JP2502231B2 - Probe card inspection device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a probe card inspection device, and more particularly, to a method for accurately measuring the height variations of the tips of a plurality of conductive measuring needles provided on the probe card, the contact resistance with respect to the counter electrode, and the needle tip coordinates with high accuracy. The present invention relates to a probe card inspection device improved so that the needle tip of a measuring needle can be inspected and polished.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A large number of semiconductors I formed on a wafer
A prober tester system is used to perform the electrical characteristic test of C, and a probe card having a plurality of conductor measuring needles arranged according to the electrode pattern of each semiconductor IC is attached to the blower. This probe card usually has a structure in which a plurality of conductive material measuring needles such as tungsten are erected and fixed on a substrate made of epoxy resin or the like, and the tip of the measuring needle is brought into contact with each electrode pad of the semiconductor IC which is the DUT. And the desired electrical test is performed. The tip of such a measuring needle is usually bent into an L-shaped hook shape, each measuring needle is brought into contact with, for example, a bonding pad which is an electrode of a semiconductor IC chip, and an electrical test of the IC is performed by a tester. Be seen.

Therefore, the tip of the measuring needle of such a probe card must be arranged in a pattern that exactly corresponds to the electrode pattern of the IC chip to be measured, and its height accuracy must be strictly controlled. Similarly,
In order to ensure good electrical continuity with each bonding pad, the contact resistance at its tip must also be properly controlled.

As described above, the probe card inspection device has been put into practical use in order to correctly position the measuring needle of the probe card and to repair the deformation of the measuring needle that occurs during long-term use.

Conventionally, as a device for measuring the probe tip of the probe card, as shown in JP-A-3-89102, a probe optical system is provided with a measuring optical system having an optical lens and a CCD camera. Therefore, an apparatus for measuring the needle tip position of the probe card at the time of alignment during wafer measurement has been proposed.

However, such a measuring device has a problem in that it is only possible to know the approximate position of the needle tip and it is not possible to measure the height variation or the contact resistance. Since the measurement is carried out in a floating state, there is a problem that the needle tip pattern cannot be inspected when it actually contacts the bonding pad of the wafer.

FIG. 11 shows a schematic structure of a conventional probe card inspection apparatus. With this apparatus, the height and contact resistance of the measuring needle of the probe card can be inspected.

In FIG. 11, an elevating unit 11 is supported on a base 10 so as to be vertically movable, and an electrode flat plate 12 is fixed to the upper end of the elevating unit 11. And
A probe card 13 is fixedly held on the electrode flat plate 12 in parallel with the electrode flat plate 12. In practice, the probe card 13 is fixed to a holder (not shown) so that any probe card 13 can be attached and detached.
Positioned opposite to. A tester 15 is provided between the electrode flat plate 12 and each measuring needle group 14 of the probe card 13.
Is connected, and the contact state and contact resistance when the measuring needle 14 and the electrode flat plate 12 are in contact with each other are accurately measured.

In such a conventional device, after the probe card 13 is fixed at a predetermined position, the electrode plate 12 is fixed.
Moves to the probe card 13 side by the elevating unit 11, and first records the position where the measuring needle 14 contacts the electrode flat plate 12. Then, the elevating unit 11 further moves the electrode flat plate 12 sequentially in the upward direction and records the contact position with each measuring needle 14, whereby the height variation of each measuring needle 14 can be inspected. At the same time, the contact resistance between each measuring needle 14 and the flat electrode plate 12 at this time can also be inspected.

However, in such a conventional apparatus, although the height and contact resistance of the tip of the measuring needle can be inspected, there is a problem that the coordinate of the tip of each measuring needle 14 cannot be measured.

On the other hand, as another conventional inspection apparatus, FIG.
Shows a conventional device capable of observing the coordinates of the tip of the measuring needle. In this conventional apparatus, a probe card holder 18 is fixed to an elevating unit 17 provided on a base 16 and movable in the vertical direction, and a probe card 19 to be measured is positioned and fixed to the probe card holder 18. . On the other hand, the base 16 has a transparent glass flat plate 20.
Is fixed, and a transparent conductive film such as ITO is formed on the lower surface of the transparent glass plate 20 by vapor deposition or the like. An observation device including a microscope 21 and a camera 22 is provided above the transparent glass plate 20.

Therefore, according to this conventional device, the measuring needle 23 of the probe card 19 is provided by a contact detector (not shown) provided between the probe card holder 18 and the transparent glass plate 20 having a conductive film. It is possible to inspect the coordinates and the pattern shape of the measuring needle by observing the coordinates of the measuring needle 23 from the upper side with the measuring needle 23 pressed against the glass flat plate 20 by detecting the contact between the measuring needle 23 and the conductive film. .

[0013]

However, in each of the above-mentioned conventional devices, the height, contact resistance and coordinate pattern of the measuring needle cannot be inspected by a single inspection device. Further, in the glass plate having the transparent conductive film described above, the measuring needle 23 of the probe card 19 must be brought into pressure contact with the conductive thin film at the time of shape pattern inspection, and due to friction between the measuring needle and the conductive film at this time. There is a problem that the conductive film is worn out in an extremely short time, and the height and position of contact detection cannot be determined. As a result, accurate measurement cannot be performed with the above-described conventional apparatus, and there is a need for maintenance in which the glass flat plate having the conductive film must be replaced at a short cycle.

Further, the coordinate pattern of the measuring needle 23 by the observing device must also be formed by an optical image through the transparent conductive film, and although a conductive thin film such as ITO has excellent light transmittance, it is a normal glass. Since the transmittance is lower than that of the plate, there is a problem that blur distortion occurs in the optical image and the coordinate pattern cannot be measured accurately.

Further, in the conventional apparatus, since the observation apparatus is arranged on the glass flat plate fixed to the base, the apparatus becomes large in size, and the probe card is positioned below the glass flat plate. The replacement work is troublesome, and at the same time, even when the measuring needle of the probe card is corrected, the probe card must be removed from the inspection device each time, which is not suitable for quick inspection.

Further, there is a problem that the contact resistance of the measuring needle itself of the measuring needle of the probe card is increased due to the tip of the measuring needle being contaminated or corroded, and it is necessary to polish this occasionally. Conventionally, such polishing has been performed manually, which has been an important and troublesome task of probe card maintenance.

The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional problems, and an object thereof is to measure the height and contact resistance of a measuring needle and observe a needle tip coordinate pattern with a single inspection device. Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved probe card inspection device that can easily polish the measuring needle.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a probe card inspection device which is small and lightweight and has excellent operability.

[0019]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, an inspection substrate on which a measuring needle of a probe card is pressed is an electrode flat plate made of a conductor, a transparent glass flat plate, and a needle tip polishing flat plate. Are arranged side by side on the same plane, and each flat plate
Due to the size of the probe card, which can accommodate multiple measuring needles
The composite inspection board is composed of a composite inspection board, and the composite inspection board is arranged in an elevating unit supported by a base so as to be vertically movable.

Further, according to the present invention, the probe card holder, which is the object to be measured and which is detachably held and supported by the base, is arranged on the upper side of the inspection device, and the measuring needle of the probe card is directed downward during measurement. Positioning and measurement are performed, which facilitates the inspection work and further facilitates the repair of the measuring needle during the inspection.

[0021] Then, the connected probe card measuring needles and the said electrodes flat electrically in, in order to measure the contact resistance between the stylus and the electrode plates tester is provided, horizontally further inside the elevating unit And a needle tip observing device which is movably provided on the transparent glass plate and through which the measuring needle of the probe card can be observed.

[0022]

Therefore, according to the present invention, in measuring the height variation and contact resistance of the measuring needle, the electrode flat plate is opposed to the probe card positioned at the inspection position, and the test needle is pressed against the electrode flat plate. Is used to measure the height and contact resistance of each measuring needle.

On the other hand, at the time of measuring the needle tip coordinate pattern, the compound inspection board is slid so that the transparent glass flat plate faces the inspection position instead of the electrode flat plate, and in this state the needle tip observation device is passed through the transparent glass flat plate. Observe the tip of the needle while it is pressed against the glass plate. Therefore, there is an advantage that both of these measurements can be sequentially and continuously measured using a single inspection device.

Further, according to the present invention, the needle tip polishing flat plate is pressed against the measuring needle of the probe card to easily polish the needle tip of the measuring needle.

[0025]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of the probe card inspection apparatus according to the present invention in a state in which the main internal mechanism is shown, and the side view seen from that direction is shown in FIG.
Is shown in.

A lifting unit 31 is mounted on the inspection apparatus base 30.
Is provided, the composite inspection board, which is characteristic of the present invention, is moved up and down in the Z direction with respect to the probe card to be measured, as will be described later.
1 includes a moving mechanism for moving the needle tip observation device in the horizontal direction.

As is apparent from the figure, a composite inspection board 32 is slidably mounted on the upper surface of the elevating unit 31, and this slide mechanism will be described in detail later. Reference numeral 32 has a structure in which an electrode flat plate 32a, a transparent glass flat plate 32b, and a needle tip polishing flat plate 32c are arranged side by side on the same plane. The electrode flat plate 32a
Is a low resistance conductor plate having a conductor plated with gold, while the transparent glass flat plate 32b is a glass plate having excellent light transmittance such as lead glass, and the needle tip polishing flat plate 32c is a ceramic having a rough surface.

In the present invention, as apparent from the inspection procedure described later, both flat plates 32a and 32b must have the same height in the slid state, and for this reason,
The heights of the upper surfaces of the flat plates 32a and 32b are fixed in a precisely adjusted state.

A probe card holder 35 is supported on the inspection device base 30, and a probe card 36 to be measured is detachably attached to the probe card holder 35. In the embodiment, the probe card holder 35 is rotatable about the rotation axis fixed to the inspection device base 30, so that the probe card 36 at the inspection position 200 has its measuring needle 37.
Is directed downward toward the composite inspection board 32 side. On the other hand, when the probe card holder 35 is turned upside down, the measuring needle 37 of the probe card 36 is exposed upward, so that the position of the measuring needle 37 can be corrected during inspection, for example.

Although not shown in detail in FIGS.
The measuring needles 37 and the electrode flat plate 32a are measuring needles 37
It is electrically connected to a tester for measuring the contact resistance between the electrode plate 32a and the electrode plate 32a.

In the present invention, a needle tip observing device for observing the measuring needle 37 of the probe card 36 is mounted in the elevating unit 31, and the elevating unit 31 moves together with the composite inspection substrate 32 in the Z direction, that is, in the vertical direction. You can move in any direction. In this embodiment, the needle tip observation device includes an optical microscope 38 and a CCD camera 39, and at the inspection position 200, the desired tip of the measuring needle 37 can be image-recognized through the transparent glass flat plate 32b.

The elevating unit 31 includes a Z stage 40, and can be moved up and down in the Z direction of the drawing by a Z-direction moving mechanism which will be described later. Either the electrode flat plate 32a, the transparent glass flat plate 32b or the needle tip polishing flat plate 32c which is positioned facing the probe card 3
It can be pressed against the measuring needle 37 of 6. An X stage 41 and a Y stage 42 are provided in the lifting unit 31, and the optical microscope 38 and the CCD camera 39 are moved in the X and Y directions with respect to the Z stage 40, respectively, to obtain desired plane coordinates. It is possible to take a position.

As described above, the lifting unit 31
Is capable of vertically moving the composite inspection board 32 in the Z direction while carrying the needle tip observation device therein.
2 can be pressed against the measuring needle 37 of the probe card 36 or retracted from the measuring needle 37, and the height of each measuring needle 37 can be measured while sequentially changing the contact amount with the measuring needle 37. Becomes Therefore, the electrode plate 32
If a is pressed against the measuring needle 37 and moved, the height of the needle tip and the contact resistance can be measured. On the other hand, when the transparent glass flat plate 32b is pressed against the measuring needle 37 by a predetermined amount, the needle tip is moved by the observation device. The coordinate pattern can be observed.
At the time of observing the needle tip coordinate pattern, the optical microscope 38 carried by the elevating unit 31 can be moved to a predetermined position by the XY stages 41 and 42, and the plurality of measuring needles 37 can be sequentially followed and observed.

Further, by pressing the needle tip polishing flat plate 32c against the measuring needle 37 and moving it up and down several times, the tip of the measuring needle 37 can be polished by the needle tip polishing flat plate 32c.

FIG. 3 shows an overall external view of the present embodiment, and the above-mentioned mechanism portion of FIGS. 1 and 2 is housed in the main body cover 43. The probe card holder 35 is capable of 180 ° inversion movement about the axis 44 as indicated by arrow C, and is measured as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 at the probe card holder position shown by the solid line in FIG. The measuring needle 37 of the probe card 36 is held downward on the composite inspection substrate 32 side so that the measuring needle 37 of the probe card 36 is opened upward when it is inverted to the position shown by the chain line. In this state, the position of each measuring needle 37 can be repaired very easily.

In FIG. 3, a personal computer 45 is built in the main body cover 43 to carry out predetermined data processing, and although not shown in detail, a well-known tester is used to measure each measuring needle 37 and electrode flat plate 32a. The contact resistance between the two is measured by the 4-terminal method, and the measurement result is processed by the personal computer 45.

A monitor 46 and a personal computer display 47 are further mounted on the inspection device of this embodiment, and the image information output from the observation device by the monitor 46 is displayed after being processed by the image processing device. . On the other hand, the personal computer display 47 displays the output processed by the personal computer 45. Each of these data processing outputs can be printed out by the printer 48 as needed. As described above, according to this embodiment, the probe card 36 to be measured is mounted on the probe card holder 35, and the composite inspection board 32 is slid to slide the electrode flat plate 32a or the transparent glass flat plate 32b.
It is possible to successively measure the height of the measuring needle 37, the contact resistance, and the coordinate pattern of the needle tip by using any of the above. These series of measurement procedures are performed automatically or manually by an instruction from the control panel 49. In the embodiment, the sliding movement of the composite inspection board 32 is pneumatically driven, while the lifting unit 3 is moved.
The vertical movement of 1 in the Z direction and the horizontal movement of the XY stages 41 and 42 are performed by the pulse motor drive. The control panel 49 includes a joystick in the embodiment, and the XY stages 41 and 42 can be manually moved at any time.

The detailed structure of the lifting unit 31 and the composite inspection board 32 and the probe card holder 3 will be described below.
The fifth preferred embodiment will be described in detail.

FIG. 4 shows the lifting unit 3 in this embodiment.
One Z-direction moving mechanism is shown. Two Z receiving plates 50 and 51 are vertically fixed to the base 30, and Z slide plates 52 and 53 are vertically movably guided to the Z receiving plates 50 and 51. The above Z on the stage 40
It is understood that by firmly fixing the slide plates 52 and 53, the Z stage 40 is supported on the base 30 so as to be vertically movable.

As is clear from the above description, this Z
Supports 54 and 55 are fixed to the stage, the composite inspection substrate 32 is supported via the supports 54 and 55, and the observation device including the optical microscope 38 and the CCD camera 39 is the XY stages 41 and 42. Although not shown in detail, a compression spring is included between the base 30 and the Z stage 40 in order to smoothly move the Z stage 40 in the vertical direction by receiving the weight of these devices. A pressurizing mechanism is provided.

A Z pulse motor 56 is fixed to the base 30 for driving the Z stage 40 in the vertical direction, and is fixed to the pulley 57 fixed to the motor shaft and the lower end of the Z drive screw 58. A drive belt 60 is hung between the pulley 59 and the Z pulse motor 56.
The Z drive screw 58 can be rotationally driven by the rotation of. The Z drive screw 58 is mounted on the base 30 with a bearing 61.
A Z nut 62 is fixed to the Z stage 40, and the Z drive screw 58 is screwed to the Z nut 62 to rotate the Z drive screw 58. 40 can be moved up and down to an arbitrary height.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, the composite inspection board 32 is pushed up toward the measuring needle 37 of the probe card 36 by the Z drive device shown in FIG. 4, and the height in the Z direction at this time is set to the Z pulse motor. The drive pulse of the pulse motor 56, and in the embodiment,
The feed pulse is set to correspond to 1 μm in the Z direction. Therefore, according to the lifting unit 31, 1 μm
It is possible to measure the contact height between the composite inspection board 32 and the measuring needle 37 with the above accuracy. Further, by moving the Z pulse motor 56 at high speed, the composite inspection board 32 is quickly retracted from the measuring needle 37 of the probe card 36,
Alternatively, it can be moved at a high speed to a predetermined position.

FIG. 5 shows an XY drive mechanism of the needle tip observation device in this embodiment, in which the X receiving plate 63 of the X stage 41 is fixed on the Z stage 40 of FIG. An X slide plate 64 is supported on the X receiving plate 63 so as to be slidable in the X direction.

An X pulse motor 65 is fixed to the X receiving plate 63, and an X drive screw (not shown) fixed to the main shaft of the X pulse motor 65 is screwed to an X nut fixed to the X slide plate 64. As a result, the X pulse motor 65
It becomes possible to move the X slide plate 64 to an arbitrary position by rotating. In the embodiment, the movement in the X direction can be known by the number of pulses applied to the X pulse motor 65, but in this embodiment, the X slide plate 64 is also used.
An accurate X-direction position can be detected by the linear encoder 66 fixed at.

Similarly, the Y receiving plate 67 of the Y stage 42 is fixed to the X slide plate 64.
A Y slide plate 68 is supported on the slider 7 so as to be slidable in the Y direction. Then, by rotating the Y pulse motor 69 fixed to the Y receiving plate 67, the Y drive screw 70 is screwed to the Y nut 71 fixed to the Y slide plate 68, and the Y slide plate 68 is moved to the Y direction. It can be moved to a predetermined position in the direction. Similar to the X stage 41, the Y stage 42 has a linear encoder 73 fixed to the Y slide plate 68 so that the position in the Y direction can be accurately detected.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, an optical microscope 38 and a CCD camera 39 are fixed to the Y slide plate 68, so that the observation position of the optical microscope 38 is adjusted by the measuring needles 37 of the probe card 36. It is possible to adjust to the needle tip, and in automatic measurement, while continuously moving the optical microscope 38 to each needle tip position of the plurality of measuring needles 37,
The tip shape of the needle tip at this time can be displayed on the monitor 46 and the personal computer display 47.

A characteristic of the present invention is that the electrode flat plate 32a, the transparent glass flat plate 32b, and the needle tip polishing flat plate 32 are used.
The composite inspection board 32 having c is slid to either the inspection position 200 or the retracted position, and the electrode flat plate 32a measures the height and contact resistance of the measuring needle 37, while the transparent glass flat plate 32b measures the measuring needle 37. The needle tip coordinate pattern is measured, and the needle tip polishing flat plate 32c is used to measure the needle 3
7 is to be able to polish the tip. FIG. 6 shows a preferred embodiment of the slide mechanism of the composite inspection board 32.

The column 5 provided on the Z stage 40
A slider receiving plate 74 is fixed to the sliders 4, 55, and a slide plate 76 on which the composite inspection board 32 is mounted is slidably supported on a slide guide 75 provided on the slider receiving plate 74. For this purpose, the slide plate 76 is provided with guide pieces 77 and 78 which slide on the slide guide 75. In the embodiment, a pneumatic actuator 79 is provided in order to move the slide plate 76 by a stroke indicated by S. The pneumatic actuator 79 includes a cylinder 80 and a piston rod 81, and the cylinder 80 has a slide receiving plate. 74, while the piston rod 81 is fixed to a bracket 82 fixed to the slide plate 76. Therefore, the slide plate 76 carrying the composite inspection board 32 is operated by the operation of the pneumatic actuator.
Can be quickly moved to the right or left by the stroke S shown in the figure, which allows any of the electrode flat plate 32a, the transparent glass flat plate 32b, or the needle tip polishing flat plate 32c to face the inspection position 200.

FIG. 7 shows in detail a preferred embodiment of the probe card holder in this embodiment.

In the present invention, the composite inspection board 32 and the needle tip observation device are mounted in the elevating unit 31, and as a result, the probe card 36 to be measured has its measuring needle 37 on the upper surface of the composite inspection board 32. Must be positioned at the inspection position 200 so as to face the.

Therefore, in the present invention, the probe card 36 is mounted so that its measuring needle 37 faces downward,
Therefore, in this embodiment, the probe card holder 35 has a holder frame 83, and the mother frame 84 is attached to the holder frame 83.
Are fixed and fixed by clamps 85 and 86, the probe card 36 is mounted on the mother board 84, and the measuring needle 37 is arranged downward at the measuring position.

One end of the holder frame 83 is rotatably supported by a rotary shaft 87 provided on the base 30, and the holder frame 83 can be inverted around the rotary shaft 87. Therefore, when the holder frame 83 is positioned as shown by the solid line in FIG. 7, the probe card 36 is automatically positioned at the inspection position, and the probe card 36 is inverted in the state of the chain line,
By exposing the measuring needle 37 upward, it is possible to easily repair the measuring needle under inspection or the like. In the inspection position shown by the solid line in FIG. 7, the holder frame 83 is firmly positioned by the lock 88, and the lock 88 in the embodiment holds the holder frame 83 during the inspection by the holding force from the pneumatic pump (not shown). To do.

In the present embodiment, the holder frame 83 accommodating the mother board 84 and the probe card 36 has a large weight, and there is a problem that the operability is deteriorated when performing the reversing operation. In order to reduce the operation amount, a tension spring 90 is applied to a spring hook 89 provided on the tail portion 83a of the holder frame 83, and the reversing operation force of the holder frame 83 is reduced by the pulling force of the tension spring 90.

Although the structure of the preferred embodiment of the probe card inspection apparatus according to the present invention is clear from the above description, the inspection procedure will be described below with reference to FIGS. 8, 9 and 10.

FIG. 8 shows the outline of the measurement procedure.
In step S1, the data of the probe card to be measured is input. This data includes the probe card name, serial number, measurement channel number, measurement needle coordinate pattern, and the like, and these data are read into the inspection device from the keyboard of the control panel 49, the floppy disk reader, or the like.

Step S2 is an initial setting of the inspection device, which includes an overdrive amount, a relief amount, and a measurement pitch.

The overdrive is the moving penetrate amount of the elevating unit 31 against which the composite inspection board 32 is pressed against the measuring needle 37. In measuring the height of the measuring needle and the contact resistance, the maximum overdriving amount from the first contact is preset. When the needle tip coordinate pattern is measured, the amount of overdrive from the first contact at the time of measurement is set in advance. For example, about 100 μm or less is selected as such an overdrive amount.

In the present invention, the relief amount is the composite inspection substrate 32.
Is the amount for retracting the electrode from the measuring needle 37.
a, a transparent glass flat plate 32b at a measurement position 200
The amount of withdrawal in each direction when selectively moving is determined, and for example, about 500 μm is suitable.

Further, the measurement pitch is a setting of the ascending pitch when measuring the height variation, and by setting it to, for example, about 1 μm, highly accurate observation measurement can be performed.
When the initial setting is completed as described above, the probe card 36 to be measured is correctly mounted on the probe card holder 35, and after each measuring needle 37 and the tester are electrically connected, the menu by the personal computer display 47 is displayed. According to the display, a predetermined inspection mode is selected in step S3. In this embodiment, the following six types of inspection can be selected.

1. Pin-to-pin short measurement 2. Leak measurement between pins 3. Pin height variation measurement 4. Pin tip contact resistance measurement 5. Pin tip position measurement 6. Pin tip diameter measurement In the present embodiment, the mode selection S3 can select each of these measurements individually or continuous measurement. When an individual inspection is selected, each measurement corresponds to each of the above measurements. Steps S4, S5, S6, S7, S8,
The measurement of S9 is performed individually, and after each of these measurements is completed, the measured values are recorded by steps S10 to S15,
It returns to the step S3 again and waits for selection of the next inspection mode.

On the other hand, when the continuous inspection mode is selected, the individually selected individual inspections in the steps S4 to S9 are successively performed in accordance with the continuous program shown in step S16, and the predetermined order is set. The continuous measurement of is completed.

FIG. 9 shows the detailed procedure of the height variation measurement described above. First, in step S20, the electrode flat plate 32a of the composite inspection substrate 32 is moved to the inspection position 200. This movement is quickly performed by the pneumatic actuator as described above, and of course, at this time, the lifting unit 31
Is lowered, and the composite inspection board 32 and the measuring needle 37 are not in contact with each other.

In step S21, the lifting unit 3
1 rises to the first contact with the measuring needle 37,
Each time the measuring needle 37 is contacted (S22), the Z coordinate data at this time is read (S23), and this rising measurement is repeated until a predetermined overdrive amount is reached (S24).

When the predetermined upward movement in the Z direction is completed, the contact position of each measuring needle 37 is read during this period, and the raising / lowering unit 31 stops raising (S25).

When all the data has been taken in, the elevating unit 31 descends again and the electrode flat plate 32a is retracted from the measuring needle 37 (S26).

As described above, the height variation of the measuring needle 37 is inspected. During such a procedure, the electrode flat plate 32 is
The contact between a and each of the measuring needles 37 is performed by measuring the contact resistance by a tester. Therefore, the contact resistance value of each measuring needle itself can be measured by the same procedure as shown in FIG.

FIG. 10 shows the procedure for measuring the pin tip position. In step S30, the transparent glass flat plate 32b of the composite inspection substrate 32 is brought to the inspection position 200 by the pneumatic actuator. Then, the elevating unit 31 is raised from the first contact position with the measuring needles 37 by a predetermined overdrive amount, for example, 50 μm, and the transparent glass substrate 32b is pressed against all the measuring needles 37. (S31, S3
2).

Then, in step S33, the optical microscope 38 is aligned with a predetermined measuring needle tip using a joystick or the like. In this state, the personal computer 45 can display, on the display 47, the position of the needle tip measured with respect to the pad position input in advance.

Next, the XY stage is sequentially moved stepwise by a predetermined inter-pin distance, and image recognition is performed on each measuring needle 37 (S34, S35).

When the measurement of all the needles is completed, the apparatus is stopped (S36), and after the measurement is completed, the composite inspection board 3
2 is retracted from the probe card 36 (S37).

The needle tip position is measured as described above, and the inspection as to whether the measuring needle 37 of the probe card 36 is assembled in a predetermined coordinate pattern is completed.

When the pin tip position is measured, if the tip diameter of each measuring needle 37 that has been image-recognized is stored at the same time, it can be used for the tip diameter measurement.

Furthermore, for the measuring needle 37 whose contact resistance has increased due to contamination or corrosion of the needle tip, the needle tip polishing flat plate 32c is pressed against the measuring needle 37 by a predetermined amount several times.
The needle tips of all the measuring needles 37 can be polished by the needle tip polishing flat plate 32c, and the initial good contact state can be restored.

As described above, according to the present invention, by sliding the composite inspection board 32 in a single inspection device,
Variations in the height of the measuring needle, contact resistance, and needle tip coordinate pattern can be continuously measured, and there is an advantage that accurate measurement can be performed in an extremely short time. Furthermore, according to the present invention, it is possible to simultaneously grind a measuring needle whose tip is contaminated or corroded by a simple operation.

Further, according to the present invention, when the assembly of the measuring needle is not appropriate during measurement, the defective measuring needle can be repaired arbitrarily, and this repaired state can be inspected at the same time. .

[0077]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The electrical characteristics and geometrical arrangement of the probe of the probe card can be performed quickly and with high accuracy, and an optimum probe card that does not cause an error in the measurement of the semiconductor IC chip can be provided. Has the advantage that it can be easily polished.

Further, the present invention has an advantage that it is possible to perform a required inspection at a high speed fully automatically, especially for a probe card having a large number of measuring needles.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram showing a preferred embodiment of a probe card inspection device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view seen from the direction in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an overall external view when the present embodiment is assembled as an inspection device.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of an essential part showing a detailed structure of a Z-direction moving mechanism of the lifting unit of the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of essential parts of an XY moving device of a needle tip observation device carried by an elevating unit in this embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a front view of essential parts showing a slide mechanism of a composite inspection board according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a front view of essential parts showing a preferred embodiment of the probe card holder according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of an inspection procedure in the present embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a height variation measurement procedure in the present embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a pin tip position measuring procedure in the present embodiment.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic structure of a conventional probe card inspection device.

FIG. 12 is a schematic explanatory diagram of still another conventional probe card inspection device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 30 Base 31 Elevating Unit 32 Composite Inspection Board 32a Electrode Plate 32b Transparent Glass Plate 32c Needle Point Polishing Plate 35 Probe Card Holder 36 Probe Card 37 Measuring Needle 200 Inspection Position

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Atsuhiro Kakimoto 1-10-14 Itabashi, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo Tokyo Cathode Research Institute (72) Inventor Riki Hashimoto 1-10-14 Itabashi, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo Tokyo Cathode Co., Ltd. In-lab (72) Inventor Sadachika Ota 1-10-14 Itabashi, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo Inside Tokyo Cathode Lab, Ltd. (56) References JP-A 1-282829 (JP, A) JP-A 3-10176 ( JP, A)

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. An elevating unit movably supported on a base, and an electrode flat plate made of a conductor, a transparent glass flat plate, and a needle point polishing flat plate, which are slidably mounted on the upper surface of the elevating unit and are flush with each other. Each plate is installed in parallel and each flat plate
A composite inspection board having a size capable of mounting a fixed needle, a probe card holder in which a probe card is removably attached and the measuring needle of the probe card faces the composite inspection board, the measuring needle of the probe card and the electrode A tester that is electrically connected to the flat plate and that measures the contact resistance between the measuring needle and the electrode flat plate, and is horizontally movably installed inside the elevating unit, and observes the measuring needle of the probe card through the transparent glass flat plate. Including the needle tip observation device, the electrode plate is opposed to the probe card positioned at the inspection position to measure the height variation and contact resistance of the measuring needle, and the transparent glass plate is opposed to the probe card. To move the needle tip observation device in the horizontal direction.
A probe card inspection device characterized in that the coordinates of the measuring needle tip are measured by sequentially following the needle tips of the above, and the measuring needle of the probe card is pressed against the measuring needle tip polishing plate to polish the measuring needle. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the probe card holder is rotatably supported with respect to the base, and the measuring needle is exposed upward when the probe card is avoided from the inspection position. And a probe card inspection device. 3. The probe card inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the composite inspection board is slid by an air pressure actuator.