Chip carrier connector

Claim 1

In an electrical chip carrier connector for connecting a semiconductor chip to a printed circuit board having a dielectric frame with two pairs of oppositely facing sidewalls, each sidewall having a plurality of vertically extending slots, each sidewall further having a stepped shelf on an interior surface with the remainder of the interior surfaces of the sidewalls together defining a central enclosed cavity, a conductive spring member within each slot having an upper contact portion exposed on the sidewall stepped shelf and a lower portion extending from the bottom of the sidewall, the improvement comprising a pair of compression springs, each having a lower and an upper end, each compression spring mounted at its lower end in a spring tension groove located on a lower side surface of each of the sidewalls of one pair of oppositely facing sidewalls, a pair of latch arms, each latch arm corresponding to one of the compression springs and pivotally mounted on an upper side surface of the same sidewall as its respective compression spring, the latch arms being mounted in diagonally opposed positions, the upper end of each compression spring being positioned above the upper surface of the sidewall and remaining in constant contact under spring tension with its corresponding latch arm so that movement of the compression spring towards the central cavity causes the latch arm to move down and lock over the top surface of the semiconductor chip carrier.