JP2019039754A - probe - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a probe capable of suppressing an adjacent short circuit between probes. SOLUTION: A barrel 10 having a tubular shape in which a plurality of parts having a non-single elastic modulus are arranged linearly along an axial direction, and a barrel 10 in a state where a tip portion is exposed from an opening end of an end portion of the barrel 10 With a rod-shaped plunger 20 joined to the barrel 10, at least one of the plurality of parts has a coil spring-shaped spring portion having a spiral notch formed through the side surface of the barrel 10. [Selection diagram] Fig. 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a probe used for measuring characteristics of an object to be inspected.

  In order to measure the characteristics of an object to be inspected such as an integrated circuit without being separated from the wafer, a probe brought into contact with the object to be inspected is used. One end of the probe is brought into contact with the object to be inspected, and the other end of the probe is brought into contact with a terminal (hereinafter referred to as “land”) disposed on the substrate and electrically connected to the tester.

  In the inspection using the probe, it is necessary to ensure electrical connection between the inspection object or land and the probe. For this purpose, overdrive (OD) is applied so that the probe is strongly pressed against the object to be inspected. Further, a preload structure is used in which the probe and the land are preloaded by elastically deforming the probe. For this reason, the structure which provides the part which elastically deforms in a probe is employ | adopted (for example, refer patent document 1).

JP 2010-281585 A

  In order to apply both preload and OD by elastic deformation of one probe, it is necessary to lengthen the entire length of the probe. For example, a probe having a total length of about 8 mm is used. In such a long probe, bending occurs due to use. As a result, there has been a problem that contact between adjacent probes (hereinafter referred to as “adjacent short”) occurs.

  In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a probe that can suppress adjacent short circuit between probes.

  According to one aspect of the present invention, a tubular barrel in which a plurality of parts having non-singular elastic modulus are arranged in a straight line along the axial direction, and a state in which the tip is exposed from the open end of the end of the barrel And a probe having a coil spring-shaped spring portion in which at least one of a plurality of parts is formed with a spiral cut through the side surface of the barrel. Is done.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the probe which can suppress the adjacent short circuit between probes can be provided.

It is a schematic diagram which shows the structure of the probe which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention, Fig.1 (a) shows the structure of the whole probe, FIG.1 (b) shows the structure of a barrel. It is a schematic diagram which shows the structure of the probe which concerns on the 1st modification of the 1st Embodiment of this invention, Fig.2 (a) shows the whole structure of a probe, FIG.2 (b) shows the structure of a barrel. Show. It is a schematic diagram which shows the structure of the probe which concerns on the 2nd modification of the 1st Embodiment of this invention. 4A and 4B are schematic views showing a configuration of a barrel of the probe shown in FIG. 3, FIG. 4A is a side view, and FIG. 4B is a cross-sectional view of the barrel along the IV-IV direction of FIG. FIG. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing another configuration of the barrel of the probe shown in FIG. 3, FIG. 5 (a) is a side view, and FIG. 5 (b) is a barrel along the VV direction of FIG. 5 (a). FIG. It is a schematic diagram which shows the structure of the probe which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the structure of the barrel of the probe which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention, and Fig.7 (a)-FIG.7 (e) are schematic diagrams of each part which comprises a barrel. It is a schematic diagram which shows the other structure of the barrel of the probe which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention, and Fig.8 (a)-FIG.8 (b) are schematic diagrams which show the rotation direction of the spring part of a barrel. FIGS. 9A to 9C are schematic views illustrating a configuration of a probe according to a modification of the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 9A to 9C are diagrams of a probe having a barrel including a part where a spring portion is not formed. It is a schematic diagram. FIG. 10A is a schematic diagram for explaining a probe according to a third embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 10A shows a configuration of the probe according to the third embodiment, and FIG. 10B shows a probe to be compared; It is a schematic diagram which shows a structure. It is typical sectional drawing which shows the structure of the barrel of the probe which concerns on the 3rd Embodiment of this invention.

  Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description of the drawings, the same or similar parts are denoted by the same or similar reference numerals. However, it should be noted that the drawings are schematic, and the thickness ratio of each part is different from the actual one. Moreover, it is a matter of course that portions having different dimensional relationships and ratios are included between the drawings. The following embodiments exemplify apparatuses and methods for embodying the technical idea of the present invention, and the embodiments of the present invention describe the material, shape, structure, arrangement, etc. of components as follows. It is not something specific.

(First embodiment)
As shown in FIG. 1A, the probe according to the first embodiment of the present invention includes a tubular barrel 10 in which a plurality of parts are arranged linearly along the axial direction, and an end of the barrel 10. And a rod-shaped plunger 20 joined to the barrel 10 with the tip portion exposed from the open end. The barrel 10 shown in FIG. 1A has a configuration in which a first part 11 and a second part 12 having different elastic moduli shown in FIG. Thus, the plurality of parts constituting the barrel 10 do not have a single elastic modulus.

  The probe shown in FIG. 1A includes two plungers 20 joined to the barrel 10 in a state where the distal ends are exposed from the open ends of both ends of the barrel 10. The probe is used, for example, when determining the electrical characteristics of the device under test. In this case, the tip of one plunger 20 contacts the object to be inspected. The tip of the other plunger 20 is in contact with a land such as a wiring board.

  In the joint portion 30 shown in FIG. 1A, the insertion portion of the plunger 20 inserted into the barrel 10 and the barrel 10 are joined. The barrel 10 and the plunger 20 may be welded by spot welding or may be bonded by an adhesive. In addition, in FIG. 1A which shows the whole probe, illustration of the part inserted in the inside of the barrel 10 of the plunger 20 is abbreviate | omitted (same in the following).

  In order to inspect the electrical characteristics of the object to be inspected, a conductive material is used for the plunger 20 and the barrel 10. For example, an AgPdCu material or the like is used for the plunger 20. On the other hand, the barrel 10 is configured such that the material of at least one part among the plurality of parts is different from the other parts. In the barrel 10 shown in FIG. 1B, the first part 11 and the second part 12 are made of different materials. For example, nickel (Ni), stainless steel (SUS), tungsten (W), or the like is used as a material for each part of the barrel 10. Alternatively, a noble metal material such as rhodium (Rh) or palladium (Pd) is also used for each part of the barrel 10.

  Alternatively, a base made of the same material such as Ni may be used for each part of the barrel 10, and a film of a different material for each part may be coated on the surface of the base as a coating layer. Even with such a configuration, the barrel 10 in which a plurality of parts having different elastic moduli are arranged can be realized.

  As described above, the barrel 10 is configured so that the elastic modulus differs depending on the position by arranging parts that are not single materials.

  In addition, at least one of the plurality of parts of the barrel 10 has a coil spring-shaped spring portion in which a spiral notch penetrating the side surface of the barrel 10 is formed. In the barrel 10, each of the first part 11 and the second part 12 has a spring portion. Since a part of the barrel 10 has a coil spring shape, the barrel 10 can expand and contract in the axial direction. Therefore, the plunger 20 can be brought into contact with the object to be inspected and the wiring board with an appropriate pressure. For example, a cut can be formed in the barrel 10 by etching using a photolithography technique or the like.

  In addition, it is preferable that the rotation direction of a spring part differs in each part of the barrel 10. This is because if all the springs have the same rotation direction, the probe rotates when pressed against the object or land, and the object or land may be scraped by the probe. For this reason, the spring portion of a part of the plurality of parts has a coil spring shape in which the coil portion is wound clockwise, and the spring portion of another part has a coil spring shape in which the coil portion is wound counterclockwise. The arrow shown in FIG. 1B represents the rotation direction of the spring portion of each part constituting the barrel 10 (the same applies below). In the barrel 10 shown in FIG. 1B, the rotation direction of the first part 11 is clockwise, and the rotation direction of the second part 12 is counterclockwise.

  As described above, in the probe according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the rigidity of each part can be adjusted by configuring the barrel 10 by arranging a plurality of parts made of different materials. For this reason, the elasticity modulus of the desired part of a probe can be set arbitrarily. For example, the rigidity is increased only for the spring portion that is likely to be bent during use. Thereby, the bending of a probe can be suppressed and the adjacent short circuit between probes can be prevented.

  In addition, a part having a low rigidity can be used in a part where it is desired to intentionally bend in order to apply preload or OD. As described above, according to the probe shown in FIG. 1, it is possible to control the bending of the entire probe by arbitrarily combining a high rigidity portion and a low rigidity portion.

  On the other hand, with a probe made entirely of a single material, it is difficult to suppress bending that occurs during use. That is, in order to increase the rigidity of the probe in order to suppress the adjacent short circuit, it is necessary to increase the rigidity of the entire probe. If it does so, preload and OD cannot be applied with desired intensity.

<First Modification>
Although FIG. 1A shows an example in which the barrel 10 is constituted by two parts, the number of parts constituting the barrel 10 may be three or more. The probe according to the first modification shown in FIG. 2A has a barrel 10 constituted by four parts, that is, a first part 11 to a fourth part 14 shown in FIG. The elastic modulus of the first part 11 to the fourth part 14 is not single. In addition, the material of each part may differ altogether, and the material of some parts may be the same.

  The rotation direction of the spring portion of each part constituting the barrel 10 can be arbitrarily set. In the example shown in FIG. 2B, the rotation direction of the first part 11 and the second part 12 is clockwise, and the rotation direction of the third part 13 and the fourth part 14 is counterclockwise.

  As shown in FIG. 2A, by configuring the barrel 10 with three or more parts, it is possible to suppress the bending of the probe and prevent the adjacent short circuit between the probes. When the number of parts constituting the barrel 10 is increased, the rigidity of an arbitrary part of the probe can be adjusted more finely.

  When the barrel 10 is configured by arranging a plurality of parts, it is easy to replace the parts with new parts when a problem occurs in some parts. For example, when a defect occurs in the second part 12 of the probe shown in FIG. 3A, it is only necessary to replace only the second part 12 instead of replacing the entire barrel 10. Thereby, the cost and time which replacement | exchange of the barrel 10 can be suppressed.

  Problems occurring in the barrel 10 include excessive cuts and insufficient cuts due to poor etching that forms cuts for forming the spring portion. In addition, problems such as shape defects such as bending, bending, and crushing, and dirt, etc. occur during the manufacture of the probe. Further, when the probe is attached to the probe head, the barrel may be loosened or bent.

<Second Modification>
In the probe according to the second modification shown in FIG. 3, an insulating layer 40 made of an insulating material is disposed on the surface of the spring portion of the barrel 10. For this reason, even if adjacent probes contact each other, since the probes are electrically insulated by the insulating layer 40, the occurrence of adjacent short circuit can be suppressed.

  For example, as shown in FIGS. 4A to 4B, the insulating layer 40 is disposed only on the outer surface 101 facing the outside of the coil portion of the barrel 10. Or you may arrange | position the insulating layer 40 to the outer surface 101 and the side surface 102 of a coil part, as shown to Fig.5 (a)-FIG.5 (b). According to the structure shown in FIG. 4A, the insulating layer 40 can be easily formed on the spring portion. On the other hand, according to the structure shown in FIG. 5A, the occurrence of adjacent short-circuit can be suppressed more reliably.

(Second Embodiment)
As shown in FIG. 6, the probe according to the second embodiment of the present invention includes a plurality of parts in which the barrel 10 has a coil spring-shaped spring part, and the wire diameter of the coil part of the spring part is included in the part having the spring part. In addition, a part in which at least one of pitch and pitch is different from other parts is included. In the probe shown in FIG. 6, as shown in FIGS. 7A to 7E, in the spring part of the first part 11 to the fifth part 15 constituting the barrel 10, the wire diameter D of the coil part and The pitches P are different from each other.

  For example, the third part 13 shown in FIG. 7C has a short wire diameter D. For this reason, the elastic modulus is relatively high and the rigidity is low. On the other hand, the fourth part 14 shown in FIG. 7D has a long wire diameter D and pitch P. For this reason, the elastic modulus is relatively low and the rigidity is high.

  In the above example, the number of parts constituting the barrel 10 is five, but the number of parts can be arbitrarily set. Moreover, the combination of the wire diameter D and the pitch P shown in FIGS. 7A to 7E is an example, and it is optional to combine parts having spring portions with the wire diameter D and the pitch P. is there. For example, a part having a high elastic modulus is arranged in a portion where bending occurs during use and the adjacent short circuit is likely to occur. Note that the wire diameter D and the pitch P may be different in all parts, or a plurality of parts having the same wire diameter D and the same pitch P may be included.

  Moreover, although the example which gives a difference in the wire diameter D and the pitch P of a spring part was shown above, you may make a difference in the other parameter which changes the elasticity modulus of a spring part. Even when only one of the wire diameter D and the pitch P is different, the rigidity of the parts can be made different.

  As described above, in the probe according to the second embodiment of the present invention, the barrel 10 is configured by arranging a plurality of parts having different wire diameters D and pitches P, thereby adjusting the rigidity strength for each part. be able to. For this reason, the elasticity modulus of the desired part of a probe can be set arbitrarily. For example, the rigidity of the spring portion that is likely to be bent during use is increased. Thereby, the bending of a probe can be suppressed and adjacent short circuit can be prevented between probes. Others are substantially the same as those in the first embodiment, and redundant description is omitted.

  In the probe according to the second embodiment, each part may be made of the same material. Or the material of each part which comprises the barrel 10 may not be the same similarly to 1st Embodiment. Further, the surface of the spring portion of the barrel 10 may be covered with the insulating layer 40.

  Although FIG. 7A to FIG. 7E show an example in which the rotation direction of the spring part of each part is the same, the rotation direction of the spring part of each part can be arbitrarily set. In other words, the plurality of parts having the spring portion may include parts whose rotation direction of cutting is different from other parts. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 8A, the rotation directions of the first part 11, the third part 13, and the fifth part 15 are clockwise, and the rotation directions of the second part 12 and the fourth part 14 are opposite. Around the clock. On the other hand, in the example shown in FIG. 8B, the rotation directions of the first part 11, the second part 12 and the third part 13 are counterclockwise, and the rotation directions of the fourth part 14 and the fifth part 15 are Around the clock.

<Modification>
In the above, an example in which the spring portion is formed on all the parts constituting the barrel 10 has been shown. However, as shown in FIGS. 9A to 9C, the barrel 10 may include a part on which the spring portion is not formed.

  In the probe shown in FIG. 9A, the second part 12 has no spring portion. In the probe shown in FIG. 9B, no spring part is formed on the third part 13. In the probe shown in FIG. 9C, the third part 13 and the fifth part 15 are not formed with spring portions.

  The position of the part not forming the spring part can be arbitrarily set. For example, when the probe is set on the probe head, a part having no spring portion is used as a portion supported by the probe head. Moreover, since the part in which the spring part is not formed has high rigidity, the part which does not form the spring part is used in a part where the bending is not desired to be generated.

(Third embodiment)
In the probe according to the third embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 10A, the barrel 10 is constituted by a plurality of parts whose outer diameters of the spring portions are not single. Since the plunger 20 is inserted into the barrel 10, the inner diameter of each part is the same. That is, in the probe shown in FIG. 10A, the outer diameter is increased by thickening the spring portion.

  By thickening the spring part, the free length of the spring part for securing the same elastic modulus as when the spring part is thin can be shortened. For this reason, compared with the probe which is a single outer diameter shown in FIG.10 (b), the full length of a probe can be shortened. In the probe shown in FIG. 10A, the outer diameters of the spring parts of the second part 12 and the fourth part 14 are made thicker than the probe shown in FIG. As a result, the overall length of the probe shown in FIG. 10A is shortened by the length t compared to the probe shown in FIG.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 11, the difference in the outer diameter of parts originates in the difference in the thickness of parts, and an internal diameter is the same in each part. In FIG. 11, the unit of the diameter is μm. In the case of the barrel having an inner diameter of 80 μm shown in FIG. 11, the length t shortened by the probe shown in FIG. .8 mm.

  Also in the probe according to the third embodiment, the rotation direction of the spring part of each part constituting the barrel 10 can be arbitrarily set. In other words, the rotation direction of the spring portion is set clockwise or counterclockwise for each part, and it is possible to suppress the object to be inspected and the land from being cut by the rotation of the probe.

  Further, similarly to the probe shown in FIG. 6, the wire diameter D and the pitch P of the coil portion may be different with respect to the spring portion of each part constituting the barrel 10. Moreover, the barrel 10 may include parts in which no spring portion is formed. Furthermore, each part may be made of a single material or different materials. The surface of the spring portion of the barrel 10 may be covered with the insulating layer 40.

  As described above, in the probe according to the third embodiment of the present invention, the rigidity of each part can be adjusted by configuring the barrel 10 by arranging a plurality of parts having different outer diameters. For this reason, the elasticity modulus of the desired part of a probe can be set arbitrarily. Therefore, the adjacent short circuit between the probes can be prevented. Others are substantially the same as those of the first and second embodiments, and redundant description is omitted.

(Other embodiments)
As described above, the present invention has been described according to the embodiments. However, it should not be understood that the descriptions and drawings constituting a part of this disclosure limit the present invention. From this disclosure, various alternative embodiments, examples and operational techniques will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

  For example, although the case where the material of the barrel 10 is a metal has been described above, the barrel 10 may be configured by parts made of a material other than metal. For example, a material having high hardness such as ceramic or resin may be used for each part. However, when an insulating material is used for the barrel 10, it is necessary to take measures such as electrically connecting the plunger 20 that is in contact with the object to be inspected and the plunger 20 that is in contact with the land. Alternatively, a conductive material such as Ni may be used for the base of the barrel 10, and the surface of the base may be coated with a ceramic or resin having a higher hardness than the base.

  Further, the example of the probe in which the plunger 20 is attached to both ends of the barrel 10 has been described above. However, the plunger 20 is attached to only one end of the barrel 10 and the other end contacts the land or the like. The present invention can also be applied to the probe.

  As described above, the present invention naturally includes various embodiments that are not described herein. Therefore, the technical scope of the present invention is defined only by the invention specifying matters according to the scope of claims reasonable from the above description.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Barrel 11 ... 1st part 12 ... 2nd part 13 ... 3rd part 14 ... 4th part 15 ... 5th part 20 ... Plunger 30 ... Junction part 40 ... Insulating layer

Claims (8)

A tube-shaped barrel in which a plurality of parts having a single elastic modulus are arranged linearly along the axial direction;
A rod-shaped plunger joined to the barrel with the tip exposed from the open end of the end of the barrel; and
At least one of the plurality of parts has a coil spring-shaped spring portion in which a spiral notch penetrating the side surface of the barrel is formed.   The probe according to claim 1, wherein a material of at least one part of the plurality of parts is different from that of other parts. The barrel is
A plurality of parts of the same material base;
The probe according to claim 1, further comprising: a coating layer formed by coating a surface of the substrate with a film of a different material for each part. A plurality of the parts having the spring part;
4. The part according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of parts having the spring part include the part in which at least one of the wire diameter and pitch of the coil part of the spring part is different from the other parts. The probe according to claim 1. A plurality of the parts having the spring part;
The probe according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the plurality of parts having the spring part include the part in which the rotation direction of the cut differs from other parts.   The probe according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the barrel includes the part on which the spring portion is not formed.   The probe according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein a plurality of the parts having the spring part are provided, and the outer diameter of the spring part of the part is not single.   The probe according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein an insulating layer made of an insulating material is disposed on a surface of the spring portion.

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