A machine for tribological experimentation on indexing continuous media with specific application to semiconductor testing

Abstract

Technology was developed to facilitate electrical contact tribology experiments on continuous media, dramatically reducing the difficulty of employing virgin material for each test. Specifically, a tester was designed to accurately reproduce semiconductor contactor operating environments while measuring contact resistance in-situ, thereby effecting the study of operating temperature, test current, cleaning method, and cleaning interval on contactor life. To manipulate the continuous media while preserving exact constraint, novel web handling machine elements were devised. Universal joints and beam type flexible couplings were employed for gimballing and castering axes, both at standard caster radii and at roller center. A kinematic edge constraint was designed. The torque transmission properties of clamped connections were alloyed to the favorable kinematics of typical pinned type connections by compliantly mounting a spherical roller bearing as a pinch roller.