packaged electronic components are soldered on a substrate, such as a printed circuit board (PCB), by printing a thin lay...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention provides an assembly technique for electronic assemblies that uses an anisotropic conductive membrane (ACM) at a component interconnect interface and a substrate with embossed cavities or an aligning fixture to facilitate assembly. The ACM layer electrically connects component to substrate and allows components to be readily detached for reuse or replacement. The invention also addresses the problem of positional and contact integrity for a group of components on a substrate in an electronic assembly by incorporating conductive pads as reference marks at the components and substrate. The invention allows components to be detached for reuse, stacked in a more compact three-dimensional structure, and sealed in a housing for protection. The use of the ACM layer as a component interconnect layer and the incorporation of conductive pads as reference marks simplifies the design of an electronic assembly and allows for easy replacement of defective components."

Problems solved by technology

One problem with both the SMT and the COB technique is that a soldered or wire-bonded component is typically difficult to remove for repair or reuse once it is attached to the substrate.

The sockets are rather expensive.

Images