JP2008116284A - Contact probe, and method for manufacturing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a contact probe which has adequate strength and can respond to a measurement of a micro-sized object to be tested. <P>SOLUTION: Metallic pin bodies 31 are formed on both surfaces of an insulating film 2F by conducting an electrolytic deposition process, and then an area polymerizing with the pin bodies 31 in the insulating film 2F is separated from other areas along with the pin bodies 31, thereby forming contact pins 3 on both sides of a substrate 2. Then, a portion corresponding to head sections 3a of the contact pins 3 is removed therefrom at the distal end 2a of the substrate 2. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a contact probe used for four-terminal measurement and a method for manufacturing the contact probe.

  Mounting parts such as IC chips mounted on a circuit board are usually connected and fixed by soldering leads to a circuit pattern, and four-terminal measurement is adopted as a measurement method for determining the presence or absence of connection failure. Yes.

  The four-terminal measurement is for measuring two voltage contact pins for measuring the state of a voltage drop that occurs when a current is passed, and two current contact pins for passing a current to an inspected object such as an IC chip. This is performed using a contact pin, a current is passed from the current contact pin, a voltage drop determined by the current and the resistance of the object to be inspected is measured, and the measured value is a preset reference range value. If it is within the range, it is determined that the connection is good, and if it is outside the range, it is determined that the connection is poor.

Examples of contact probes used for such four-terminal measurement include a rod-shaped voltage measurement contact pin and a cylindrical current contact pin surrounding the voltage measurement contact pin with an insulator. Coaxial type provided with a sleeve for slidably holding the current contact pin in the forward and backward direction, and a spring provided between the current contact pin and the sleeve and biasing the current contact pin in the distal direction Is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 9-138250 A

  However, since the conventional contact probe requires a sleeve and a spring as described above, the structure is complicated and not only causes an increase in cost, but also has a limit in reducing the diameter of the entire contact probe. There may be a case where it is not possible to cope with an inspected object such as an IC chip that is further miniaturized with the progress of ultra-high density in semiconductor technology. In addition, since the conventional contact probe is configured by assembling the current contact pin and the voltage measurement contact pin with an insulator interposed therebetween, such assembling work is more and more accompanied by downsizing of the entire probe. It has a manufacturing problem that it becomes dense and requires a high degree of assembly accuracy.

  On the other hand, a fine needle made of, for example, tungsten having a diameter of 80 μm to 200 μm is applied as the contact pin, and a fine needle that functions as a current contact pin and a fine pin that functions as a voltage measurement contact pin for one object to be inspected. Although an aspect that enables at least contact with the needle is also considered, the strength of each fine needle is reduced when the diameter of each fine needle is reduced so as to cope with the miniaturization of the inspection object. It is difficult to hold very small diameter fine needles in a standing position in a stable manner on a holder such as a socket independently. As a result, these fine needles must be brought into precise contact with the object to be inspected. May not be able to be performed, resulting in a problem of lack of practicality.

  The present invention has been made paying attention to such a problem, and a main purpose thereof is a contact probe having an appropriate strength and capable of measuring a very small object to be inspected, and such a contact probe. It is in providing the manufacturing method of.

  That is, the contact probe of the present invention is used for four-terminal measurement, and includes a substrate and a pair of contact pins provided on both surfaces of the substrate, and the substrate is disposed on both surfaces of the insulator. The insulating film in which each electrode layer is laminated is cut in accordance with the width dimension of the contact pin, and each contact pin is subjected to an electric analysis in a region corresponding to the width dimension of the contact pin in each electrode layer. A pin body made of a metal that has been taken out is provided, and in the state where the pin body is formed on both surfaces of the insulating film, a region that overlaps with the pin body of the insulating film is combined with the pin body from other regions. The substrate is removed and the tip of the substrate corresponding to the tip of the contact pin is removed.

  If this is the case, the pin main body is laminated on both surfaces of the substrate by electrolytic deposition, so that it is easy and accurate to laminate without requiring the precise work of assembling the parts together as in the past. In addition, the thickness dimension (or diameter dimension) of the entire contact probe can be made as small as possible by adjusting the amount of electrodeposited material such as metal constituting the pin body. It is possible to make one of the contact pins function as a current contact pin, and the other contact pin functions as a voltage measurement pin, so that it can suitably cope with the measurement of an inspected object having a very small size. it can. Furthermore, since the pin main body is made of metal, it is possible to secure an appropriate rigidity of the entire contact probe sandwiching the substrate by each of the pin main bodies. It can be held in a posture. In addition, since the tip of the substrate corresponding to the tip of the contact pin is removed, each contact pin can be brought into precise contact with the object to be inspected, ensuring good conductivity and being practical. It will be excellent.

  In particular, since the pin body is formed from a tungsten alloy electrolytically deposited on each electrode layer, sufficient strength and elasticity are secured as a structure of a contact probe having such a pin body as a pair. can do.

  In order to further improve conductivity and oxidation resistance, the contact pins may be provided with a plating layer on the outer surface of the pin body.

  The contact probe manufacturing method of the present invention also includes a method of irradiating the resist coated on both surfaces of the insulating film formed by laminating the electrode layers on both surfaces of the insulator with radiated light through a mask. A lithography process for forming a plurality of resist removal portions having a width corresponding to at least the width of the contact pins at a predetermined pitch, and a metal for each of the electrode layers exposed in the resist removal portions formed by the lithography process. Electrodeposition step of electrolytically depositing a pin to form a pin body, and a region of the pin body and the insulating film that overlaps with the pin body, a region of the resist remaining portion and the insulating film that does not overlap with the pin body A step of removing from the tip of the substrate corresponding to the tip of the contact pin A substrate obtained by cutting the insulating film according to the width dimension of the contact pin, and a pair of contact pins provided on both sides of the substrate and having at least the pin body. A contact probe is manufactured.

  With such a manufacturing method, mass production is possible while being highly accurate compared to the conventional mode requiring high assembly accuracy, and in consideration of the size of the object to be inspected which is miniaturized. By adjusting the amount of electrolytic deposition and the like, the dimensions of the contact probe can be easily changed, and the versatility is enhanced.

  As a specific embodiment, there is an embodiment in which the electrolytic deposition step forms a pin body by electrolytic deposition of a tungsten alloy on the electrode layer.

  Furthermore, you may make it pass through the plating process which plates the outer surface of the said pin main body.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to form a laminated contact probe easily and accurately without requiring high assembling accuracy of assembling each component as in the prior art. In addition, the thickness and width of the entire contact probe can be made as small as possible by adjusting the amount of electrolytically deposited material such as metal constituting the pin body. It can respond suitably also to the measurement of. In addition, the metal pin main body can ensure an appropriate rigidity of the entire contact probe, and the contact pins 3 are preferably brought into contact with the inspection object W in preference to the substrate 2 so as to have good conductivity. This ensures a more accurate measurement.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  A contact probe 1 according to this embodiment is used for four-terminal measurement. As shown in FIG. 1, a single substrate 2 and a pair of contact pins 3 provided on both surfaces of the substrate 2 are provided. It is equipped.

  The substrate 2 is obtained by cutting an insulating film 2 </ b> F (see FIG. 2) in which electrode layers 22 are laminated on both surfaces of an insulator 21 in accordance with the width dimension of the contact pin 3. As the insulator 21, one having flexibility and excellent impact resistance is suitable. In this embodiment, for example, a Teflon (registered trademark) resin having a thickness of 40 μm to 60 μm is applied. On the other hand, the electrode layer 22 only needs to be in the form of a thin film that forms an electrode, and in the present embodiment, a copper foil having a thickness of 10 μm to 18 μm is applied.

  Each contact pin 3 includes a pin body 31 made of metal electrolytically deposited in a region corresponding to the width dimension of the contact pin 3 in each electrode layer 22 of the insulating film 2F, and plating plated on the outer surface of the pin body 31. The layer 32 is provided. The pin body 31 is made of an electrodeposited material having high hardness, high toughness, and high conductivity. In this embodiment, as the electrodeposited material having such properties, a tungsten alloy (for example, a Ni—W alloy or Fe) is used. -W alloy) is applied. On the other hand, the plating layer 32 preferably has high conductivity and sufficient oxidation resistance, and is a gold plating layer in this embodiment.

  A method of manufacturing the contact probe 1 having such a configuration will be described with reference to FIGS.

  The contact probe 1 according to this embodiment is manufactured through a lithography process, an electrolytic deposition process, a drawing process, a plating process, and a removal process.

  In the lithography process, as shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, resist R is applied to both surfaces of the insulating film 2 </ b> F in which the electrode layers 22 are laminated on both surfaces of the insulator 21. By irradiating, the resist whose width dimension, length dimension, and thickness dimension correspond to the width dimension (for example, 100 μm), the length dimension (for example, 20 mm), and the thickness dimension of the contact pin 3 respectively on both surfaces of the insulating film 2F. This is a step of forming a plurality of removal portions R1 at a predetermined pitch. The thickness dimension of the resist R applied to the insulating film 2F is set to be approximately the same as or slightly higher than the thickness dimension (for example, 25 μm) of each contact pin 3 to be molded. The mask M applied to the present embodiment is one in which exposure holes M1 having dimensions corresponding to the width dimension and length dimension of the contact pin 3 are formed at a predetermined pitch, as shown in FIGS. Yes, by irradiating the resist R with radiation light through such a mask M, the resist R in the portion exposed to the radiation light, that is, the region corresponding to the exposure hole M1, breaks the molecular chain, and a specific developer. As a result, a plurality of resist removal portions R1 corresponding to the outer shape of the contact pins 3 are formed at a predetermined pitch (see FIG. 5). The electrode layer 22 is exposed at each resist removal portion R1.

  In the electrolytic deposition process, as shown in FIG. 6, a metal (tungsten alloy in this embodiment) is electrolytically deposited on the electrode layer 22 exposed in each resist removal portion R <b> 1 formed by the lithography process, so that the pin body 31 is formed. It is a process of forming. In this embodiment, the thickness dimension of the electrolytically deposited tungsten alloy is set to 25 μm. In FIG. 6, a tungsten alloy electrodeposited is shown with a pattern.

  As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 (FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line aa in FIG. 7), the punching process is a region of the paired pin body 31 and insulating film 2F that overlaps with these pin bodies 31. Are removed from the resist residual portion R2 and the region of the insulating film 2F that does not overlap with the pin body 31. As a mode of extraction, a mode in which only a region overlapping with the pin main body 31 in the pin main body 31 and the insulating film 2F is pressed in the stacking direction or punched out, or the pin main body 31 in the pin main body 31 and the insulating film 2F by laser processing is used. For example, only the region to be polymerized is cut out in the stacking direction. By this punching process, a plurality of substantially prismatic contact probes 1 in which the contact pins 3 made of the pin main body 31 are laminated on both surfaces of the substrate 2 are formed (see FIG. 8).

  The plating process is a process in which the pair of pin main bodies 31 of each contact probe 1 formed by the punching process is plated to form a plating layer 32 on the outer surface of each pin main body 31. By this plating step, each contact pin 3 is obtained by coating the outer surface of the pin body 31 with the plating layer 32.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the removing step is a step of removing the tip 2 a of the substrate 2 corresponding to the tip 3 a of the contact pin 3 in the contact probe 1. Examples of the removal include an embodiment in which the distal end portion 2a of the substrate 2 is heat-treated to be recessed toward the proximal end, and an embodiment in which the distal end portion 2a of the substrate 2 is cut away. Through this removal step, the tip 2a of the substrate 2 has a shape recessed inwardly from the tip 3a of each contact pin 3. As a result, the tip 3a of each contact pin 3 has priority over the substrate 2. Thus, the contact probe 1 can be brought into contact with the inspection object W accurately. In this embodiment, the tip of each contact pin 3 is chamfered simultaneously with or before or after the punching step so that each contact pin 3 can come into line contact or point contact with the object W to be inspected. .

  Each contact probe 1 manufactured through the above steps includes a substrate 2 obtained by cutting the insulating film 2F in accordance with the width dimension of the contact pin 3, and a pair of contact pins 3 provided on both surfaces of the substrate 2, The microstructure has a total length of 20 mm, a thickness dimension of approximately 100 μm, and a width dimension of approximately 100 μm. Then, by making a pair of contact probes 1 having such a configuration and holding them in a holder such as a socket (not shown) (for example, pressing the proximal end portion of each contact probe 1 into a hole formed in the holder), By making one contact pin 3 of each contact probe 1 function as a current contact pin and allowing the other contact pin 3 to function as a voltage measurement contact pin, four-terminal measurement can be performed.

  As described above, the contact probe 1 according to this embodiment includes the insulating film 2F in which the metal pin main bodies 31 are formed on both surfaces of the insulating film 2F in which the electrode layers 22 are laminated on both surfaces of the insulator 21, respectively. Since the area overlapped with the pin body 31 is formed by pulling together with the pin body 31 from other areas, it does not require the high degree of assembly accuracy of assembling the parts together as in the past, and it is easy and accurate. The laminated contact probe 1 can be formed in a single layer, and the thickness and width of the contact probe 1 as a whole can be controlled by adjusting the amount of electrolytic depositing material such as metal constituting the pin body 31. Therefore, it is possible to cope with the measurement of the inspection object W having a very small size. In addition, since the pin main body 31 is made of metal deposited by electrolytic deposition, an appropriate rigidity of the entire contact probe 1 sandwiching the substrate 2 by each of the pin main bodies 31 can be ensured. The stable contact probe 1 can be held in a standing posture in a stable state by a holder such as a socket, and each contact pin 3 can be brought into precise contact with the object W to be inspected. Become. Furthermore, the tip 2a of the substrate 2 corresponding to the tip 3a of the contact pin 3 is removed, and each contact pin 3 is preferentially brought into contact with the inspection object W in preference to the substrate 2, so that it is good. Conductivity is ensured and more accurate measurement can be performed.

  In particular, since the pin main body 31 is formed from a tungsten alloy that is electrolytically deposited on each electrode layer 22, it has sufficient strength, toughness, and elasticity as a structure, and a stable electrical connection can be secured.

  Furthermore, since each contact pin 3 is provided with the plating layer 32 on the outer surface of the pin main body 31, it is possible to further improve the conductivity and the oxidation resistance.

  In addition, since the contact probe 1 according to the present embodiment is manufactured through the above-described steps, it can be mass-produced with high accuracy, and the electrolytic deposition amount and the exposure of the mask M can be performed. The dimensions of the contact probe 1 can be easily changed by changing the dimensions of the hole M1, and the amount of electrolytic deposition and the mask M are taken into account in consideration of the size of the inspection object W whose miniaturization advances. By adjusting each dimension of the exposure hole M1, the contact probe 1 having each contact pin 2 capable of measuring various inspection objects becomes versatile.

  The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described in detail above.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the case where a Teflon (registered trademark) resin is applied as an insulator is illustrated, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and glass epoxy may be applied as an insulator.

  Further, as the electrodeposited material forming the pin body, a material other than the tungsten alloy may be applied, and each contact pin may be composed of only the pin body (having no plating layer). When a contact pin having a plating layer is employed, the timing of applying a plating process to the pin body may be after the electrolytic deposition step, after the removal step, or after the removal step. I do not care.

  Furthermore, it is good also as an outlet probe which comprised the substantially cylindrical shape and was able to contact the to-be-inspected object in preference to the front-end | tip part of each contact pin over the front-end | tip part of a board | substrate. An example of this case is a contact probe X1 having a cross-sectional shape as shown in FIG. In this case, it is desirable to provide the contact pin X3 having a substantially semicircular cross-sectional view so as to sandwich the substrate X2 having the insulator X21. In FIG. 10, each contact pin X3 is illustrated as having a pin body X31 and a plating layer X32 layered. However, as described above, the contact pin X3 may have no plating.

  Moreover, in FIG. 3 etc., although the aspect which forms multiple said resist removal parts in a predetermined pitch on both surfaces of an insulating film by irradiating radiated light through a mask was illustrated, not only this but an insulating film You may employ | adopt the aspect which forms the said resist removal part in multiple rows | lines at a predetermined pitch on both surfaces. This enables further mass production.

  In addition, the specific configuration of each part is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

1 is an overall perspective view of a contact probe according to an embodiment of the present invention. The whole perspective view of the insulating film used when manufacturing the contact probe which concerns on the embodiment. The figure which shows the lithography process in the embodiment typically. The top view of the mask M used when manufacturing the contact probe which concerns on the embodiment. The figure which shows the lithography process in the embodiment typically. The figure which shows typically the electrolytic deposition process in the same embodiment. The figure which shows typically the contact probe which passed through the extraction process in the embodiment. FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along line aa in FIG. 7. The figure which shows typically the cross section of the front-end | tip part of the contact probe which concerns on the same embodiment. The figure which shows typically the cross section of the contact probe which concerns on one deformation | transformation of the embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, X1 ... Contact probe 2, X2 ... Board | substrate 21, X21 ... Insulator 22, X22 ... Electrode layer 2F ... Insulating film 3, X3 ... Contact pin 31, X31 ... Pin main body 32, X32 ... Plating layer M ... Mask R ... Resist R1 ... resist removal portion R2 ... resist residue W ... inspection

Claims (6)

A contact probe used for four-terminal measurement,
Comprising a substrate and a pair of contact pins provided on both sides of the substrate;
The substrate is an insulating film obtained by laminating an electrode layer on each side of an insulator, corresponding to the width dimension of the contact pin,
Each contact pin includes at least a pin body made of metal electrolytically deposited in a region corresponding to the width dimension of the contact pin in each electrode layer,
With the pin body formed on both sides of the insulating film, the region of the insulating film that overlaps with the pin body is removed from the other region together with the pin body, and the tip of the substrate corresponding to the tip of the contact pin is removed. A contact probe characterized by the above. The contact probe according to claim 1, wherein the pin body is formed of a tungsten alloy that is electrolytically deposited on each of the electrode layers. The contact probe according to claim 1, wherein each of the contact pins has a plating layer on an outer surface of the pin body. A method of manufacturing a contact probe used for four-terminal measurement,
A width corresponding to at least the width dimension of the contact pins is provided on both surfaces of the insulating film by irradiating the resist applied to both surfaces of the insulating film on both surfaces of the insulator with radiation light through a mask. A lithography step of forming a plurality of resist removal portions having dimensions at a predetermined pitch;
An electrolytic deposition process in which a metal is electrolytically deposited on each of the electrode layers exposed in the resist removal portions formed by the lithography process to form a pin body;
The step of pulling out the region of the pin body and the insulating film that overlaps with the pin body from the region of the resist remaining portion and the insulating film that does not overlap with the pin body,
By going through a removal step of removing the tip of the substrate corresponding to the tip of the contact pin,
A contact probe comprising: a substrate obtained by cutting the insulating film in accordance with a width dimension of a contact pin; and a pair of contact pins provided on both sides of the substrate and having at least the pin body. Manufacturing method. The method of manufacturing a contact probe according to claim 4, wherein in the electrolytic deposition step, a tungsten alloy is electrolytically deposited on each of the electrode layers to form a pin body. The method of manufacturing a contact probe according to claim 4 or 5, wherein a plating process is performed in which an outer surface of the pin body is plated.

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