JP2002062314A - Contact probe - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a contact probe which can obtain proper contact properties by suppressing the plastic deformation of a contact pin. SOLUTION: In the contact probe 11, a slit 14 is formed in a tip part 13 of a contact pin 12, and the tip part 13 is divided into a contact part 15 capable of coming into contact with a specimen and a noncontact part 16, while the slit 14 is used as a boundary.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a contact probe for performing an electrical test such as a circuit test by bringing a contact pin into contact with a fine electrode of an inspection object such as a CD (liquid crystal display).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a probe device provided with a contact probe has been used for an electrical test of a semiconductor chip such as an IC or an LSI or an LCD. In this contact probe 1, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of pattern wirings 3 made of a Ni-based alloy or the like are formed on the surface of a film main body 2 made of a resin film layer of polyimide or the like. The portion protrudes from the front end of the film main body 2 to form a contact pin 4. The film main body 2 may be one in which a metal film layer of Cu or the like is laminated on the back surface of the resin film layer.

Further, such a contact probe 1
For example, as shown in FIG. 6, by being incorporated into mechanical parts such as a mounting base 5, a top clamp 6, and a bottom clamp 7, the probe is positioned and attached to the printed circuit board 8 to form a probe device. In this mounted state, the contact probe 1 is
As shown in FIG. 2A, the contact pins 4 at the tips are supported by being inclined downward, and the tips of the contact pins 4 serve as electrode terminals provided, for example, at the periphery of the upper surface of the semiconductor chip 9. Pad (or bump)
The electrical test of the semiconductor chip 9 and the like is performed through the pattern wiring 3 and the wiring of the printed circuit board 8 by being brought into contact with the semiconductor chip 9a, respectively.

[0004]

When an electrical test is performed on such a semiconductor chip 9 or the like, a so-called so-called “chip” or the like must be connected to the electrical circuit of the probe device without fail. The contact pin 4 is brought into contact with the pad 9a with a certain pressure (needle pressure) by applying overdrive, and the surface of the pad 9a is scrubbed by the tip of the contact pin 4. However, as shown in FIG. 7 (b), some of the pads (or bumps) 9a are abnormally grown to form protrusions on the pad surface, and others have foreign matter such as dust on the pad surface. Therefore, a particularly large load is applied to the contact pins 4 which have come into contact with these relatively high pads. If this load exceeds the allowable stress of the contact pin 4, the contact pin 4 may be plastically deformed. With the contact pin 4 deformed with respect to the other contact pins in this manner, it is not possible to reliably make contact with the pad 9a at the time of performing the next electrical test, and it becomes impossible to obtain good contact properties. .

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of such a background, and an object of the present invention is to provide a contact probe in which a contact pin is unlikely to be plastically deformed and can obtain good contact properties.

[0006]

According to a contact probe of the present invention, a plurality of pattern wirings are formed on a surface of a film main body, and the tips of these pattern wirings are projected from the front end of the film main body. A contact probe serving as a pin, wherein a slit is formed in the contact pin, and the contact pin is divided into a contact portion capable of contacting an object to be inspected and a non-contact portion.

[0007] In the contact probe thus configured, a contact portion that can come into contact with an object to be inspected (such as a pad or a bump) is thinner than other portions of the contact pins, and is smaller than other portions. It becomes easy to be elastically deformed. And since a slit is formed between the non-contact part and the contact part, the contact part can be deformed toward the non-contact part side. When this contact probe is used for an electrical test of an object to be inspected, in a contact pin which is in contact with a pad which is relatively high with respect to another object to be inspected, a contact portion is deformed to a non-contact portion side and escapes. Therefore, the difference in height from other inspection objects is absorbed or reduced. Further, the contact pressure to the inspection object is secured by the elastic force of the contact portion. And
When the amount of deformation of the contact portion is large, the contact portion contacts the non-contact portion to support the back surface, so that excessive deformation of the contact portion is suppressed. Furthermore, since this deformation is an elastic deformation,
The contact pin returns to its original shape by being separated from the inspection object.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the contact probe, an elastic body is disposed in the slit. In the contact probe configured as described above, when the contact pin is brought into contact with the object to be inspected, the contact pressure compresses the elastic body to allow deformation of the contact portion, and compressive stress is applied to the contact portion. Contributes to the contact pressure on the inspection object. When the contact pin is separated from the inspection object, the elastic force of the elastic body acts to push the contact portion back to the original position.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [First Embodiment] A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. Will be described using the same reference numerals. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a tip portion of the contact probe of the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the contact probe of the present embodiment, and FIG. 3 is an electrical test of an object to be inspected by the contact probe of the present embodiment. It is a side view showing a situation at the time. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the contact probe 11 of the present embodiment has a plurality of pattern wirings 3 made of a Ni-based alloy or the like on a surface 2a of a film main body 2 made of a resin film layer 2A made of polyimide or the like. These pattern wirings 3
Are protruded from the front end of the film body 2 to form contact pins 12. As the film body 2,
A metal film layer of Cu or the like may be laminated on the back surface of the resin film layer 2A (the upper surface of the resin film layer 2A in FIGS. 1 and 2).

The contact pin 12 has, for example, a substantially rectangular cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, and has a slit 14 formed at a distal end portion 13 from the distal end toward the proximal end side. The tip portion 13 has a contact portion 15 that can contact the inspection object and a non-contact portion 16 with the slit 14 as a boundary.
It is divided into and. As described above, since the thickness of the contact portion 15 is smaller than that of the other portion of the contact pin 12, the contact portion 15 is more easily elastically deformed than the other portion. And
Since the slit 14 is formed between the non-contact portion 16 and the contact portion 15, the contact portion 15 can be deformed toward the non-contact portion 16 side.

[0011] Contact probe 1 according to the present embodiment
1 is configured as described above, and its operation will now be described. The contact probe 11 according to the present embodiment
The mechanical parts 7 are similar to those shown in FIGS.
And assembled into the probe device. At the time of the electrical test, as shown in FIG.
Reference numeral 2 indicates that the contact portion 15 of the tip portion 13 is in contact with the pad 9a (inspected object) of the semiconductor chip 9, and in this state, the surface of the pad 9a is scrubbed by applying overdrive.

FIG. 3 shows a state where the contact pin 12 is in contact with the pad 9a having a normal height by a broken line.
In this state, the contact portion 15 is slightly deformed toward the non-contact portion 16 and is in contact with the pad 9a by its own elastic force. Next, a state where the contact pin 12 is in contact with the pad 9a which is relatively higher than the other pad 9a is shown by a solid line in FIG. Here, the case where the protrusion 9b is formed on the surface of the pad 9a is shown as an example. In this state, the contact portion 15 is deformed toward the non-contact portion 16 and escapes, and the difference in height from the other pads 9a is absorbed or reduced. Further, the contact pressure to the pad 9a is secured by the elastic force of the contact portion 15 itself. And
When the pad 9a is too high and the amount of deformation of the contact portion 15 increases, the contact portion 15 contacts the non-contact portion 16 and is supported on the back surface, as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. Excessive deformation of the portion 16 is suppressed. Further, since this deformation is elastic deformation, if the contact pin 12 is separated from the pad 9a, the contact portion 15 returns to the original position by the elastic force, and the shape of the contact pin 12 returns to the original position.

According to the contact probe 11 configured as described above, even when the contact pin 12 comes into contact with the pad 9a having a relatively high height, the contact portion 15 is elastically deformed and the height of the contact portion 15 becomes higher than that of the other pad 9a. Absorb or reduce the difference in height. This makes it difficult for an excessive load to be applied to the contact pin 12, so that the contact pin 12 is less likely to be plastically deformed, and good contact properties can be obtained.

[Second Embodiment] Hereinafter, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a side view showing a shape of a tip portion of a contact pin and a state of an object to be inspected during an electrical test in the contact probe of the present embodiment. The contact probe 21 of the present embodiment has substantially the same configuration as that of the first embodiment as shown by a solid line in FIG. is there. As the elastic body 22, a material having high elasticity such as silicon rubber is used.

In the contact probe 21 configured as described above, when the contact pin 12 is brought into contact with the pad 9a, the contact pressure compresses the elastic body 22 to allow the contact portion 15 to be deformed. The compressive stress contributes to the contact pressure of the contact portion 15 to the pad 9a. Here, the state in which the pad 9a is relatively high in contact with the other pad 9a is shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. When the contact pin 12 is separated from the pad 9a, the elastic force of the elastic body 22 acts to push the contact portion 15 back to the original position. This contact probe 2
According to 1, the contact pin 12 can be made more difficult to be plastically deformed.

[0016]

According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.
According to the contact probe of the first aspect, even when the contact pin comes into contact with the test object having a relatively high height, the contact portion is elastically deformed to absorb a difference in height from another test object. Or reduce. This makes it difficult for an excessive load to be applied to the contact pin, so that the contact pin is less likely to be plastically deformed, and good contact properties can be obtained.

According to the contact probe of the second aspect, the contact pin can be made harder to be plastically deformed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a distal end portion of a contact probe according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the contact probe according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing a state of an electrical test of the inspection object by the contact probe according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing a shape of a tip portion of a contact pin and a state at the time of an electrical test of an inspection object in a contact probe according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a conventional contact probe.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of the probe device.

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view of a main part of the probe device shown in FIG. 6;

[Explanation of symbols]

2 Film main body 3 Pattern wiring 9a Pad (inspection object) 11, 21 Contact probe 12 Contact pin 13 Tip part 14 Slit 15 Contact part 16 Non-contact part 22 Elastic body

Continued on the front page. (72) Inventor Toshinobu Ishii, 12-12 Technopark, Mita-shi, Hyogo Mitsubishi Materials Co., Ltd. Mita Plant (72) Inventor Yoshiaki Kawakami, 12-12 Technopark, Mita-shi, Hyogo Mitsubishi Materials F term in Mita factory (reference) 2G003 AA00 AG03 AG07 AG08 AG12 AH05 2G011 AA15 AA17 AA21 AB06 AB08 AC02 AC14 AF07 2H088 FA12 FA30 4M106 AA02 BA01 CA01 DD06 DD09

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A contact probe in which a plurality of pattern wirings are formed on a surface of a film main body, and a tip end of each of the pattern wirings is made to protrude from a front end of the film main body to be a contact pin. A contact probe, wherein a slit is formed in the contact probe, and the contact probe is divided into a contact portion capable of contacting an object to be inspected and a non-contact portion. 2. The contact probe according to claim 1, wherein an elastic body is disposed in the slit.