Probe Pins

What probe you are talking about? What fuction? Which equipment it is used? How it is working? What way it getting damaged? What is 330K for life? Give some information to react.

Currently i am using PTR 2021/5-C-1.5N-AU-1.3 and it's used for testing of solar cells.

Probe pin life is a complex interaction of the mechanical and electrical components in your system.

The probes that you have nominated are of reasonably quality, but you need to do some investigation that will lead you to the solution.

Mechanical failure of the probes can happen if the pins are not precisely brought into contact with the Device Under Test (DUT). Any angle will lead to wear inside the pin shaft and eventual binding.

Excess applied force (and sometimes contact speed) can increase the spring fatigue rate and casue premature failure.

Pin tip configuration is a compromise between necessary contact carrying capability and ability to clear contaminants. Too small contact area leads to electrical erosion, too soft material leads to mechanical wear of the tip.

DUT surface can also be critical. Contaminant picked from one item may adhere to the probes and thus corrupt test results for later tested items.

I truly suspect that you have a combination of these failure modes. You need to closely examine the failed probes (and probes removed before failure) to determine what is the true mechanism that you are experiencing. There are some that you can influence and there are some that just mean the probes have done their life's work and need routine replacement.

A good relationship with the probe supplier technical staff is also good. They know what is available in their range and will often work with you to determine the best technical solution. Their sales staff can help this to happen, since they want to retain you as a customer.

Enjoy the challenge

Thanks for the advice.

Will base or coating material play a part in lifetime of probes (in terms of electrical erosion) as currently i am using gold plated steel base and planning to test gold plated BeCu base or rhodium plated BeCu base? What kind of electrical erosion can i expect from aged pins?

I suggest you contact your probe supplier and enlist their assistance. If you want to get involved with the solution it will help if you can identify the root cause of the failure. Is it external contamination, formation of intermetallic compounds, spark erosion, etc. Only after determining the cause of limited life can you begin an intelligent search for alternatives.

You have been given some sound advice. You can educate yourself further by reading books like "Electrical Contacts" by Ragnar Holm and/or evaluating some of the classic probe materials such as BeCu, W, Pt and Elkonite. Plating the probe will extend its useful life. Some common platings are Au, Ag, Rh, and Pt. The best material for your application will depend on the contact pad material, and the electrical parameters of the probe test circuit (Ac, Dc, voltage, current, etc.).

You have been given some great advice. We would need to know more about the mode of failure.

With proper design and cleaning we are able to get 1 million+ insertions from our spring probes. They are a custom 2 piece design that we designed and use for our test socket products.

There are platings that can increase the wear properties and reduce cleaning intervals but it comes at the cost of increased resistance but not much.

Proper interposer and PCB setup is also a major factor for the probes to work correctly. I often use a floating nest that moves with the DUT as it is compressed. This exposes the probe tips to the device limiting insertion damage.

If you need a robust solution we may be able to design a custom interposer for you. Contact www.arieselec.com if you want to look into this.

Thanks,

Brian

Looks like you are using the PTR equivalent of this CODA probe

From http://www.coda-systems.co.uk/catalog/ATE_PROD_SELEC.gif

So I guess that you are probing component legs.

Can you modify the design artwork to use test pads, and spear or point heads instead?

Thank you all for your sound advice.

I will continue working on analyzing failure mode of probe pins before proceed to further experiments.