JP2001004661A - Probe card with built-in light source - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a probe card with built-in light source, capable of stably irradiating semiconductor chip to be inspected with the light having uniform illumination without generating a difference in illumination at respective probe cards. SOLUTION: This probe card with built-in light source is provided with a probe card substrate 1, a hole 3 formed at the central part of the probe card substrate 1, a probe needle 5 which is disposed on the underside of the probe card substrate 1 near the hole 3 and whose front end extends toward the lower part of the hole 3 so as to be brought into contact with a semiconductor chip to be inspected at the time of inspection, and a light-emitting diode 7 built in the probe card substrate 1 near the hole 3 as a light source, and the light- emitting part of the light-emitting diode 7 is exposed to the inside of the hole 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a probe card, and more particularly to a probe card used for an apparatus (prober) for inspecting electrical characteristics of a semiconductor chip in a wafer state.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An I / O having a memory, a thermal driver, etc.
Some of the electrical characteristics of the C chip are changed by external light irradiation. Regarding this kind of electrical characteristics, the IC chip to be inspected is intentionally irradiated with light from the outside,
A characteristic test may be performed by a prober.

A conventional probe card used for a prober has a disk-shaped probe card substrate, and a cylindrical hole is provided at the center of the probe card substrate. A plurality of probe needles are attached to the lower surface of the probe card substrate near the hole, and the tips of the probe needles extend downward of the hole. Light emitting diodes are mounted on the upper surface of the probe card substrate.
The light emitting diode is mounted by soldering its lead (foot) to the upper surface of the probe card substrate. The light emitting portion of the light emitting diode is arranged above the hole.

[0004] In order to efficiently test the electrical characteristics of electronic circuit dies such as ICs and LSIs formed on a semiconductor wafer, a prober is automatically brought into contact with an electrode of each die. This is an apparatus that enables an electrical test of each die by an external tester connected to a stylus, and also enables the tester to identify a die determined to be defective. A probe card is a card in which conductive needles are arranged in accordance with the arrangement of each electrode so that the electrodes of each die are connected to a test circuit by a prober. The probe needle is
In the prober, it is a stylus for connecting the electrode of each die to the test circuit.

In the probe card, an IC chip of a semiconductor wafer is arranged below the hole, light is emitted from a light-emitting diode to the IC chip to be inspected through the hole, and a probe needle is touched to a pad of the IC chip. Let the needle
The purpose is to inspect the electrical characteristics of the IC chip.

[0006]

By the way, in the above-mentioned conventional probe card, the light emitting diode leads are attached to the upper surface of the probe card board by soldering. Then, the position of the light emitting unit is adjusted by bending the lead so that the light emitting unit of the light emitting diode is arranged at an appropriate position. The appropriate position is a position at which the illuminance of light irradiated on the IC chip to be inspected becomes uniform. Thus, it is not easy to adjust the position of the light emitting unit by bending the lead of the light emitting diode.

Further, since the position of the light emitting portion is determined by bending the lead of the light emitting diode, the position becomes unstable. In addition, when an inspection is performed using a plurality of the same probe cards, an illuminance difference occurs for each probe card, so that it may not be possible to perform a uniform inspection for each probe card.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide a semiconductor chip to be inspected with uniform illuminance without causing an illuminance difference for each probe card. It is an object of the present invention to provide a probe card with a built-in light source capable of stably irradiating a light.

[0009]

In order to solve the above problems, a probe card with a built-in light source according to the present invention comprises a probe card substrate, a hole provided at the center of the probe card substrate, and a hole near the hole. A probe needle provided on the lower surface of the probe card substrate, a tip of which extends below the hole, and a probe for contacting the tip with a semiconductor chip to be inspected at the time of inspection; And a light source built in the probe card substrate in the vicinity. Further, it is preferable that a light emitting portion of the light source is exposed inside the hole. Preferably, the light source is a light emitting diode.

In the above-described probe card with a built-in light source, a light source is built in the vicinity of the hole of the probe card substrate,
It becomes easy to arrange the light source at a position where the illuminance of the light irradiated on the semiconductor chip to be inspected becomes uniform. Therefore, the semiconductor chip to be inspected can be stably irradiated with light having uniform illuminance, and the illuminance difference generated for each probe card can be reduced even when the inspection is performed using a plurality of the same probe cards.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1A is a perspective view showing a probe card with a built-in light source according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view showing the probe card with a built-in light source of FIG.

This probe card with a built-in light source has a disk-shaped probe card substrate 1, and a cylindrical hole 3 is provided in the center of the probe card substrate 1. A plurality of probe needles 5 are attached to the lower surface of the probe card substrate 1 near the hole 3. These probe needles 5
The tip extends downward from the hole, and the tip is brought into contact with a semiconductor chip (not shown) to be inspected at the time of electrical characteristic inspection.

A light emitting diode 7 as a light source is built in the probe card substrate 1 near the hole 3. The light-emitting diode 7 is arranged at a position where the illuminance of light emitted from the light-emitting portion at the time of inspection becomes uniform on the semiconductor chip to be inspected. Specifically, the light emitting portion of the light emitting diode 7 is arranged so as to be exposed inside the hole 3.

The lead (foot) 7a of the light emitting diode 7 is soldered to the upper surface of the probe card substrate 1 (not shown). Further, the foot 7a of the light emitting diode 7 can be connected to the tester channel, so that ON / OFF and the amount of light of the light emitting diode 7 can be controlled.

The probe card is mounted on a prober (not shown), and a semiconductor wafer (not shown) having a semiconductor chip to be inspected is arranged below the hole 3 of the probe card substrate 1. The probe on the chip is contacted with a probe needle 5, and the semiconductor chip is irradiated with light from the light emitting diode 7 through the hole 3 to inspect the electrical characteristics of the semiconductor chip.

According to the above embodiment, by incorporating the light emitting diode 7 in the probe card substrate 1 near the hole 3, the illuminance of the light irradiated on the semiconductor chip to be inspected becomes uniform. It becomes easy to arrange the light emitting diode 7 at the position.

Since the light emitting portion of the light emitting diode 7 can be firmly fixed by incorporating the light emitting diode 7, the light emitting portion can be arranged at a stable position.
The illuminance of light hitting the chip can be made uniform. Along with this, even when performing an inspection using a plurality of the same probe cards, the illuminance difference can be reduced for each probe card,
A uniform inspection can be performed for each probe card.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but can be implemented with various modifications.

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention, the light source is built in the probe card substrate. Therefore,
It is possible to provide a probe card with a built-in light source that can stably irradiate light of uniform illuminance to a semiconductor chip to be inspected without causing an illuminance difference for each probe card.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is a perspective view showing a probe card with a built-in light source according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the probe card with a built-in light source of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Probe card board 3 Hole 5 Probe needle 7 Light emitting diode (light source) 7a Lead (foot)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A probe card substrate, a hole provided in a central portion of the probe card substrate, and a probe needle provided on a lower surface of the probe card substrate in the vicinity of the hole, and a tip of the probe needle is provided in the hole. A probe needle extending downward and for bringing the tip into contact with the semiconductor chip to be inspected at the time of inspection; and a light source built in the probe card substrate near the hole. Probe card with built-in light source. 2. The probe card with a built-in light source according to claim 1, wherein a light emitting portion of the light source is exposed inside the hole. 3. The probe card with a built-in light source according to claim 1, wherein the light source is a light emitting diode.