TW202518037A - Probe card with scrub control - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a probe card with adjustable wiping, comprising: an upper guide plate, a plurality of first insertion holes formed on one side; a lower guide plate, which is arranged at a certain interval below the upper guide plate and has a plurality of second insertion holes formed on one side; a gap plate, which is between the upper guide plate and the lower guide plate; and a needle unit, the upper end of which is inserted into the first insertion hole to support the inner surface of the upper guide plate, and the lower end of which is inserted into the second insertion hole to support the inner surface of the lower guide plate, and a cut hole in the shape of a closed curve is formed along the length direction on the side corresponding to at least any one of the first insertion hole or the second insertion hole. The present invention has the following effects: while minimizing the increase in manufacturing cost, the wiping can be controlled according to the inspection environment, and the inspection reliability can be greatly improved by improving the electrical characteristics.

Description

Adjustable wiper probe card

The present invention relates to a probe card with adjustable scrub control, and more specifically, to a probe card with adjustable scrub control, and more particularly ...

Generally speaking, the semiconductor manufacturing process is manufactured through a fabrication process of forming a pattern on a wafer, an electrical die sorting (EDS) process of inspecting the electrical characteristics of each chip constituting the wafer, and an assembly process of assembling the patterned wafer into individual chips.

Among them, the EDS process is implemented to select unqualified chips from the chips that constitute the wafer, and mainly uses an inspection device called a probe card, which applies an electrical signal to the chips that constitute the wafer and judges the unqualified chips by the signal detected by the applied electrical signal.

This probe card has multiple needles that contact the patterns of each chip that constitutes the wafer to apply electrical signals. Usually, the needles of the probe card contact the electrode plates of each device on the wafer, and a specific current is passed through the needles to measure the electrical characteristics of the output at this time.

At the same time, as design rules are refined, semiconductor devices are becoming highly integrated and ultra-miniaturized, and a vertical probe close to the shape of "1" has been developed to contact the pattern of the miniaturized semiconductor device. As an example, a vertical probe card suitable for the probe is disclosed in Korean Registered Patent No. 1859388 (hereinafter referred to as "existing probe card").

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a portion of a conventional probe card, and FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a state in which a conventional probe is in contact with an inspection object.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the existing probe card 100 is composed of an upper guide plate 110 having a first insertion hole 111 formed on one side, a lower guide plate 120 which is separated from the upper guide plate 110 at the lower part of the upper guide plate 110 and has a second insertion hole 121 formed on one side, and a needle unit 130 inserted into the first insertion hole 111 and the second insertion hole 121.

The needle unit 130 is formed into a substantially straight rod shape, and the upper end and the lower end are respectively inserted into the first insertion hole 111 of the upper guide plate 110 and the second insertion hole 121 of the lower guide plate 120 to be supported on one side of the inner surface of the upper guide plate 110 and the lower guide plate 120.

In this conventional probe card 100, when the lower end portion, i.e., the tip portion 132, of the needle unit 130 contacts the inspection object G when the inspection object G moves upward, the central area of the needle unit 130 bends in one direction due to the contact pressure transmitted upward from the needle unit 130 to provide a downward elastic force to the tip portion 132, thereby making the needle unit 130 stably contact the inspection object G and transmitting the electrical signal transmitted from the inspection object G to an external test device.

At the same time, when the needle unit 130 of the probe card contacts the inspection object G, the contact pressure causes the central area to bend at a certain angle, and due to the spacing space between the needle unit 130 and the insertion hole of the guide plate, a wiping phenomenon occurs in which the lower end of the needle unit 130 is pushed out a certain distance at the contact position.

This wiping phenomenon may bring the advantage of improving the electrical characteristics between the needle and the inspection object G, thereby improving the inspection reliability, depending on the environment. However, it may also bring the disadvantage of damaging or destroying the inspection object G, depending on the wiping distance of the needle.

In particular, in the case of the conventional probe card 100, since the probe 130 is formed into a rod shape close to the letter "1", there is a problem that the wiping distance becomes relatively larger than that of the current needle with a bent center portion, thereby highlighting the disadvantage.

Therefore, there is a growing need for a method to improve the inspection reliability of probe cards by controlling the wiping distance of the needle to highlight the advantages of the wiping phenomenon and offset the disadvantages.

Based on this demand, the applicant has developed a technology for adjusting the wiping distance of a needle unit by using multiple needles and bumps formed on the inner sides of the multiple needles, and applied for a patent and was granted the patent right (Korean Registered Patent No. 2285752). However, there are the following problems: it is difficult to form bumps inside the needle unit during the manufacturing process, and the electrical characteristics are slightly reduced due to the narrow groove formed in the length direction of the central area of the needle.

Furthermore, recently, semiconductor manufacturers have been achieving higher performance through high integration and miniaturization of semiconductor devices, and the demand for higher performance of probe cards used to test these devices has been increasing.

In order to improve the performance of the probe card, it is necessary to improve the performance of the probe unit of the probe card. In order to ensure the narrow pitch arrangement, high allowable current characteristics, low contact pressure and high frequency test performance of the probes included in the probe unit, it is necessary to realize a more miniaturized probe and needle unit.

When the needle unit of the probe card needs to be miniaturized, the length of the probe contained in the needle unit is shortened from the existing 4mm or more to 1mm to 3.5mm. The needle unit of the probe card adopts a structure that uses the elastic force generated by a part of the area being bent when contacting the inspection object to provide contact pressure, which requires a certain length of the bending area (generally more than 4mm).

Even so, when the needle unit is formed to be too short, the minimum length for bending cannot be ensured, and the needle unit comes into contact with the inspection object without ensuring the bending area, causing a problem that one side of the needle unit is plastically deformed or, in severe cases, is broken and damaged.

(Invent the problem you want to solve)

The present invention is proposed to solve the above-mentioned problems. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a probe card with adjustable wiping, which minimizes the increase in manufacturing costs and controls the wiping according to the inspection environment, which can not only improve the electrical characteristics but also greatly improve the inspection credibility.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a probe card with adjustable wiping, which is suitable for ultra-short length needle units such as 1mm to 3.5mm, so as to achieve miniaturization while further improving electrical characteristics. (Technical means to solve the problem)

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a probe card with adjustable wiping, which is a probe card having an ultra-short-length needle unit that contacts an inspection object and transmits an electrical signal transmitted from the inspection object to an external test device, the probe card comprising: an upper guide plate, one side of which is formed with a plurality of first insertion holes; a lower guide plate, which is arranged at a certain interval below the upper guide plate and one side of which is formed with There are a plurality of second insertion holes; a gap plate, which is between the upper guide plate and the lower guide plate; and a needle unit, the upper end of which is inserted into the first insertion hole to be supported by the inner surface of the upper guide plate, and the lower end of which is inserted into the second insertion hole to be supported by the inner surface of the lower guide plate, and a cut hole in the shape of a closed curve is formed along the length direction on a side corresponding to at least any one of the first insertion hole or the second insertion hole.

Then, preferably, the needle unit is provided with the cut holes respectively on the sides corresponding to the first insertion hole and the second insertion hole, and also has a connecting hole for connecting a pair of the cut holes.

In addition, the upper guide plate, the gap plate and the lower guide plate are keyed to each other.

At the same time, preferably, at least one of the plurality of needle units forms a cut hole whose length or width is different from the cut holes of other needle units. (Compared with the efficacy of the prior art)

According to the present invention as described above, the following effects are achieved: the increase in manufacturing cost is minimized and the wiping is controlled according to the inspection environment, the electrical characteristics are improved, and thus the inspection reliability is greatly improved.

Then, the present invention forms a connecting hole for connecting the first cut hole and the second cut hole formed at the upper and lower ends of the needle unit, thereby reducing the side load generated when the needle unit is bent while strengthening the elastic force. By applying an ultra-short length needle unit such as 1 mm to 3.5 mm, miniaturization is achieved while further improving the electrical characteristics.

Below, the preferred embodiments of the present invention are described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG3 is a cross-sectional view showing a probe card with adjustable wiping according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG4 is a schematic view showing a needle unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 , the probe card 1 with adjustable wiping according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises: an upper guide plate 10, a lower guide plate 20, a gap plate 30 and a needle unit 40.

The upper guide plate 10 is formed in a plate shape having a certain thickness, and has a plurality of first insertion holes 11 into which upper ends of needle units 40 described below are inserted, formed on one side thereof for supporting the upper ends of needle units 40 described below.

The lower guide plate 20 is formed in a plate shape like the upper guide plate 10 , and has a plurality of second insertion holes 21 formed on one side for inserting the lower end of a needle unit 40 described below, and is spaced apart at regular intervals below the upper guide plate 10 .

This lower guide plate 20 is used to support one side of the lower end portion of a needle unit 40 described below.

The gap plate 30 is formed in a block shape having a certain length in the up-down direction, and is respectively disposed between the two side ends of the upper guide plate 10 and the lower guide plate 20 to support the upper guide plate 10 and the lower guide plate 20 so as to maintain the separation distance between the upper guide plate 10 and the lower guide plate 20.

The needle unit 40 is formed roughly in a rod shape, and as shown in FIG. 4 , is vertically arranged and roughly divided into a head portion H as an upper end region, a body portion B as a central region, and a tip portion T as a lower end region.

The head H of the needle unit 40 is inserted into the first insertion hole 11 and supported on one side of the inner surface of the upper guide plate 10 , and the tip T is inserted into the second insertion hole 21 and supported on one side of the inner surface of the lower guide plate 20 .

When the tip T of the needle unit 40 elastically contacts the inspection object disposed below it, a specific current is supplied and the electrical signal outputted at this time is transmitted to an external test device (not shown) connected to the upper part.

A more detailed description of the needle unit 40 according to the present embodiment is as follows: a first cut hole 41 and a second cut hole 42 in the form of a closed curve are formed on one side of the tip T and one side of the head H, respectively. At this time, the first cut hole 41 and the second cut hole 42 are formed on a side corresponding to the inner side of the second insertion hole 21 and the first insertion hole 11.

Then, the tip T and one side of the head H of the needle unit 40 are formed into a plurality of bundle shapes through the first cut hole 41 and the second cut hole 42. For the sake of convenience in explanation, the bundle located on the inner side when the needle unit 40 is bent is called the first bundle 43, and the bundle located on the outer side is called the second bundle 44.

When this needle unit 40 is bent, the tip T formed with the first cutting hole 41 and the head H formed with the second cutting hole 42 are respectively pressed by the inner surface side of the lower guide plate 20 formed with the second insertion hole 21 and the inner surface side of the upper guide plate 10 formed with the first insertion hole 11, thereby determining the curvature of the needle unit 40 according to the direction of the second beam 44 approaching the first beam 43, and adjusting the brushing movement amount according to the determined curvature of the needle unit 40.

FIG5 is a schematic diagram showing a bent state of a needle unit according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG6 is a schematic diagram showing a brushing state of the tip of the needle unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The operation of the probe card 1 with adjustable wiping according to an embodiment of the present invention having such a structure is described as follows with reference to the attached Figures 5 and 6.

First, when the inspection object G moves upward and the tip T of the needle unit 40 contacts the inspection object G, as shown in FIG. 5 , pressure is applied to the needle unit 40 and the body B of the needle unit 40 bends in one direction.

During the bending process of the needle unit 40 , the head H and the tip T are respectively pressed by the inner surface of the upper guide plate 10 and the lower guide plate 20 , so that the pressed second beam 44 approaches the first beam 43 to determine the curvature of the needle unit 40 .

Due to the curvature of the needle unit 40, as shown in FIG6 , the lower end portion, i.e., the tip portion T of the needle unit 40 moves a certain distance in contact with the inspection object G, which causes a brushing phenomenon. That is, in this embodiment, the curvature of the needle unit 40 is determined according to the length or width of the first cut hole 41 and the second cut hole 42, and the brushing movement amount D ₁ is adjusted by the curvature of the needle unit 40, so that the brushing movement amount D ₁ of the needle unit 40 can be controlled by selecting and using the needle unit 40 having different lengths or widths of the first cut hole 41 and the second cut hole 42.

As described above, when the needle unit 40 contacts the inspection object G, an electrical signal is output, and the output electrical signal is transmitted to an external test device through the needle unit 40, and the electrical characteristics of the inspection object G are inspected by analyzing the electrical signal.

Meanwhile, the present embodiment illustrates that the head H and the tip T of the needle unit 40 are both provided with cutouts. However, the needle unit 40 according to the present invention does not necessarily include the first cutout 41 and the second cutout 42. Only one of the first cutout 41 or the second cutout 42 may be formed to control the brushing movement amount _D1 .

FIG7 is a schematic diagram showing a needle unit according to other embodiments of the present invention, and FIG8 is a schematic diagram showing a bent state of the needle unit according to other embodiments of the present invention.

The basic structure of the embodiment of FIG. 7 is the same as that of the embodiment of FIG. 3 to FIG. 6 , but the needle unit 40 is formed in a structure formed in an ultra-short length.

As shown in FIG. 7 , this embodiment is different from the previous embodiment in that the needle unit 40 is formed to be very short in length of 1 mm to 3.5 mm and is further provided with a connection hole 45 connecting the tip T of the needle unit 40 and the first and second cutout holes 41 and 42 formed on the head H.

Among them, the connecting hole 45 is used to connect the first cutting hole 41 and the second cutting hole 42 and maintain the closed curve shape, and the load generated along the side direction when the needle unit 40 is bent is reduced by expanding the bending area of the needle unit 40, so that the length of the needle unit 40 can be made very short while preventing the plastic deformation or damage of the needle unit 40 caused by the bending load.

Therefore, in this embodiment, when the needle unit 40 formed with an ultra-short length contacts the inspection object G, as shown in FIG8 , in the area of the connecting hole 45, the first cut hole 41, and the second cut hole 42, the first beam 43 approaches the direction of the second beam 44, and the stress is reduced to make the needle unit 40 bend without deformation or damage. Moreover, at the head H and the tip T, while the first beam 43 approaches the direction of the second beam 44, as described above, one side of the second beam 44 is pressed by the upper guide plate 10 and the lower guide plate 20 so as to approach the direction of the first beam 43, so as to control the brushing movement amount.

The rest of the structure is the same as the above-mentioned basic embodiment, and thus the remaining description is omitted.

Although the present invention has been described in relation to the preferred embodiments mentioned above, various modifications or variations may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the attached patent application should include these modifications or variations that belong to the spirit of the present invention.

1: Probe card 10: Upper guide plate 11: First insertion hole 20: Lower guide plate 21: Second insertion hole 30: Gap plate 40: Needle unit 41: First cut hole 42: Second cut hole 43: First beam 44: Second beam 45: Connection hole 100: Probe card 110: Upper guide plate 111: First insertion hole 120: Lower guide plate 121: Second insertion hole 130: Needle unit B: Body G: Object H: Head T: Tip

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a portion of an existing probe card. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a state in which an existing needle contacts an inspection object. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing an adjustable wiping probe card according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a needle unit according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a bending state of a needle unit according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a wiping state of the tip of a needle unit according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a needle unit according to other embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing a bending state of a needle unit according to other embodiments of the present invention.

1: Probe card

10: Upper guide plate

11: First insertion hole

20:Lower guide plate

21: Second insertion hole

30: Gap plate

40: Needle unit

41: First cut hole

42: Second cut hole

43: The first bundle of strips

44: The second bundle

Claims (4)

A probe card with adjustable wiping, characterized in that the probe card has an ultra-short length needle unit that contacts an inspection object and transmits an electrical signal transmitted from the inspection object to an external test device, and the probe card includes: an upper guide plate, one side of which is formed with a plurality of first insertion holes; a lower guide plate, which is spaced apart from the upper guide plate at a certain interval and one side of which is formed with a plurality of second insertion holes; a gap plate, which is between the upper guide plate and the lower guide plate; and The needle unit has an upper end inserted into the first insertion hole to be supported on the inner surface of the upper guide plate, and a lower end inserted into the second insertion hole to be supported on the inner surface of the lower guide plate, and a cut hole in the shape of a closed curve is formed along the length direction on a side corresponding to at least one of the first insertion hole or the second insertion hole. As in claim 1, the probe card with adjustable wipeability, wherein, when the needle unit is provided with the cut holes on the side corresponding to the first insertion hole and the second insertion hole, a connecting hole for connecting a pair of the cut holes is also formed. The adjustable wipeable probe card of claim 1, wherein the upper guide plate, the gap plate and the lower guide plate are keyed to each other. As in claim 1, the probe card with adjustable wipeability, wherein, at least one of the plurality of needle units is formed such that the length or width of the cut hole is different from the cut holes of other needle units.