In a test system, a silicon interconnect is provided that can accommodate a packaged
part, such as a Land Grid Array (LGA) package. The interconnect can be made by
etching a silicon substrate to form projections therefrom; forming an insulation
or passivation layer through deposition or growth; depositing a seed layer over
the insulation layer; depositing a metal layer over the seed layer; and etching
contact members from the seed and metal layers using a single mask step. In a preferred
embodiment, the metal layer is coated with another metal layer that matches the
metal of the packaged part's electrical communication nodes. In one embodiment,
the contact surfaces of the silicon contact are plated in gold and are planar.
Included within the scope of the current invention are at least one method of testing
an LGA package and at least one method of allowing electrical communication with
a packaged part.
