Low insertion force

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Low-insertion-force sockets (LIF) are literally IC sockets specially designed so the insertion force is low. As the pin count increases (e.g PGA or SPGA vs DIP) low insertion force changes from something handy for chips that are changed frequently to an almost essential feature.

As with an ordinary IC socket the integrated circuit is simply pushed into the socket, and levered out when removing. Most modern motherboard processor sockets are now zero insertion force (ZIF) rather than LIF. The reason many motherboards are going to the ZIF style rather than the LIF style is because the higher pin count meant that even with a low insertion force design the overall insertion force of the huge numbers of pins becomes too high for the chip to be easily inserted and removed.