JP2642946B2 - Probe device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to a probe device that supplies an object to be measured such as a semiconductor wafer from a load unit to a measurement unit and performs an inspection.

(Prior Art) A probe device of this kind, for example, a probe device for a semiconductor wafer, has a measuring section for measuring the electrical characteristics of a large number of elements on the wafer, and takes out the wafer from a cassette containing the wafer to perform the measurement. And a loader unit that supplies the wafer, which has been measured and marked, to the cassette and transports the wafer back to the cassette.

Here, for example, when a semiconductor wafer is used as an object to be measured, there are various types of wafers, and the wafer size, the orientation of the orientation flat at the time of measurement, the chip size on the wafer, and the like are different for each type. I have. For this reason, it is necessary to set this kind of information as a parameter for measurement. After once setting the parameters for the same type, storing the parameters on a floppy disk or the like, and measuring the same type of wafer again, The parameters in this floppy are called and set (Asic
Correspondence).

Since the conventional probe device has a configuration in which the measuring unit and the loader unit are integrally accommodated, the floppy disk is prepared for each probe device.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) By the way, there has been a demand for a reduction in inspection time, and in recent years, a probe device that can connect two measurement units to one loader unit and contribute to an increase in measurement processing capability and the like. Has been proposed,
In this case, since there are two measuring units, it is sufficient to provide the above-mentioned floppy disk for each measuring unit. In such a case, a single probe device having two measuring units is used. Instead, the floppy is managed for each of the two measuring units, which is complicated. In addition, both floppies can be used for any measurement unit, but if the parameters of the type already registered in one floppy are not registered in the other floppies, they are already registered. There is also a problem that complicated registration work is forced to be duplicated without knowing that.

Also, if floppy drivers are provided for both measurement units,
There was also a problem that the cost of the device was high.

In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-described conventional problems and to manage the measurement parameters for each type of the measured object even when one loader device has two measuring units. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a probe device which can be easily registered and can contribute to cost reduction of the device.

Configuration of the Invention (Means for Solving the Problems) A plurality of measuring units for inspecting an object to be measured, and one system for supplying the same type or a different type of the object to be measured to the plurality of measuring units And a loader unit having a plurality of loaders in the apparatus main body, wherein the one loader unit includes a mounting table on which a storage container storing a plurality of the objects to be measured is mounted, and the storage device mounted on the mounting table. A first arm for unloading the object to be measured from a container, positioning means common to the plurality of systems for aligning the object to be measured unloaded from the housing container by the first arm, and positioning; A second arm for transferring the measured object to the plurality of systems of measurement units, wherein the measurement of the plurality of systems includes measurement parameters unique to each type of the object to be measured. Functions as a storage unit common to all units Commanding access to the external storage medium detachably attached to the apparatus main body and the external storage medium mounted on the apparatus main body, and reading and instructing the measurement parameters necessary for measurement in each of the measurement units. , A plurality of operation units provided corresponding to each of the measurement units.

Here, as a storage unit common to a plurality of measurement units, an external storage device such as a floppy disk which is detachable from the device, or a ROM or a RAM arranged inside the device is used. Or other internal storage device.

(Operation) According to the present invention, measurement parameters for a plurality of measurement units, for example, two measurement units that commonly use the loader unit are stored in the common storage unit. When the inspection of the object to be measured is performed using one of the measuring units, the type of the object to be measured is input from the operation unit, and the corresponding measurement parameter is called from the common storage unit. It is. Similarly, when performing measurement in the other measurement unit,
By inputting a product type from the operation unit of the measurement unit, the corresponding measurement parameter can be called from the common storage unit.

As described above, since the measurement parameters in the common storage unit can be called from any of the operation units of the two measurement units, even if the storage unit is an external storage medium such as a floppy disk, Since floppy disk management is facilitated by the use of a common floppy disk, it is possible to check whether or not parameters for each type are registered by searching for this single floppy disk. Work can be reliably prevented.

In addition, since only a single driver needs to access the common storage unit, the cost of the apparatus can be reduced by reducing the number of components.

Embodiment An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a semiconductor wafer probe device will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the wafer prober is provided with, for example, a loader unit 1 formed of a single system independent housing, and a plurality of systems such as a first system are provided on the left and right sides of the loader unit 1. The prober unit 30a and the second prober unit 30b are arranged, and the measuring units 30 provided on the left and right from the loader unit 1 of one system.
The wafers to be measured can be sequentially transferred to a and 30b. The first and second probers 30a, 30b are
Positioned on the left and right side surfaces of the loader unit 1, each is detachable from the loader unit 1, and a caster 2 is provided at the lower part of each housing, and can move freely on the floor surface. It has become.

As an internal configuration of the loader unit 1 which is an independent housing, a cassette housing unit 3 for housing wafers before and after measurement is provided on the front side thereof. For example, four guide shafts 5 rotatable by a motor 4 are vertically arranged in the storage section 3, and two cassette mounting tables 6 are fixed to the two guide shafts 5, respectively. The mounting table 6 is moved up and down by the rotation of the guide shaft 5. A cassette 7 is mounted on the cassette mounting table 6, and 25 wafers 10 to be measured are stored in the cassette 7 at appropriate intervals.

The vacuum suction tweezers 11 for loading and unloading the wafer 10 from the cassette 7 is provided with a support rod 14 vertically provided on a horizontally arranged rotating shaft 13 connected to a motor 12, and the rotating shaft 13 rotates in the axial direction. It is attached to a support rod 14 that moves along. The tip portion of the tweezers 11 is formed in a substantially U-shape, and this portion serves as a suction portion 11a.

A pre-alignment stage 15 on which the wafer 10 can be placed is on the slide moving path of the vacuum suction tweezers 11.
Are provided, and can be moved in the Z direction and the θ direction by driving the motor 16.

Further, two vacuum suction arms 17 for rotatingly transporting the wafer 10 are provided from the pre-alignment stage 15 to the measurement stages of the first and second prober units 30a, 30b.
Can be rotated 360 ° horizontally by driving the motor 18. In addition, this vacuum suction arm 17 is provided in a pair at the top and bottom,
The unloading of the wafer 10 from the measurement stage to the pre-alignment stage 15 after the measurement and the transfer of a new wafer 10 from the pre-alignment stage 15 to the measurement stage can be performed at the same time, thereby greatly increasing the throughput. Improvement can be achieved.

At the upper part of the housing of the loader unit 1, a column 19 is vertically erected, and a horizontally rotatable arm 20 is suspended from the column 19. At the end of the arm 20, a microscope 21 for enlarging and viewing the chip is installed, and is vertically movable, for example, by 200 mm. In addition, a power supply unit 23 is disposed on the bottom surface of the housing, so that power can be supplied to the first and second prober units 30a and 30b.

Next, the first and second prober units 30a and 30b will be described. Since the first and second prober units 30a and 30b have the same configuration, only the first prober unit 30a will be described here.

As an internal configuration of the first prober unit 30a, the measurement stage 32a is configured by a well-known means in the X direction, the Y direction, the Z
In the drive range in the X and Y directions, symmetrical operation is possible in the front, rear, left and right directions at the center point of the first prober 30a.

At the measurement position, a probe card (not shown) is set at a position facing the measurement stage 32a, and the electric characteristics of the wafer 10 are measured by well-known means.

Further, an operation panel 34a is provided on the front side of the first prober 30a, and an operation input to the first prober 30a can be executed. The operation panel 34a is
As shown in the figure, alphanumeric input keys 35a, joystick 36
a, a liquid crystal display 37a is provided.

The second prober section 30b has a similar internal configuration, and has members of the same function, where the suffix a of each component of the first prober section 30a is b.

Next, a drive control system of the first and second probers 30a and 30b and the loader unit 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

In the present embodiment, control of the drive system and the like is shared by three types of CPUs, and the first CPU 40 and the third CPU 42 disposed inside the loader unit 1 are shared by both prober units 30a and 30b. And the first CPU 40 has operation panels 34a, 34b
The third CPU 42 controls a display control and a key input operation, and the third CPU 42 executes a drive of the loader unit 1.
It is responsible for driving 0.

On the other hand, second CPUs 44a and 44b are arranged in the first and second prober units 30a and 30b, respectively, and the second CPUs 44a and 44b are stage driving units that execute driving of the corresponding measuring units 30a or 30b. It controls the driving of 46a and 46b.

In addition, a floppy driver 60 is disposed in one of the two probers 30a, 30b, for example, in the first prober 30a, and a floppy disk 62 that can be detachably set to the floppy driver 60 is accessible. Has become.

The floppy disk 62 constitutes an example of a common storage unit in the present invention, and stores measurement parameters for each type of semiconductor wafer in a searchable manner by the type code of the wafer.

When the type code of the wafer is input from the operation panel 34a or 34b (of course, it may be automatically read and automatically input), the measurement parameter in the floppy disk 62 read by the driver 60 becomes The data is input to the second CPU 44a or 44b of the operated prober unit 30a or 30b via the first CPU 40, and then loaded into the internal storage device 48a or 48b such as a memory with a backup power supply. I have.

Then, the second CPU 44a or 44b stores the internal storage device 48a
Alternatively, the execution of the measurement is controlled based on the measurement parameters in 48b.

 Next, the operation of the prober device will be described.

Each mechanism of the loader section 1, the first and second prober sections 30a and 30b is operated according to a predetermined program registered in the second and third CPUs 42, 44a and 44b, respectively.

At this time, the above-mentioned program is an operation program that does not change regardless of the type of wafer, and it is necessary to set and input conditions that differ depending on the type of wafer into the apparatus in accordance with each type.

Examples of such measurement parameters include the following.

Wafer name Wafer size; 5 inches, 6 inches, 8 inches, etc. Orientation flat orientation Chip size; x = 5060 μm, y = 3010 μm, etc. Alignment parameters Inking mode Multi-probe Continuous fail mode Needle tip polishing mode

The measurement parameters described above are set by the operator before the type is first measured by the operation panel 34 a or 3.
4b is set, and the set measurement parameters are stored in the floppy disk 62.

Here, assuming that the measurement parameters have already been registered, the operation will be described below.
When a certain type of wafer is inspected by the prober unit 30a, the floppy disk 62 is inserted from a floppy insertion opening (not shown) of the first prober unit 30a, and then the alphanumeric keys 35a of the operation panel 34a are inserted. By inputting a code corresponding to the above-mentioned product type, the user inputs a code corresponding to the type.

Then, the input information of the operation panel 34a is
The search for whether or not the measurement parameter corresponding to the type code is registered in the floppy disk 62 is executed by accessing the driver 60. In this description, registration is premised, so that the corresponding measurement parameter is searched, and this parameter information is stored in the first CPU 4.
From 0, the data is loaded to the second CPU 44a in the first prober unit 30a, and further loaded and stored in the internal storage device 50 thereafter.

After the loading of the measurement parameters of the type to be measured has been completed in this way, and after the cassette 7 containing the wafer 10 to be measured has been set, the probing inspection on the wafer is started based on the operation on the operation panel 34a. Will be done.

That is, the vacuum suction tweezers 11 are inserted into the cassette 7, one wafer 10 is sucked by the vacuum suction part 11a, and the wafer 10 is slid out by the vacuum suction tweezers 11, and
It is set above a pre-alignment stage 15 (which has previously been lowered as shown in FIG. 3).

Next, the pre-alignment stage 15 is driven and further raised upward through the center notch of the vacuum suction part 11a, so that the wafer 10 is placed on the pre-alignment stage 15. Then, an orientation flat (hereinafter, also referred to as an orientation flat) of the wafer 10 is detected at this position by a known means such as an LED sensor, and set to a position corresponding to the orientation information of the orientation flat in the above-described measurement parameters by rotational driving.

The wafer 10 thus pre-positioned is moved by the vacuum suction arm 17 to the measurement stage 32a of the first prober 30a.
The probe card is rotated and conveyed to the main body, accurately positioned by the laser recognition mechanism or the pattern recognition mechanism, and the probe card is brought into contact with the electrode pad of each chip by well-known means to measure the electrical characteristics. Then, after performing the marking on the defective chip by a known method, by performing a process reverse to the loading route, the wafer that has been inspected is completed.
10 is transported back into the cassette 7. And
By repeatedly performing the above steps, inspection for all the wafers 10 in the cassette 7 can be performed.

On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the inspection process can be executed in the second prober unit 30b in parallel with the inspection process in the first prober unit 30a.

The second prober unit is a feature of the present embodiment.
Even if the above measurement parameters are set for 30b,
Floppy disk 6 common to the second probers 30a and 30b
2 and the floppy disk 62 is set in a floppy insertion slot provided in the first prober 30a.

After setting the floppy disk 62, the type code of the wafer to be measured is input through the operation panel 34b arranged in the second prober unit 30b.

Then, the measurement parameters of the wafer corresponding to the type code are transmitted to the second prober unit 3 via the first CPU 40.
The second prober unit 30 is loaded and stored in the internal storage device 48b.

Thus, the two first and second prober units 30a, 30b
The setting of the measurement parameters is performed by using the floppy disk 62 which is a common storage unit, and any of the measurement units 34a and 34
Since it is configured to be accessible based on the input from b, management of the floppy disk 62 becomes easy, and if only this floppy disk 62 is searched, it is possible to easily know whether or not the parameter of the type is registered, so that Useless duplicate registration can be reliably prevented. Also, by using the common floppy disk 62 in this way,
Since the driver only needs to be provided in one of the measuring units, the cost of the apparatus can be reduced. At this time, both prober units 30a, 30
In order to make the basic configuration of b the same, the second prober unit 3
A blind plate or the like may be disposed in the floppy insertion slot, and the driver's accommodation area may be left as a space.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment,
Various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention.

For example, in the present invention, at least two prober units may be connected to a common loader unit. For example, (prober unit)-(loader unit)-(prober unit)-
The present invention can be similarly applied to a combination such as (loader section)-(prober section).

Also, as in the above embodiment, the loader unit 1, the prober unit 30a,
The entire loader unit 30b is not limited to the independent housing. For example, the loader unit 1 and the prober unit 30a may be integrated into an independent housing, and the prober unit 30b formed of the independent housing may be connected thereto. .

Further, the present invention is not limited to a device using an external storage medium such as a floppy disk as the common storage unit as in the above-described embodiment, but may be configured as a common internal storage device provided inside the device.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, a probe device in which at least two systems of measurement units are connected to one system of loader unit, but the measurement parameters for each type of the measured object are shared. Since the parameter settings for any of the measuring units can be read out from this common storage unit and executed, the parameter registration can be prevented more reliably than in the case where each measuring unit has a storage unit. In addition, the cost can be reduced by using a common storage unit. Further, the positioning of the object to be measured is performed by a common positioning unit, and by reading measurement parameters necessary for measurement in each of the plurality of measurement units from an external storage medium that is a common storage unit, In addition to reducing the size of the device,
The positioning of the object to be measured and the setting of the measurement parameters, which are items that greatly affect the measurement accuracy in each measurement unit, can be set equally for each measurement unit. In addition, since an external storage medium that can be attached to and detached from the probe device main body is used as the common storage unit, measurement parameters can be registered by devices other than the probe device, and the operating rate of the probe device is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a drive control system of a probe device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the probe device of FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a plan view showing an example of an operation panel. 1. Loader unit, 10 ... Measurement object, 30a, 30b ... Measurement unit, 34a, 34b ... Operation unit, 60 ... Driver, 62 ... Common storage unit (floppy disk).

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An apparatus main body comprising: a plurality of systems of measuring units for inspecting an object to be measured; and a system of loaders for supplying the same type or different types of objects to be measured to the plurality of systems of measuring units, respectively. The one-system loader unit includes: a mounting table on which a plurality of containers to be measured are stored; and a loading table for unloading the device from the storage containers mounted on the mounting table. A first arm, positioning means common to the plurality of systems for positioning the measured object carried out of the storage container by the first arm, and the plurality of systems And a second arm to be transferred to the measuring unit, wherein the probe unit has a function of functioning as a storage unit common to the measuring units of the plurality of systems in which measurement parameters unique to each type of the object to be measured are stored. Is attached to the device body. A corresponding external storage medium, corresponding to each of the measurement units, instructing access to the external storage medium mounted on the apparatus main body, and instructing to read out the measurement parameters necessary for measurement in each of the measurement units. A probe device, comprising: a plurality of operation units provided as follows.