JPH0666832A - Probe and inspecting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a probe and an inspecting device using this probe in which a probe can be surely brought into contact with a required position of a material to be inspected, even when it is, made fine, to allow various tests by the four-terminal method. CONSTITUTION:A probe is a concentric probe, which has a mutually insulated outside probe pin 30 and inside probe pin 31, and is constituted in such a manner that each probe pin is independently recessed. The top end of the inside probe pin 31 is formed into a pyramid, the top end of the outside probe pin 30 is formed in a four-divided form, and both the top ends are formed with sharp angles. By using both the probe pins, the contact of the probes can be confirmed, and by using two probes, the space between two points to be inspected can be precisely inspected by the four-terminal method.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a probe and an inspection apparatus, and is particularly suitable for use in a wafer test carried out in the manufacture of semiconductors, a manufacturing process of minute substrates, and a test after manufacture. Probe, and an inspection apparatus including the probe.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a semiconductor wafer, a minute substrate for mounting a semiconductor wafer, or the like is manufactured during or after the manufacturing process.
In order to inspect these, a probe is brought into contact with a semiconductor wafer, a minute substrate, a printed circuit board, or a ceramic substrate, resistance is measured by the four-terminal method, and a conduction state is confirmed.

As a probe used for this type of inspection, a cantilever beam-shaped probe, a rod-shaped probe or the like is usually used.

As a conventional technique relating to this type of probe and inspection apparatus, for example, the technique described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-184932 is known.

[0005]

The cantilever beam-shaped probe according to the above-mentioned prior art is one in which a bent probe is pressed against a required position on a semiconductor wafer or the like, for example, a solder bump by its elasticity. If the spacing between a large number of solder bumps becomes narrower due to higher integration, the probes come into contact with each other, making it difficult to perform an inspection.

In order to solve such a problem, a rod-shaped probe has been proposed. In the rod-shaped probe, the rod-shaped probe is opposed to the solder bump, and the probe is prevented from facing the solder bump. As described above, the probe or the semiconductor wafer is moved to bring the probe and the solder bump into contact with each other.

However, in this conventional technique, it is very difficult to confirm whether or not the probe is surely in contact with the solder bump due to the difference in the height of the solder bump due to the difference in processing accuracy. It has a problem that

Further, in the inspection device having the rod-shaped probe, when the probe is brought into contact with a solder bump or a metal wiring film such as a printed circuit board or a ceramic substrate, the oxide film on the metal surface is insulative. In some cases, the probe may not reach the pure metal layer of the base, and reliable contact may not be obtained, and in some cases, the probe may not be able to reliably contact the wiring film in the through hole of the substrate. There is a problem.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and even when the inspection object is miniaturized, the probe is surely brought into contact with a required portion of the inspection object by the 4-terminal method. An object of the present invention is to provide a probe that enables various tests and an inspection device that uses the probe.

[0010]

According to the present invention, the above-mentioned object is to provide an inner probe pin which allows a probe arranged to face an object to be inspected to be electrically insulated from each other by a coaxial structure and individually sunk. And the outer probe pin, and by forming the tips of both probe pins in an acute angle.

The above object can be achieved by arranging at least two probes on one surface side of the object to be inspected and at least one probe on the other surface side.

[0012]

[Function] Since the inner probe pin and the outer probe pin can be individually sunk when colliding with a point to be inspected such as a solder bump, even if there is a difference in height caused by processing accuracy in the solder bump, The probe pin that has come into contact with the probe pin sinks until the other probe pin comes into contact therewith, whereby both the inner and outer probe pins can surely contact the inspected point such as a solder bump.

Further, since the inner and outer probe pins are coaxial, the outer probe pin serves as a support member for the inner member only by sliding the inner and outer probe pins in the axial direction due to the depression, thereby reducing the size of the probe. Further, the diameter can be reduced, and it is possible to sufficiently cope with high integration of the inspection object.

The outer probe pin does not have to come into contact with a point to be inspected such as a solder bump over the entire circumference, and it is sufficient that the probe pin on the outside is in contact with part of the probe pin. Therefore, the solder bump is relatively smaller than the probe. However, both probe pins can be reliably brought into contact with the solder bumps. Further, since it is sufficient that a part of the outer probe pin is in contact with the solder bump, it is possible to perform a test in a range where the relative sliding amount with the inner probe pin is small, and it is possible to use a sinking mechanism with a small sinking amount. This makes it possible to realize a small probe having a small diameter.

Further, since the tips of both probe pins are formed in an acute angle, when the probe pins come into contact with a point to be inspected such as a solder bump, the probe pin breaks through the insulating oxide film on the surface and is pure inside. It is possible to reach the metal layer and realize reliable energization.

Further, it is possible to configure an inspection device by disposing at least two probes as described above on one surface side of the object to be inspected and at least one probe on the other surface side of the object to be inspected. It is possible to reliably perform inspection between any two points on an object, for example, defect identification, defect analysis, and the like.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a probe and an inspection apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a structure of a main part of an inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a structure of a probe. FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view showing the state of contact between the probe and a through hole which is a point to be inspected, and FIG. 5 is a front view and a top view showing the structure of the probe switching mechanism used in the inspection apparatus. 1 to 5, 1a to 1
c, 2a to 2c are XY tables, 3a to 3c are cameras, 4a to 4c, 5 are Z tables, 6 is a probe, and 7a.
7c is a prober, 8 is a substrate, 9 is a substrate holder, 10 is a loader, 11 is a contact detection circuit, 12 is a resistance measuring device, 13
Is a current source, 14 is a high resistance measuring instrument, 15 is a withstand voltage measuring instrument, 1
6 is a sequencer, 17 is a switching circuit, 18a to 18c are camera controllers, 19 is an image processing device, and 20a to 20.
c is a monitor, 21a to 21e are motor drivers, 22a
22e is a motor controller, 23 is a personal computer, 30
Is an outer probe pin, 31 is an inner probe pin, 32,
33 is a coil spring, 34 is an exterior tube, and 35 is an insulating tube.

An inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, three sets of XY tables 1a to 1c movable in a plane including the X direction and the Y direction orthogonal to each other,
2a to 2c, three sets of cameras 3a to 3c mounted on the respective tables, and Z tables 4a to 4c that move up and down in the Z direction are combined.
Then, the camera 3c uses Z to change the focal position.
Y table 2c through Z table 5 which moves up and down in the direction
Installed on.

Further, on the Z tables 4a to 4c, probers 7a to 7c for switching a plurality of probes 6 having different outer diameters are assembled. The prober 7a and the prober 7b are arranged on the upper surface of the substrate 8 to be inspected, and the prober 7c is arranged so that the probe 6 can be brought into contact with the lower surface of the substrate 8. Then, the substrate 8 which is the object to be inspected is attached to a substrate holder 9 formed of an insulating material, and is fed into the apparatus via a loader 10 holding the substrate holder 9.

Next, the structure including the control system of the inspection apparatus having the above-mentioned structure will be described with reference to FIG.

The probe 6 is connected to a switching circuit 17, which includes a contact detection circuit 11, a resistance measuring device 12 for measuring a low resistance, a constant current source 13 therefor, and a high resistance for measuring a high resistance. It is connected to the resistance measuring device 14 and the breakdown voltage measuring device 15. Further, the switching circuit 17 includes the sequencer 1
6 is also connected, and the circuit is switched by the signal from the sequencer 16 to connect one measuring instrument and the probe. In the contact detection circuit 11, the probe 6 has the substrate 8
It is a circuit for detecting whether or not it is in contact with a circuit terminal (which will be described later) that is an upper inspection point.

The cameras 3a to 3c are connected to the image processing device 19 and the monitor 2 via the camera controllers 18a to 18c.
0a to 20c and detects an image of a circuit terminal on the substrate 8 or an image of a detection mark whose positional relationship is relatively maintained with respect to the circuit terminal. It can be measured.

The X, Y, and Z tables include motor drivers 21a to 21e and motor controllers 22a to 22e.
It is connected to the.

The personal computer 23 includes a sequencer 16, motor controllers 22a-22e, and various resistance measuring devices 11-1.
4. It is connected to the image processing device 19 and controls the entire device. The personal computer 23 is also connected to a CRT 24, a keyboard 25, a hard disk 26, a floppy disk device 27, and a printer 28, and is connected to a host computer 29 to connect the host computer 2
It is also possible to control the entire apparatus by a command from 9.

As shown in FIG. 3, the probe 6 has an outer tube 34 and an outer probe pin 30 and an inner probe pin 31, which are coaxially arranged. These outer and inner probe pins 30 and 31 are provided. Are insulated by an insulating tube 35. The outer probe pin 30 and the inner probe pin 31 are respectively connected to the coil spring 3
2, 33, when it contacts the circuit terminal on the board,
It is configured to be able to sink individually in the axial direction. Further, the tip of the inner probe pin 31 is formed in a pyramid shape, and the tip of the outer probe pin 30 is also formed in a quarter shape and has a sharp tip.

FIG. 4 shows an example in which the probe 6 having the above-described structure is brought into contact with the inspected point on the substrate 8. In this example, the case where the circuit terminal 39 provided in the through hole 38 is the inspected point is shown.

In this case, the pyramidal portion at the tip of the inner probe pin 31 enters into the hole 38, and the corner portion of the pyramid bites into the corner portion of the through hole 38. In addition, the sharp tip formed by dividing the tip of the outer probe pin 30 into quarters,
The surface of the circuit terminal 39 is surely contacted. Then, any of the tips destroys the oxide film and comes into contact with the underlying layer, so that the current can be surely supplied.

As the inspection point, not only the circuit terminal provided in the through hole, but also a circuit terminal such as a solder bump or an arbitrary point on the wiring pattern can be selected.

In general, the inner probe pin 3 of the probe 6
Usually, the diameter of 1 is small, but as shown in FIG. 4, when the position of the through hole is set as the inspected point, the diameter of the inner probe pin 31 is inserted into the hole of the through hole 38. In that case, reliable contact cannot be obtained, and in such a case, it is necessary to prepare a probe having the inner probe pin 31 having a diameter larger than the diameter of the through hole.

Therefore, the inspection apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention is configured so that the prober 7 holding the probe 6 can be used by selecting a plurality of probes 6 as shown in FIG. . That is, the prober 7 is the probe 6
A rotary cylinder 35 for rotating and moving the probe 6 to a predetermined position and a vertical cylinder 36 for lowering the probe 6 on the substrate. A plurality of probes having different diameters are selected and used for inspection. be able to. Note that the example shown in FIG. 5 shows the case where there are two probes, but it goes without saying that the number of probes may be increased.

In the inspection apparatus according to the above-described embodiment of the present invention, normally, the continuity tester for the substrate to be inspected is used to analyze the defects after the circuit terminals on the substrate are collectively tested. It is suitable for use in recognition, etc.
This inspection method will be briefly described.

As already described with reference to FIG. 1, the inspection apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention is provided with two probes 6 on the upper surface of the substrate 8 to be inspected and one probe 6 on the lower surface. It is possible to perform an inspection between two inspected points on the upper surface of the substrate 8 and between two inspected points on the upper surface and the lower surface of the substrate 8, and by turning the substrate 8 over, Inspection between two inspected points can be performed.

Therefore, first, the two probes 6 are attached to each of the inspected points to be inspected on the substrate 8 by X-.
Contact using a Y table and prober. next,
Outer probe pin 30 of the probe brought into contact with the inspected point
And the inner probe pin 31 are used to confirm that the probe is surely in contact with the inspected point. This contact confirmation test is performed using the contact detection circuit 11.

Next, low resistance measurement and high resistance measurement between two inspected points with which the probe 6 is in contact are performed by the constant current source 1.
3. The low resistance measuring device 12 and the high resistance measuring device 14 are used to carry out the inspection such as the analysis of the defect between the two inspected points and the recognition of the defect. Since this resistance measurement can be performed by a four-terminal measurement method using the outer probe pin 30 and the inner probe pin 31 of each of the two probes, highly accurate measurement can be performed. Further, the breakdown voltage measuring device 15 can be used to perform a breakdown voltage test between two points to be inspected.

According to the above-described embodiment of the present invention, the probe 6 is provided with the outer probe pin 30 and the inner probe pin 31 which are insulated from each other, so that the probe 6 can be coaxially and individually depressed in the axial direction. In addition, the tip of the inner probe pin 31 is formed in a pyramid shape,
Since the tip of the outer probe pin 30 is also formed in a quartered shape and has a sharp tip, the oxide on the surface is broken and the tip of the pin is securely fixed even when the inspection object is miniaturized. The inspection can be performed by contacting the metal at the required portion of the inspection object. Since the contact can be confirmed by the two probe pins forming the probe, and the two points to be inspected can be inspected by the four-terminal method,
Various tests can be performed with high accuracy.

The above-described inspection apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention is used in a wafer test carried out in the manufacture of a semiconductor, a manufacturing process of a micro substrate, a test after manufacture, particularly, analysis of defects, identification of defects, etc. However, the present invention can be used for confirming the plating state in the through hole by, for example, bringing probes into contact with both ends of the through hole of the substrate and performing low resistance measurement. It can also be used for a lot test or the like.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention, the probe can be reliably used when an insulator such as an oxide film is formed on the surface of the point to be inspected or even when the through hole is to be inspected. It is possible to perform various inspections by contacting the inspected point of the inspected object with.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a structure of a main part of an inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an inspection device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view showing the structure of a probe.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a contact state between a probe and a through hole which is an inspection point.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a structure of a probe switching mechanism used in the inspection device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1a-1c, 2a-2c XY table 3a-3c Cameras 4a-4c, 5Z table 6 Probes 7a-7c Prober 8 Substrate 9 Substrate holder 10 Loader 11 Contact detection circuit 12 Resistance measuring instrument 13 Constant current source 14 High resistance Measuring device 15 Withstand voltage measuring device 16 Sequencer 17 Switching circuit 18a-18c Camera controller 19 Image processing device 20a-20c Monitor 21a-21e Motor driver 22a-22e Motor controller 23 Personal computer 30 Outer probe pin 31 Inner probe pin 32, 33 Coil spring 34 Exterior Tube 35 Insulation tube

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Kiyoshi Numata 1 Horiyamashita, Horiyamashita, Hadano, Kanagawa Kanagawa factory (72) Inventor Hironobu Toyoshima 4th, Kanda Surugadai, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Hitachi Techno Engineering Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yoshitaka Kawamura 4-3, Surugadai Kanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Hitachi Techno Engineering Co., Ltd.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A probe for performing a test by bringing a pin, which is vertically opposed to an object to be inspected, into contact with an inspected point of the object to be inspected, comprises an outer probe pin and an inner probe pin, and these probe pins are mutually connected. A probe, which is insulated and formed coaxially, and sinks individually when it comes into contact with an object to be inspected. 2. The probe according to claim 1, wherein the outer probe pin and the inner probe pin are formed so that their tips have an acute angle. 3. An inspection apparatus for performing a test by bringing a probe vertically opposed to an object to be inspected into contact with an inspected point of the object to be inspected, wherein the probe is used as the probe.
An inspection apparatus using the described probe. 4. The inspection apparatus according to claim 3, wherein it is confirmed by the outer probe pin and the inner probe pin of the probe that the probe is in contact with a point to be inspected. 5. The inspection apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the two probes are used and the inspection between two inspected points is inspected by a four-terminal measuring method. 6. At least two on one surface side of the inspection object.
6. The inspection apparatus according to claim 3, 4 or 5, wherein at least one probe is arranged on the other side of the book.