JP2007086025A - Contact probe, probe unit, and probe card - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a contact probe that easily assembles a number of microprobes and enables ample correspondence to the demands for narrowing of pitches of an electronic component. <P>SOLUTION: The contact probe is a cantilever type contact probe having a tip end for contacting a surface to be measured, a spring section connected to the tip end, and a support section for supporting the tip end and the spring section. The tip end, spring section, and support section are elastically deformed, when the support section is pressed against the tip end to the surface to be measured, by the spring section, while keeping the abuttment of the tip end and the surface. The tip end is a plate structure, having a flat surface along the direction of elastic deformation, and thickness t<SB>1</SB>of the tip end and a thickness t<SB>2</SB>of the spring section are such that t<SB>1</SB><t<SB>2</SB>. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a contact probe for performing an electrical test by contacting an electrode of an electronic component such as a semiconductor IC chip or a liquid crystal device. Moreover, it is related with the probe unit and probe card provided with a contact probe.

  In order to electrically inspect electronic components on which IC and LSI are mounted at high density, a probe card having a large number of contact probes is used. FIG. 6 shows a basic structure of a conventional cantilever type contact probe. FIG. 6A is a side view, and FIG. 6B is a plan view. As shown in FIG. 6, the contact probe has a tip portion 61, a spring portion 62, a support portion 63, and a wiring portion 64, and is held on the probe card by the support portion 63. At the time of inspection, the tip 61 of the contact probe is pressed against the electrode of the electronic component to collect various data of the electronic component. The contact probe has a spring structure in order to obtain reliable contact with the electrode of the electronic component to be inspected and not to damage the electrode to be measured.

  A probe card for attaching the contact probe is illustrated in FIG. FIG. 7A is a perspective view, and FIG. 7B is a cross-sectional view taken along VIIB-VIIB. As shown in FIG. 7A, a large number of wirings and the like are arranged in the radial direction on the upper surface of the probe card (FIG. 7A shows a part thereof). Further, as shown in FIG. 7B, the probe card 70 is supported in a cantilevered manner by the disc-shaped substrate 72, the needle pressing portion 74 incorporated in the substrate 72, and the needle pressing portion 74. It consists of a plurality of contact probes 76. The contact probe 76 is arranged in the radial direction of the substrate 72.

  Today, with the progress of high integration of ICs and LSIs and the increase in the arrangement density of electrodes as inspection objects, integration of contact probes is required. For this reason, a probe has been proposed in which the cantilever is shortened and the wiring portion, which has conventionally been a cantilever extension member, has an insulating structure (see Non-Patent Document 1).

  Further, the tip of the pattern wiring formed on the film is bent and protruded to form a contact pin. The contact pin is composed of a first metal layer made of a nickel-manganese alloy, and a second metal layer having high toughness and conductivity. The contact probe comprised from this is disclosed (refer patent document 1). Since this contact probe is bent with the second metal layer having high toughness and electrical conductivity on the outside, it can be used repeatedly and is excellent in high frequency characteristics. However, the shape corresponds to a narrow pitch, but in practice, if the pitch is narrowed, the width of the contact pin becomes narrow and it becomes difficult to obtain a sufficient spring force.

On the other hand, in order to increase the arrangement density of contact probes and avoid contact between adjacent probes, a probe unit having a multi-stage structure is known in which the probe mounting height in the needle holder is changed between adjacent probes ( Patent Document 2). As shown in FIG. 8 (a), the length from the tip portion 86a of the contact probe 86 to the needle presser 84 and L _1, the length of the tip portion 86a as shown in FIG. 8 (b) and L ₂ In this case, L ₁ and L ₂ are configured to be larger as the attachment position of the contact probe 86 in the needle presser 84 is closer to the substrate 82. For this reason, the tip portions are arranged in a row to increase the arrangement density of the tip portions and to reduce the difference between the needle pressure and the slip amount between adjacent probes.
JP-A-11-44708 JP-A-10-123175 Dave Oh et al., “Application of Larger Probing area by cantilevered probes” South West Test Workshop 2005, 07/06.

  However, since the conventional cantilever-type contact probe is difficult to assemble a large number of fine probes, it is difficult to meet the demand for further miniaturization.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a contact probe that can easily assemble a large number of fine probes and can sufficiently meet the demand for a narrow pitch of electronic components. Moreover, it is providing the probe unit and probe card provided with this contact probe.

A contact probe according to the present invention is a cantilever-type contact probe including a tip portion that contacts a surface to be measured, a spring portion connected to the tip portion, and a support portion that supports the tip portion and the spring portion. The spring portion and the support portion are configured such that when the support portion is fixed and the tip portion is pressed against the surface to be measured, the tip portion is elastically deformed by the spring portion while being in contact with the surface to be measured. a plate-like structure having a flat surface along a direction elastically deforms, and the thickness t ₂ of the thickness t ₁ and the spring portion of the tip portion, characterized in that it is a t 1 _{<t 2.}

  The contact probe preferably has a mode in which a step is provided on the support portion. The contact probe is preferably made of nickel or a nickel-based alloy, and at least the surface of the tip is preferably made of rhodium or a palladium-based alloy. Also, a step of forming a resin mold by lithography or a mold, a step of forming a layer made of a metal material on the conductive mold on the conductive substrate by electroforming, a step of removing the resin mold, and removing the conductive substrate A contact probe manufactured by a method comprising the steps is preferable.

After the step of forming a layer made of a metal material by electroforming, a tip portion having a thickness t ₁ can be formed by machining or electric discharge machining. On the other hand, after forming the tip portion by a process of forming a resin mold by lithography or a mold and a process of forming a layer made of a metal material on the resin mold by electroforming on a conductive substrate, the resin is formed by lithography or a mold. The contact probe of the present invention can also be manufactured by a method of forming a spring portion and a support portion by a step of forming a mold and a step of forming a layer made of a metal material on a resin mold by electroforming on a conductive substrate. it can.

  The probe unit of the present invention includes the above-described contact probe and a resin needle press portion that is formed by a mold and supports the contact probe, and a probe unit in which the contact probe is fitted in the hole portion of the needle press portion, or A probe unit in which a contact probe is joined to the groove of the needle presser is preferable. A probe unit in which a wiring made of a flexible printed circuit board is attached to a contact probe is useful, and a probe unit having a multistage structure in which a plurality of contact probes are arranged side by side is preferable.

A probe unit in which the distance between the spring portion of the contact probe and the substrate to which the contact probe is connected is different between adjacent contact probes is preferable. Further, it is preferable that the contact probe having the tip portion thickness t ₁ and the spring portion thickness t ₂ of t ₁ = t ₂ is provided on the substrate side to which the contact probe is connected.

The probe card of the present invention can have a multi-stage structure by arranging a plurality of contact probes. In this probe card, it is preferable that the distance between the spring portion of the contact probe and the substrate to which the contact probe is connected be different between adjacent contact probes. The tip portion thickness t ₁ and the spring portion thickness t ₂ It is preferable to have a contact probe with t ₁ = t ₂ on the substrate side to which the contact probe is connected. Further, an aspect including the above-described probe unit is also useful.

  It is possible to provide a contact probe that is easy to assemble a large number of fine probes and can sufficiently meet the demand for a narrow pitch of electronic components.

(Contact probe)
The cantilever type contact probe of the present invention is illustrated in FIG. Fig.1 (a) is a side view, FIG.1 (b) is a top view. As shown in FIG. 1A, this contact probe includes a tip portion 1 that contacts the surface to be measured, a spring portion 2 that is connected to the tip portion 1, and a support portion 3 that supports the tip portion 1 and the spring portion 2. In the example shown in FIG. The tip portion 1, the spring portion 2, and the support portion 3 are elastically deformed by the spring portion 2 while the tip portion 1 is in contact with the surface to be measured when the support portion 3 is fixed and the tip portion 1 is pressed against the surface to be measured. To do. As shown in FIG. 1, the tip portion 1 is a plate-like structure having a plane along the elastic deformation direction (the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 1A), and the tip portion 1 has a thickness t ₁ . the thickness t ₂ of the spring portion 2, and characterized in that the t 1 _{<t 2.} By reducing the thickness t ₁ of the tip 1, it is possible to correspond to the pitch of the measurement target electrode, it is possible to provide a cantilever-type contact probe a narrow pitch. Further, by increasing the thickness t ₂ of the spring portion 2, a sufficient spring force can not be obtained, the assembly is easy.

In FIG. 2, a plurality of contact probes shown in FIG. 1 are arranged side by side, and the direction in which the tip portion 21 having a plate-like structure is elastically deformed by the spring portion 22 (the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 2A) is aligned. An example of a multi-stage structure is shown. 2A is a side view, and FIG. 2B is a plan view. FIG. 2 (c) shows an example in which the three contact probes shown in FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b) are arranged in a multi-stage configuration, and then another set is added. . FIG.2 (c) is the side view seen from the front-end | tip part direction. According to the configuration of the present invention, the thickness t ₂ of the thickness t ₁ and the spring portion 22 of the tip 21, because it is t 1 _{<t 2,} as shown in FIG. 2, the leading edge in a row It can arrange | position and the front-end | tip parts can be arrange | positioned closely. Therefore, it is possible to cope with a narrow pitch of the measurement electrodes in the measurement regions A and B. Moreover, even if it arrange | positions in that way, adjacent probes do not contact. Therefore, as compared with the measurement region C of the conventional multi-stage contact probe shown in FIG. 8B, the contact probe of the present invention can easily reduce the pitch.

FIG. 18 is a side view of the contact probe of the present invention as viewed from the front end direction with a multi-stage configuration. As shown in FIG. 18, more precisely, the pitch p, the number of steps n (n = 3 in the case of FIG. 18), the thickness t _{1 of} the tip 83, the gap g _{1 of the} tip, and the thickness of the spring 81 If t _{2 is} the gap g ₂ of the spring portion of the same stage, it is necessary to design p = t ₁ + g ₁ and satisfy t ₂ + g ₂ = p × n. From the viewpoint of assembly, g ₁ is 2 μm to 15 μm is preferable, and 5 μm to 10 μm is more preferable. Therefore, the probe unit of the present invention in which a plurality of contact probes are arranged side by side to have a multistage structure can cope with a narrow pitch of the measurement electrodes. Moreover, since the probe card of the present invention is provided with such a contact probe, it is useful for high-density inspection. In the case of a multi-stage configuration, an embodiment in which an insulating coating layer or the like is formed on the surface of the contact probe such as a spring portion and a support portion is preferable.

  The material of the contact probe is excellent in spring characteristics such as toughness, high hardness, and nickel or a nickel-based alloy is preferable because it is suitable for manufacturing by the LIGA (Lithographie Galvanoformung Abformung) method described later. Preferably contains 40 mass% or more of nickel. Furthermore, since the contact probe is also used for a wafer burn-in test and requires heat resistance, a nickel manganese alloy having excellent heat resistance is suitable as a material for the contact probe. The nickel manganese alloy preferably has a manganese content of 3% by mass or less. Further, the crystal grain size of nickel or the like is preferably 50 nm or less from the viewpoint of increasing the spring strength and elastic limit of the contact probe.

  Normally, a contact probe is used by being pressed against an electrode that is a surface to be measured several tens of millions to a million times, so that oxide film shavings from the electrode surface generated during scrubbing adhere to the tip of the contact probe. Cheap. However, if the tip part in contact with the electrode to be measured, or at least the surface layer of the tip part, is made of a palladium-based alloy such as rhodium or palladium-cobalt, adhesion of shavings to the tip part can be reduced. By maintaining the shape of the tip, it is easy to prevent local load concentration at the time of contact with the surface to be measured and to avoid breakage of the electrode. Moreover, electrical contact and corrosion resistance can be improved. From such a viewpoint, the thickness of the surface layer portion made of rhodium or palladium alloy is preferably 0.05 μm to 1 μm, and the palladium alloy preferably contains 50% by mass or more of palladium. Such a surface layer portion can be formed by barrel plating or the like.

  According to the manufacturing method described later, the tip portion of the contact probe, the spring portion, and the support portion are formed through a separate electroforming process, and therefore, the material of the tip portion is different from the material of the spring portion and the support portion. Can be. Therefore, rhodium or palladium alloy is used for the tip portion where oxide film shavings are likely to adhere from the electrode to be measured, while nickel or copper is used for the spring portion that requires spring characteristics and hardness. It is possible to select a material such as a nickel-based alloy.

(Contact probe manufacturing method)
The contact probe of the present invention includes a step of forming a resin mold by lithography, a step of forming a layer made of a metal material on the conductive mold on the conductive substrate, a step of removing the resin mold, and a conductive substrate. Can be manufactured by a method including a step of removing. Since the contact probe manufactured by such a method has a quadrangular cross section, it is easier to assemble a fine probe into the resin needle presser than a probe having a circular cross section. In addition, since the conventional contact probe was manufactured by bending a tungsten wire, a probe having a complicated shape could not be formed. However, in the present invention, by adopting lithography, the assembly can be easily assembled. The probe can be easily formed. In machining, only an accuracy of about ± 10 μm can be obtained. However, according to the method of the present invention, a highly accurate contact probe of ± 1 μm can be manufactured with good reproducibility and the material composition is uniform. The spring characteristics can be kept uniform. In addition, since variation in the overall length can be reduced and variation in the shape of the contact portion in contact with the surface to be measured can be reduced, generation of excessive stress can be suppressed even for the brittle electrode. Furthermore, since the fine structure can be integrally formed, the number of parts can be reduced, and the part cost and the assembly cost can be reduced.

  An example of the manufacturing process of such a contact probe is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4A, first, a resist 42 is formed on the conductive substrate 41. As the conductive substrate, for example, a metal substrate made of copper, nickel, stainless steel, or the like can be used. Alternatively, a silicon substrate on which a metal material such as titanium or chromium is sputtered can be used. For the resist, a resin material mainly composed of polymethacrylate such as polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), or a chemically amplified resin material sensitive to ultraviolet rays (UV) or X-rays is used. The thickness of the resist can be arbitrarily set according to the thickness of the tip of the contact probe to be formed, and can be set to 10 μm to 200 μm, for example.

  Next, a mask 43 is disposed on the resist 42, and UV or X-ray 44 is irradiated through the mask 43. When a structure having a thickness exceeding 100 μm and having a high aspect ratio is required, or when a highly accurate structure of about ± 2 μm is required, X-rays having a wavelength shorter than UV (wavelength: 200 nm) (wavelength: 0 .4 nm) is preferred. Further, it is more preferable to use synchrotron radiation X-ray (hereinafter referred to as “SR”) having high directivity among X-rays. The LIGA method using SR enables deep lithography, and can produce a large number of contact probes having a thickness of several hundreds of micrometers with high accuracy on the order of microns. On the other hand, when UV is used, a merit can be pursued in terms of cost.

  The mask 43 includes an absorbing layer 43a such as UV or X-ray 44 formed according to the contact probe pattern, and a translucent substrate 43b. As the translucent substrate 43b, silicon nitride, silicon, diamond, titanium, or the like is used for the X-ray mask, and quartz glass is used for the UV mask. In the case of an X-ray mask, heavy metal such as gold, tungsten, or tantalum or a compound thereof is used for the absorption layer 43a, and in the case of a UV mask, chromium or the like is used. Of the resist 42, the resist 42a is exposed and deteriorated by the X-ray 44 or UV irradiation, but the resist 42b is not exposed by the absorption layer 43a. For this reason, in the case of a positive type resist, only the part that has been altered (molecular chain is cut) is removed by development, and a resin mold 42b as shown in FIG. 4B is obtained. On the other hand, when a negative resist is used, the exposed part remains and the non-exposed part is removed, so that a mask pattern opposite to that of the positive resist is required. The resin mold 42b can be formed by a mold by a method described later.

  Next, electroforming is performed, and a metal material layer 45a is deposited on the resin mold 42b as shown in FIG. 4 (c). Electroforming refers to forming a layer made of a metal material on a conductive substrate using a metal ion solution. By performing electroforming using the conductive substrate 41 as a plating electrode, the metal material layer 45a can be deposited on the resin mold 42b. The metal material layer 45a becomes the tip of the contact probe of the present invention. As the material of the tip portion, nickel or a nickel alloy can be used as in the spring portion, but rhodium or a palladium-based alloy can also be selected in order to reduce contact resistance.

  After electroforming, if necessary, the tip is made of a metal material layer 45a as shown in FIG. 4 (d) by aligning to a predetermined thickness by polishing or grinding and removing the resin mold by wet etching or plasma etching. It can be formed on the conductive substrate 41. Next, as shown in FIG. 4E, a resist 47 is formed, for example, about 30 μm to 200 μm, and a mask 46 is disposed on the resist 47 in the same manner as in FIG. Irradiation and development are performed to form a resin mold 47b as shown in FIG. Similarly, the resin mold 47b can be formed by a mold.

  Thereafter, similarly to FIG. 4C, a metal material layer 45b is formed by electroforming, and when polished or ground as necessary, a metal structure that becomes a spring portion and a support portion in the contact probe is obtained. Next, as shown in FIG. 4G, the resin mold 47b is removed by wet etching or plasma etching. Finally, when the electroformed part is removed from the conductive substrate 41, as shown in FIG. 4H, a metal material layer 45a corresponding to the tip part, and a metal material layer 45b corresponding to the spring part and the support part are formed. The contact probe 45 of the present invention can be obtained. The obtained contact probe can be coated with a coating layer made of rhodium having a thickness of 0.05 μm to 1 μm, if necessary.

According to another aspect of the contact probe of the present invention, a resin mold is formed by lithography or a mold, and a metal material layer is formed on the formed resin mold by electroforming on a conductive substrate. It can be manufactured by a method of forming a tip portion having a thickness t ₁ by machining or electric discharge machining. This is a method in which after forming a metal material layer having the same thickness (t ₂ ), only the portion corresponding to the tip is processed thinly, and the process is illustrated in FIGS.

In the method illustrated in FIG. 14, first, as shown in FIG. 14A, a resist 42 having a thickness of 30 μm to 200 μm is formed on a conductive substrate 41 in the same manner as described above. When lithography is performed and development is performed, a resin mold 42b as shown in FIG. 14B is obtained. Next, as shown in FIG. 14C, electroforming is performed to form a metal material layer 45c on the resin mold 42b, and polishing or grinding is performed as necessary. Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 14 (d), machining such as milling or dicing is performed to form a thin plate-like tip portion. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 14E, when the resin mold 42b is removed and the conductive substrate 41 is removed, a contact probe 45 of the present invention as shown in FIG. 14F is obtained. When the tip portion is formed by machining, it is preferable to leave the resin mold as in this example from the viewpoint that the processing pressure can be reduced. The contact probe 45 has a thickness of t ₁ of the metal material layer 45a corresponding to the tip portion, it has a thickness of t ₂ of the metal material layer 45b which corresponds to the spring portion and the support portion, t ₁ <t ₂ It is.

  In the method illustrated in FIG. 15, first, as shown in FIG. 15A, a resist 57 having a thickness of 30 μm to 200 μm is formed on the conductive substrate 51 as described above, and then the X-ray 54 is passed through the mask 58. When a lithography is performed and development is performed, a resin mold 57a as shown in FIG. 15B is obtained. Next, as shown in FIG. 15C, electroforming is performed to form a metal material layer 55c on the resin mold 57a, and polishing or grinding is performed as necessary. Next, as shown in FIG. 15 (d), after removing the resin mold 57a, electric discharge machining is performed to form a thin plate-like tip as shown in FIG. 15 (e).

Electric discharge machining is a machining method that dissolves and removes an object to be processed using electric discharge energy between the object to be processed and the electric discharge machining electrode in electric discharge machining oil, and can be processed in a micron order. In the example shown in FIG. 15, the electric discharge machining is performed after the resin mold 57a is removed. However, the electric discharge machining may be performed before the resin mold 57a is removed. Many can be formed on the substrate and processed together. Thereafter, when the conductive substrate 51 is removed, a contact probe 55 of the present invention as shown in FIG. 15 (f) is obtained. The contact probe 55, the thickness of the metal material layer 55a corresponding to the front end portion is the t _1, a t ₂ is the thickness of the metal material layer 55b which corresponds to the spring portion and the support portion, t ₁ <t ₂ It is.

  The contact probe of the present invention includes a step of forming a resin mold with a mold, a step of forming a layer made of a metal material on the conductive mold on the conductive substrate, a step of removing the resin mold, And a step of removing the substrate. Also by this method, a contact probe having a small shape variation, a uniform material composition, and uniform characteristics can be manufactured as in the above-described manufacturing method of forming a resin mold by lithography, which is suitable for high-density inspection. A contact probe can be provided. Further, since the fine structure can be integrally formed, the number of parts can be reduced, and the part cost and the assembly cost can be reduced. Furthermore, mass production of contact probes is possible using the same mold.

  A method of manufacturing a mold to be used is illustrated in FIG. This method is basically the same as the method of manufacturing the contact probe shown in FIG. 4. First, as shown in FIG. 16A, a resist 67 is formed on a conductive substrate 68. Next, when a mask 66a is arranged, irradiated with X-rays, and developed, a resin mold 67a as shown in FIG. 16B can be formed. Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 16C, electroforming is performed to deposit a metal material layer 65a. After electroforming, if necessary, the thickness is adjusted to a predetermined thickness by polishing or grinding, and the resin mold 67a is removed by wet etching or plasma etching as shown in FIG. Next, as shown in FIG. 16 (e), a resist 67b is formed, a mask 66b is arranged, irradiated with X-rays, and developed, whereby a resin mold 67c as shown in FIG. 16 (f) is obtained. . Thereafter, a metal material layer 65b is formed by electroforming, polished or ground as necessary, and the resin mold 67c is removed to obtain a mold 60 as shown in FIG. A mold can also be formed by the method shown in FIG. In addition, when forming a metal mold | die, it is preferable to improve the adhesiveness of a board | substrate and an electroformed structure.

  A method of manufacturing a contact probe using the obtained mold is illustrated in FIG. First, as shown in FIG. 5A, a concave resin mold 53 is formed by a mold such as emboss molding, reactive molding, or injection molding using a mold 52a having a convex portion. As the resin, a thermoplastic resin such as an acrylic resin such as polymethyl methacrylate, a polyurethane resin, or a polyacetal resin such as polyoxymethylene is used.

  Next, the resin mold 53 is polished to form a penetrating resin mold 53a as shown in FIG. 5B, and then attached to the conductive substrate 51 as shown in FIG. 5C. Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 5D, a metal material layer 55a is deposited on the resin mold 53a by electroforming. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 5E, after polishing or grinding, the resin mold 53a is removed, and the conductive substrate 51 is removed, whereby the contact probe 55 of the present invention as shown in FIG. 5F is obtained. be able to. The obtained contact probe can be coated with a coating layer made of rhodium or palladium alloy having a thickness of 0.05 μm to 1 μm, if necessary.

(Probe unit)
The contact probe of the present invention can be fixed to a ceramic ring or the like with an adhesive as in the case of the conventional contact probe. However, it can be assembled with higher accuracy and is easy to mount. As shown in FIG. 4, it is preferable to mount directly on the substrate 71 without a ceramic ring. FIG. 17A is a side view, and FIG. 17B is a plan view with the substrate removed. The contact probe support 75 and the substrate 71 can be joined by soldering, ultrasonic joining or resistance welding. As shown in FIG. 17 (a), the distance L between the spring portion 73 and the substrate 71 to be joined is adjusted to be different between adjacent contact probes so that the multi-stage spring portions 73 are not in contact with each other. Is preferred.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the probe unit of the present invention includes a contact probe 36 and a resin needle presser 34 and is joined to a substrate 32 of a probe card. The contact probe 36 is supported by a resin needle presser 34 at a support 36a. By using the resin needle holder, assembly of a fine contact probe is facilitated. Further, when the contact probe 36 is assembled to the resin needle presser 34, as shown in FIG. 3, if the support 36 a has a step 36 a 1, the assembly is further facilitated and the length of the spring portion can be easily adjusted. The positional accuracy can be improved.

  A conventional cantilever type contact probe is linear. On the other hand, since the cantilever type contact probe of the present invention is manufactured by lithography or the like, the shape can be freely designed. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, the step 36a1 can be easily formed in the support portion 36a, and when it is fixed to the needle presser 34 such as a fixing ring like a conventional cantilever, positioning is facilitated. This is advantageous. Further, for example, the contact probe is formed so that the support portion and the spring portion are at right angles, and can be directly connected on the substrate without using a needle pressing portion such as a fixing ring. By changing the distance between the spring portion and the substrate to which the contact probe is connected between the adjacent contact probes, the gap between the adjacent contact probes can be controlled with high accuracy.

As shown in FIG. 10, when the contact probe has a multi-stage configuration, the contact probe located on the substrate side to which the contact probe is connected has a long tip portion as shown in FIG. Is likely to occur. Therefore, the contact probe and the thickness t ₂ of the thickness t ₁ and the spring portion of the tip portion is t ₁ = t _2, when arranged on the substrate side to connect the contact probe, to enhance the mechanical strength of the distal portion It is preferable at the point which can do.

  The structure of the resin needle holder is shown in FIG. FIG. 9A is a front view seen from the direction of the tip of the contact probe to be assembled, and a side view thereof is shown in FIG. 9B. When a contact probe is joined to the rectangular groove 90 of the resin needle pressing portion as shown in FIG. 9, a probe unit as shown in FIG. 3 is obtained. As described above, the contact probe of the present invention obtained by a combination of lithography or a mold and electroforming has a quadrangular cross section, so by joining to the square groove of the resin needle holder, Compared to a conventional probe having a circular cross section, it can be assembled easily.

  Applying this method to create a multi-stage structure as shown in FIG. 10, the second-stage contact probes are arranged on the first-stage contact probes as is done with conventional cantilevers. However, this does not provide high accuracy. Therefore, in order to increase accuracy, as shown in FIG. 12, a plurality of spacers 24 with grooves 20 are laminated on the resin needle presser, and contact probes are formed in the formed holes 23 and grooves 20. The aspect which joins and makes it a multistage structure is preferable. FIG. 12 shows the resin needle presser in this mode. FIG. 12 (a) is a front view seen from the direction of the tip of the contact probe to be assembled, and a side view thereof is shown in FIG. 12 (b).

  The resin needle presser 34 shown in FIG. 3 and the spacer 24 shown in FIG. 12 are formed by forming a convex mold by the above-described lithography and electroforming method or dicing method, and using the formed die. It can be formed by a mold such as emboss molding, reactive molding or injection molding. As the resin, a thermoplastic resin such as an acrylic resin, a polyurethane resin, or a polyacetal resin is suitable.

  Another aspect of the resin needle presser is shown in FIG. FIG. 11 (a) is a front view seen from the direction of the tip of the contact probe to be assembled, and a side view thereof is shown in FIG. 11 (b). When a contact probe is fitted into the square hole 13 of the resin needle pressing portion as shown in FIG. 11, a probe unit as shown in FIG. 10 is obtained. Assembly can be done easily by inserting a contact probe with a square cross section into a square hole formed in the plastic needle holder, making it easy to assemble and supporting a narrow pitch of the electrode being measured. can do.

  In the probe unit shown in FIG. 10, the contact probe 16 has a wiring portion 16c. However, the contact probe 16 can be attached as a wiring component after forming the contact probe without integrally forming the wiring portion 16c. Although the wiring component can be an insulating coated wire, as shown in FIG. 13, if the wiring component is an FPC (flexible print circuit) 17, it becomes easy to cope with a narrow pitch, and further the high frequency characteristics are improved. This is advantageous.

(Probe card)
The probe card of the present invention can have a multi-stage structure by arranging a plurality of contact probes. In this probe card, it is preferable that the distance between the spring portion of the contact probe and the substrate to which the contact probe is connected be different between adjacent contact probes. The tip portion thickness t ₁ and the spring portion thickness t ₂ It is preferable to have a contact probe with t ₁ = t ₂ on the substrate side to which the contact probe is connected. Further, an aspect including the above-described probe unit is also useful.

  The embodiment disclosed this time should be considered as illustrative in all points and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

  A probe card useful for high-density inspection can be provided.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the cantilever type | mold contact probe of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example which arranged the contact probe of this invention side by side, and was set as the multistage structure. It is a figure which shows the structure of the probe unit of this invention. It is process drawing which shows the manufacturing method of the contact probe of this invention. It is process drawing which shows the manufacturing method of the contact probe of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the conventional cantilever type | mold contact probe. It is a figure which shows the basic structure of the conventional probe card. It is a figure which shows the structure of the conventional probe unit which used the contact probe as the multistage structure. It is a figure which shows the structure of the resin needle holding parts used for the probe unit of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the probe unit of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the resin needle holding parts used for the probe unit of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the resin needle holding parts used for the probe unit of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the probe unit of this invention. It is process drawing which shows the manufacturing method of the contact probe of this invention. It is process drawing which shows the manufacturing method of the contact probe of this invention. It is process drawing which shows the manufacturing method of the metal mold | die used for manufacture of the contact probe of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the joining aspect of the contact probe of this invention. It is the side view which made the contact probe of this invention multistage structure, and was seen from the front-end | tip part direction.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Tip part, 2 Spring part, 3,36a Support part, 20 Groove part, 23 Hole part, 34 Resin needle holder part, 36a1 Step, 41, 51 Conductive substrate, 42b, 53a Resin type, 52a, 52b Mold .

Claims (18)

A cantilever-type contact probe comprising a tip that contacts a surface to be measured, a spring connected to the tip, and a support that supports the tip and the spring, the tip, the spring, and The support portion is configured such that when the support portion is fixed and the tip portion is pressed against the surface to be measured, the tip portion is elastically deformed by the spring portion while being in contact with the surface to be measured, and the tip portion is elastically deformed. to a plate-like structure having a flat surface along the direction, the the thickness t ₂ of the thickness t ₁ and the spring portion of the distal end portion, a contact probe, which is a t 1 _{<t 2.}   The contact probe according to claim 1, wherein the support portion has a step.   The contact probe according to claim 1, which is made of nickel or a nickel-based alloy.   The contact probe according to claim 1, wherein at least the surface layer of the tip portion is made of rhodium or a palladium alloy. Forming a resin mold by lithography or metal mold;
Forming a layer made of a metal material on the conductive mold by electroforming on a conductive substrate;
Removing the resin mold;
The contact probe according to claim 1, manufactured by a method comprising a step of removing a conductive substrate. A layer of a metal material after said step of forming the electroformed, contact probe according to claim 5 produced by the process comprising the step of forming the tip portion of the thickness t ₁ by machining or electrical discharge machining. Forming a resin mold by lithography or metal mold;
On the conductive substrate, after forming the tip portion by the step of forming a layer made of a metal material on the resin mold by electroforming,
Forming a resin mold by lithography or metal mold;
The contact probe according to claim 5, which is manufactured by a method of forming a spring portion and a support portion by a step of forming a layer made of a metal material on the resin mold by electroforming on a conductive substrate.   A probe unit comprising: the contact probe according to claim 1; and a resin needle presser formed by a mold and supporting the contact probe.   The probe unit according to claim 8, wherein a contact probe is fitted in a hole portion of the needle presser portion.   The probe unit according to claim 8, wherein a contact probe is joined to the groove of the needle presser.   The probe unit according to claim 8, wherein a wiring made of a flexible printed circuit board is attached to the contact probe.   The probe unit according to claim 8, wherein a plurality of contact probes are arranged side by side to form a multistage structure.   The probe unit according to claim 12, wherein a distance between a spring portion of the contact probe and a substrate to which the contact probe is connected differs between adjacent contact probes. 13. The probe unit according to claim 12, wherein a contact probe having a tip end thickness t ₁ and a spring portion thickness t ₂ of t ₁ = t ₂ is provided on a substrate side to which the contact probe is connected.   A probe card having a multistage structure in which a plurality of contact probes according to claim 1 are arranged side by side.   The probe card according to claim 15, wherein the distance between the spring portion of the contact probe and the substrate to which the contact probe is connected differs between adjacent contact probes. The probe card according to claim 15, wherein the probe card has a contact probe having a tip t thickness t ₁ and a spring thickness t ₂ of t ₁ = t ₂ on a substrate side to which the contact probe is connected.   The probe card according to claim 15, comprising the probe unit according to claim 8.

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