Disclosure of Invention
Embodiments of the present invention provide a probe card device and a signal transmission module thereof, which can effectively overcome the defects possibly generated by the conventional probe card device.
The embodiment of the invention discloses a probe card device, which comprises: the transfer board comprises a board surface and a plurality of electrical contacts positioned on the board surface; the positioning seat body is correspondingly arranged on one side of the plurality of electrical contacts; the rectangular probes are arranged on the positioning seat body, each rectangular probe comprises a first contact section and a second contact section which are positioned on two opposite sides and penetrate out of the positioning seat body, and the first contact sections of the rectangular probes are respectively abutted against the electric contacts; the connection between each first contact section and the corresponding electrical contact is concave-convex fit and can be kept to be contacted with each other within a relative displacement, so that the relative position of each first contact section and the corresponding electrical contact can be adjusted within the relative displacement, and the end edges of the second contact sections of the rectangular probes are aligned with each other; wherein the relative displacement is less than 10 micrometers.
Preferably, in each of the rectangular probes and the corresponding electrical contact, the electrical contact includes a groove, a free end of the first contact section is movably inserted into the groove within the relative displacement, the free end abuts against an inner sidewall of the groove, and a distance is formed between the free end and a groove bottom of the groove.
Preferably, the probe card apparatus further comprises a plurality of buffer bodies disposed in the grooves of the plurality of electrical contacts; wherein, in each rectangular probe, the corresponding electrical contact and the corresponding buffer body, the buffer body is pressed and abutted against the free end part and the groove bottom of the groove.
Preferably, in each of the rectangular probes and the corresponding electrical contact, the electrical contact protrudes from the plate surface, and the groove is formed by recessing from an end surface of the electrical contact.
Preferably, the interposer includes a substrate, a plurality of metal pads on the substrate, an insulating layer covering the substrate, and a plurality of metal coatings respectively connected to the plurality of metal pads; the outer surface of the insulating layer is defined as the plate surface, the insulating layer is provided with a plurality of through holes respectively exposing the plurality of metal pads, the plurality of metal coatings are plated on the inner side walls of the plurality of through holes, and each metal pad and the connected metal coatings are combined to define one electric contact and jointly surround to form the groove.
Preferably, in each of the rectangular probes and the corresponding electrical contact, the width of the free end portion is smaller than the width of the electrical contact.
Preferably, in each of the rectangular probes and the corresponding electrical contacts, the free end portion includes two contact arms, and a distance between the two contact arms gradually increases from the second contact section toward the first contact section.
Preferably, in each of the rectangular probes and the corresponding electrical contact, the electrical contact includes a protrusion protruding out of the board surface, a groove is formed at a free end of the rectangular probe, the groove is movably sleeved on the protrusion within the relative displacement, and a distance is formed between the protrusion and a groove bottom of the groove.
Preferably, the relative displacement is further defined as 5 microns or less.
The embodiment of the invention also discloses a signal transmission module of the probe card device, which comprises: the transfer board comprises a board surface and a plurality of electrical contacts positioned on the board surface; the rectangular probes respectively comprise a first contact section and a second contact section which are positioned on two opposite sides, and the first contact sections of the rectangular probes are respectively abutted against the electric contacts; the connection between each first contact section and the corresponding electrical contact is concave-convex fit and can be kept to be contacted with each other within a relative displacement, so that the relative position of each first contact section and the corresponding electrical contact can be adjusted within the relative displacement, and the end edges of the second contact sections of the rectangular probes are aligned with each other; wherein the relative displacement is less than 10 micrometers.
In summary, the probe card device and the signal transmission module thereof disclosed in the embodiments of the invention can absorb the length tolerance between the plurality of rectangular probes and the height tolerance of the plurality of electrical contacts by adjusting the relative positions of the first contact sections and the corresponding electrical contacts within the relative displacement amount, so as to align the end edges of the second contact sections of the plurality of rectangular probes, and effectively improve the measurement accuracy of the probe card device.
For a better understanding of the nature and technical content of the present invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description of the invention and the accompanying drawings, which are provided for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way.
Detailed Description
Please refer to fig. 2 to 9, which are exemplary embodiments of the present invention, and it should be noted that, in the exemplary embodiments, the related numbers and shapes mentioned in the accompanying drawings are only used for describing the embodiments of the present invention in detail, so as to facilitate the understanding of the contents of the present invention, and not for limiting the scope of the present invention. It should be noted that the technical features disclosed in the following embodiments can be mutually referred and converted to form other embodiments of the invention which are not shown.
[ example one ]
As shown in fig. 2 to 5, it is a first embodiment of the present invention. The present embodiment discloses a probe card apparatus 100, which includes an adapter plate 1, a positioning base 2 located at one side of the adapter plate 1, and a plurality of rectangular probes 3 disposed on the positioning base 2. One end of each rectangular probe 3 is abutted against the interposer 1, and the other end of each rectangular probe 3 is used for abutting against and testing an object to be tested (such as a semiconductor wafer).
Furthermore, the adapter plate 1 and the plurality of rectangular probes 3 can be collectively referred to as a signal transmission module M in this embodiment, and the signal transmission module M is not limited to be collocated with the positioning base 2. That is, in other embodiments not shown in the present disclosure, the signal transmission module M may be sold separately or applied to other components. It should be noted that the drawings of the present embodiment are schematic diagrams showing the needle implanting process of the rectangular probe 3, but the present invention is not limited thereto. In addition, for the convenience of understanding of the present embodiment, the drawings only show a partial configuration of the probe card apparatus 100 so as to clearly show the configuration and connection relationship of the various components of the probe card apparatus 100. The construction of each component of the probe card apparatus 100 and the connection relationship thereof will be described separately below.
The interposer 1 includes a board 11 and a plurality of electrical contacts 12 located on the board 11. In this embodiment, each electrical contact 12 includes a groove 121 recessed in the board 11, and the inner sidewall of the groove 121 is made of a conductive material. It should be noted that the present embodiment does not limit the specific structure of the interposer 1, so the interposer 1 in the drawings is presented in a schematic manner.
For example, the structure of the interposer 1 of the present embodiment can be as shown in fig. 3, but not limited thereto. The interposer 1 includes a substrate 13, a plurality of metal pads 14 disposed on the substrate 13, an insulating layer 15 covering the substrate 13, and a plurality of metal plating layers 16 respectively connected to the metal pads 14. Further, the outer surface of the insulating layer 15 is defined as the board surface 11 of the interposer 1, the insulating layer 15 is formed with a plurality of through holes 151 exposing the plurality of metal pads 14, and the plurality of metal plating layers 16 are plated on the inner side walls of the plurality of through holes 151. Wherein each metal pad 14 and the associated metal plating layer 16 are defined as one of the electrical contacts 12 and jointly surround the groove 121.
The positioning base 2 is correspondingly disposed on one side of the plurality of electrical contacts 12 of the adapter board 1, and in this embodiment, the positioning base 2 includes a first guide plate 21(upper die), a second guide plate 22(lower die) substantially parallel to the first guide plate 21, and a spacer 23 (not shown in the figure) clamped between the first guide plate 21 and the second guide plate 22. The first guide plate 21 is formed with a plurality of first through holes 211, the second guide plate 22 is formed with a plurality of second through holes 221, the positions of the plurality of second through holes 221 respectively correspond to the positions of the plurality of first through holes 211, and the aperture of each second through hole 221 is not larger than the aperture of the first through hole 211.
The plurality of rectangular probes 3 are arranged in a matrix shape and penetrate through the positioning base 2, one end of each of the plurality of rectangular probes 3 penetrates through the plurality of first through holes 211 of the first guide plate 21, and the other end of each of the plurality of rectangular probes 3 penetrates through the plurality of second through holes 221 of the second guide plate 22. That is, each of the rectangular probes 3 sequentially passes through the corresponding first through hole 211 of the first guide plate 21, the partition plate 23, and the corresponding second through hole 221 of the second guide plate 22, and opposite sides of each of the rectangular probes 3 passing through the positioning base 2 are respectively defined as a first contact section 31 and a second contact section 32, and the first contact sections 31 of the rectangular probes 3 respectively abut against the electrical contacts 12 of the interposer 1.
Further, the connection between each first contact section 31 and the corresponding electrical contact 12 is a concave-convex fit (e.g., a concave-convex fit structure with a tight fit effect) and can be kept in contact with each other within a relative displacement, so that the relative position between each first contact section 31 and the corresponding electrical contact 12 can be adjusted within the relative displacement, and the end edges of the second contact sections 32 of the rectangular probes 3 are aligned with each other. In the present embodiment, the relative displacement is less than 10 micrometers (μm), preferably less than 5 μm. In addition, the term "aligned with each other" in the present embodiment means that the height difference between the end edges of any two second contact segments 32 is less than 10 microns, which is much smaller than the tolerance (about 50 microns) of the length between the rectangular probes 3 or the tolerance (about 50 microns) of the height of the electrical contacts 12.
In other words, the relative displacement can be used to absorb the length tolerance between the rectangular probes 3 and the height tolerance of the electrical contacts 12 in the present embodiment. For example, as shown in fig. 2, when the first contact sections 31 of two rectangular probes 3 located at the left and right outer sides but having different lengths are inserted into the grooves 121 of two electrical contacts 12, the two first contact sections 31 can move different distances within the relative displacement amount, so that the end edges of the second contact sections 32 of the two rectangular probes 3 at the outer sides are substantially coplanar. Furthermore, as shown in fig. 2, when the first contact sections 31 of two rectangular probes 3 with the same length are inserted into two grooves 121 with different depths, the two first contact sections 31 can move the same distance within the relative displacement amount, so that the end edges of the second contact sections 32 of the two left rectangular probes 3 are substantially coplanar.
In more detail, each first contact segment 31 has a free end 311, and the width of the free end 311 is preferably smaller than the width of the corresponding electrical contact 12; in each rectangular probe pin 3 and the corresponding electrical contact 12, the free end portion 311 is movably inserted into the groove 121 of the electrical contact 12 within the relative displacement, and the free end portion 311 abuts against the inner sidewall of the groove 121, and the free end portion 311 is spaced from the bottom of the groove 121 by a distance.
In addition, since the partition plate 23 and the portion of each rectangular probe 3 between the first contact section 31 and the second contact section 32 thereof are less relevant to the improvement of the present invention, the following description will not be given in detail. Furthermore, the probe card apparatus 100 of the present embodiment is limited to use rectangular probes 3, which can be manufactured by micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technology, so the present embodiment excludes circular probes having distinct manufacturing processes. In other words, the rectangular probe 3 of the present embodiment has no motivation to refer to each other because the manufacturing processes are very different compared to the circular probe.
In addition, although the structures of the rectangular probes 3 and the electrical contacts 12 respectively associated therewith are substantially the same in the present embodiment, in an embodiment not shown in the present invention, the rectangular probes 3 and the electrical contacts 12 respectively associated therewith of the probe card apparatus 100 may also be formed in different structures. Furthermore, the specific structure of the probe card apparatus 100 of the present embodiment can be adjusted and changed according to the needs of the designer, and is not limited to the structure shown in FIG. 2.
For example, as shown in fig. 4, in each rectangular probe 3 and the corresponding electrical contact 12, the cross section of the groove 121 of the electrical contact 12 is substantially trapezoidal, and the cross section of the free end 311 of the rectangular probe 3 is corresponding to the cross section of the groove 121. That is, when the free end 311 moves in the groove 121, the side edge of the free end 311 keeps in contact with the inner side wall of the groove 121, and the force applied between the free end 311 and the groove 121 is increased (e.g., tight fit) as the free end 311 is inserted deeper into the groove 121.
Furthermore, as shown in fig. 5, in each rectangular probe 3 and the corresponding electrical contact 12, the free end portion 311 includes two contact arms 3111, and the distance between the two contact arms 3111 gradually increases from the second contact section 32 to the first contact section 31. Specifically, the two contact arms 3111 are substantially parallel to each other when not inserted into the groove 121; after the two contact arms 3111 are inserted into the groove 121, the end edges of the two contact arms 3111 are pressed against the groove bottom of the groove 121 and bent outward, and the distance between the end edges of the two contact arms 3111 increases as the two contact arms 3111 are inserted into the groove 121.
[ example two ]
As shown in fig. 6 and 7, which are a second embodiment of the present invention, the present embodiment is similar to the above-mentioned embodiments, and the technical features of the present embodiment and the above-mentioned embodiments are not repeated.
Specifically, as shown in fig. 6, in each rectangular probe 3 and corresponding electrical contact 12 of the present embodiment, the electrical contact 12 protrudes from the board surface 11 of the interposer 1, and the groove 121 is formed by recessing from the end surface of the electrical contact 12. In the present embodiment, the groove 121 is located outside the board surface 11 of the interposer 1, but the invention is not limited thereto.
Furthermore, as shown in fig. 7, each of the rectangular probes 3 can be formed with a plurality of barbs 312 extending from the side edge of the free end portion 311, and the plurality of barbs 312 can penetrate into the inner side wall of the groove 121 to improve the electrical connection effect between the rectangular probe 3 and the corresponding electrical contact 12. The distance between any barb 312 and the side edge of the free end 311 is preferably gradually reduced from the second contact section 32 toward the first contact section 31, but the invention is not limited thereto.
[ third example ]
As shown in fig. 8, it is a third embodiment of the present invention, which is similar to the first embodiment, and the technical features of the third embodiment are not repeated.
Specifically, in the present embodiment, in each rectangular probe 3 and the corresponding electrical contact 12, the electrical contact 12 does not have the groove 121 but includes a protrusion 122 protruding out of the board surface 11 of the adapter board 1, the free end 311 of the rectangular probe 3 has a groove 3112, the groove 3112 is movably sleeved in the protrusion 122 of the electrical contact 12 within the relative displacement, and the protrusion 122 is spaced from the bottom of the groove 3112.
[ example four ]
As shown in fig. 9, it is a fourth embodiment of the present invention, which is similar to the first embodiment, and the technical features of the fourth embodiment are not repeated.
Specifically, the probe card apparatus 100 of the present embodiment further includes a plurality of buffer bodies 4 disposed in the grooves 121 of the plurality of electrical contacts 12. In each rectangular probe pin 3, the corresponding electrical contact 12, and the corresponding buffer 4, the buffer 4 is pressed against the free end 311 of the rectangular probe pin 3 and the groove bottom 121 of the electrical contact 12. The relative displacement amount is smaller than the elastic compression amount of the cushion body 4, and the elastic compression amount of the cushion body 4 is, for example, 50 μm or less. Further, the elastic modulus of the buffer 4 is greater than that of the rectangular probe 3, and the elastic modulus of the buffer 4 is preferably 65GPa, and the elastic modulus of the rectangular probe 3 is preferably 60GPa, but the present invention is not limited thereto.
Furthermore, each buffer 4 can be made of conductive material (such as gold, silver, copper) or non-conductive material (such as polymer material) in this embodiment, which is not limited herein.
[ technical effects of embodiments of the present invention ]
In summary, the probe card apparatus 100 and the signal transmission module M thereof disclosed in the embodiments of the invention can absorb the length tolerance between the rectangular probes 3 and the height tolerance of the electrical contacts 12 by adjusting the relative positions of the first contact sections 31 and the corresponding electrical contacts 12 within the relative displacement amount, so as to align the end edges of the second contact sections 32 of the rectangular probes 3, and effectively improve the measurement accuracy of the probe card apparatus 100.
Furthermore, the probe card apparatus 100 can further include a buffer 4 in the groove 121 of each electrical contact 12, and the buffer 4 can be pressed against the free end 311 of the rectangular probe 3 and the groove bottom of the groove 121 of the electrical contact 12, so that the buffer 4 provides resilience and shock absorption functions during the insertion of the rectangular probe 3 into the groove 121, thereby further improving the coplanarity of the end edges of the second contact segments 32 of the rectangular probes 3.
The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the present invention, which is defined by the appended claims.