JP2711855B2 - Probe device and inspection method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to a probe device and an inspection method.

(Prior Art) As an apparatus for inspecting a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter abbreviated as a wafer), there is a wafer probe apparatus (hereinafter abbreviated as a probe apparatus).

The above-mentioned wafer probe device is configured so that an electrode pad and a probe needle are electrically contacted for each chip of a wafer to perform inspection.

In the above-described probe device, there is a step of appropriately polishing the contact surface of the probe needle during the inspection while being brought into contact with many wafers.

That is, when contacting the electrode pads of the wafer, the solder or bumps mounted on the wafer chips may be scraped off. When the scraped solder or bump adheres to the probe needle and the probe needle is brought into contact with the electrode pad, a short-circuit may occur to an adjacent electrode pad to perform an improper inspection. As means for solving such a problem, when the probe needle is polished, the contact surface of the probe needle is polished by vertically driving a plate-shaped polishing body facing the probe needle in the vertical movement direction. Inspection is performed by removing the residue of the probe needle in this way, but every time the contact surface of the probe needle is polished, the inspection is performed despite the increase in the contact area.

As a known technique for polishing the contact surface of the probe needle,
What is described in JP-B-61-1741 is generally used.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, since the contact surface of the probe needle that comes into contact with the electrode pad of the wafer is brought into contact with the plate-shaped polishing surface, the polishing is performed by driving and vibrating in the vertical movement direction. It was found that the contact surface of the probe needle was polished in parallel with the wafer surface, and that the residue on the conical surface at the tip of the contact surface (around the tip) was not removed.

That is, the tip of the contact surface is formed in a substantially conical or pyramid shape. When the contact surface is polished in parallel with the wafer surface, the contact surface is enlarged each time the contact surface is polished in parallel, and the contact surface is enlarged. There is a problem that the electrode pad may come into contact with the electrode pad, and an appropriate inspection is not performed.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to maintain the pointed shape of a probe needle and extend its life, and thereby to surely come into contact with a semiconductor wafer to be inspected and inspect it surely. It is an object of the present invention to provide a probe device and an inspection method that can be used.

[Configuration of the invention]

(Means for Solving the Problems) A probe device according to claim 1 of the present invention is provided with a plurality of probe cards, and probe needles that come into contact with a semiconductor wafer to be inspected and inspect the semiconductor wafer, and polish the probe needles. In a probe device provided with a polishing body, the polishing body has a large number of elastic thin wires implanted in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the polishing body.

A probe device according to a second aspect of the present invention is the probe device according to the first aspect, characterized in that a polishing piece is provided at a tip portion of the elastic thin wire.

The inspection method according to claim 3 of the present invention further includes a step of taking out the semiconductor wafer to be inspected from the wafer cassette, a step of aligning the semiconductor wafer to be inspected, and a step of inserting a probe card into the aligned semiconductor wafer to be inspected. A step of inspecting by contacting a probe needle, and after the inspection has been performed a predetermined number of times, a number of elastic fine wires are implanted from the cassette in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the polishing body by a program stored in advance. Removing the polished body and polishing the probe needle, wherein in the polishing step, the polished body and the probe needle move up and down relatively, and the tip of the probe needle has the large number of elastic thin wires. The probe needle is polished by elastic contact.

(Effects) According to the present invention, a polishing body for polishing a probe needle of a probe card has a large number of elastic thin wires implanted in a direction orthogonal to the surface of the polishing body, and is used for inspecting a semiconductor wafer to be inspected. When polishing, the polishing body and the probe needle move relatively up and down, and the tip of the probe needle elastically contacts the plurality of elastic fine wires to polish the probe needle. The contact surface conforms to the tip shape of the probe needle by each elastic thin line while the distal end enters the space between each elastic thin line by separating each elastic thin line and moving relative to each other against the elastic force of each elastic thin line. The probe is polished to ensure that not only the adhering matter and spontaneous oxide film attached to the tip of the contact surface of the probe needle, but also the adhering matter and spontaneous oxide film adhering to the periphery of the contact surface are removed, and the probe Needle tip shape The semiconductor wafer can be held and the life thereof can be prolonged, and the semiconductor wafer to be inspected can be surely brought into contact with the semiconductor wafer for inspection.

(Embodiment) An embodiment in which the probe apparatus of the present invention is applied to an inspection apparatus in a semiconductor wafer manufacturing process will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The inspection apparatus includes an apparatus for inspecting electrical characteristics by sequentially moving a wafer chip formed on a wafer one chip at a time, for example, a wafer prober. This wafer prober electrically inspects characteristics by bringing a probe needle of a probe card provided on a wafer facing surface into contact with an electrode pad formed on each wafer chip.

First, the configuration of the wafer prober will be described with reference to FIG.

The wafer prober (1) takes out the wafer (4) from the wafer cassette (3) of the loader section (2), performs alignment, and is placed on the support surface (6) of the support (5). . The placed wafer (4) is moved to the inspection section (7). Here, the placed wafer (4)
Are adsorbed by the vacuum adsorption section (8).

In the inspection section (7), a probe card (9) is provided on a head plate (10) on a surface facing the wafer (4) surface on the support surface (6).

Probe needles (11) are arranged on the probe card (9) so as to correspond to electrode pads of wafer chips formed on the wafer (4) on the support surface (6). The probe needle (11) and the wafer (4) are relatively moved up and down by an up and down movement drive (12) to come into contact with each other.

Near the fixed end (13) of the probe needle (11), a signal line electrically connected to the wafer tester (14) is provided. In such a wafer prober (1), an adhering substance adhering to the contact surface of the probe needle (11) and an oxide film to be naturally oxidized are removed, and a wafer chip electrode pad is removed.
It comes in proper contact.

The characteristic configuration of the present embodiment is that, as shown in FIG. 1, the polishing body (15) disposed on the opposing surface of the probe needle (11) is polished to the tip of the contact surface and the periphery of the tip. is there.

The polishing body (15) is arranged at a position facing the contact surface (11a) of the probe needle (11) by movement of the support (5).

The polishing body (15) is a holding plate, for example, 100 mm in diameter × 0.4 in thickness.
A hollow part (16) is bored in an aluminum holding plate of mm and a polishing plate, for example, 40 mm in diameter x 0.4 mm thick, concentrically with this hollow part (16).
A ceramic polishing plate (17) is bonded and fixed to the holding plate (18) with an epoxy-based adhesive.

Further, the polishing plate (1) adhered and fixed to the holding plate (18).
7) To cover the ring member, for example, 50mm in diameter x 30m in diameter
An aluminum ring (17a) measuring mx 0.2mm thick is fixed with an adhesive. The polishing plate (17) of the polishing body (15) thus configured will be specifically described with reference to FIG.

An elastic thin wire in a direction orthogonal to the surface of the polishing plate (17),
For example, a large number of piano wires (19) having a diameter of 0.08 mm are implanted, and a polished piece such as a ceramic powder piece (20) is attached to the tip of the fine wire.
Is uniformly sprayed with plasma and fixed.
A large number of such thin wires are provided in the shape of an electric plant.

The surface (20a) of the ceramic powder (20) is # 600
~ # 800 mesh roughness is configured.

The contact surface (11a) of the probe needle (11) is a powder piece (20)
A configuration in which the gap enters and the tip and the periphery of the contact surface (11a) are polished will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b). When the probe needle (11) and the polishing plate (17) rise relatively, the tip (21) of the contact surface (11a) of the probe needle (11) enters the large number of ceramic powder pieces (20) by cutting. It has become. Then, the ceramic powder piece (20) moves along the bending of the piano wire (19) on the conical surface (21a) of the conical shape of the tip (21) of the contact surface (11a) so as to be polished. Is configured.

 Next, the operation will be described.

It is placed on the support surface (6) of the wafer (4) taken out of the wafer cassette (3) of the loader section (2) and comes into contact with the probe needle (11) of the probe card (9) of the inspection section (7). . The contacted wafer (4) is inspected by forming a wafer test (14) and a measuring circuit.

After the set number of times of the above-described inspections, the inspection is temporarily stopped by a program stored in advance. Then, the operation for polishing the probe needle (11) of the probe card (9) starts.

In the above operation, first, one sheet is taken out from the polishing body cassette (3a) provided on the loader section (2) side. As a mechanism for taking out the wafer, a mechanism for taking out one wafer is also used.

The removed polishing body (4a) is placed on the support surface (6) via the rotating arm (7a) after pre-alignment. Polishing body (4a) placed on this support surface (6)
Are arranged below the probe card (9) as in the case of the wafer (4).

The support (5) on which the polishing body (4a) is mounted rises according to a program stored in advance and comes into contact with the contact surface (11a) of the probe needle. The contact surface (11a) of the contacted probe needle (11) fits into the space between the powder pieces (20), which are a large number of polished tips, so as to be buried against the elasticity of the piano wire (19). Piano wire (19) between pieces (20)
Descends against the elasticity of

The above-mentioned ascending and descending vibrations are repeated a predetermined number of times. After the predetermined number of times, the polishing body (15) returns the polishing body (4a) into the predetermined polishing body cassette (3a) so that the wafer (4) returns to the wafer cassette (3). The polishing step (11) has been completed.

In the above embodiment, a number of elastic fine wires, for example, a piano wire (19) are planted in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the polishing plate (17), and a ceramic powder piece (20) is attached to the tip of the piano wire (19). Although the configuration in which plasma spraying was performed uniformly and fixed was described, the spacing between the above-mentioned piano wires (19) was narrowed,
The tip may be pointed.

In the above embodiment, the piano wire (19) is implanted as the elastic thin wire, but any member having an elastic force and a member having a polishing action at the end is sufficient.

The effect of the above embodiment is different from the conventional one in which the polished surface moves up and down to polish the contact surface, and the polishing piece of the ceramic member is provided at the tip of the elastic member implanted on the polished surface. Therefore, the contact surface (11a) comes into contact between the polishing pieces so as to penetrate, and the peripheral edge of the contact surface (11a) is polished.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of a polishing body structure for explaining an embodiment of the probe device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged explanatory view for explaining an enlarged view of the polishing plate structure of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory view for explaining a state in which the probe needle is polished on the polishing plate, and FIG. 4 is an explanatory view for explaining the configuration of an embodiment using the probe device of FIG. 1 for a wafer prober. 5 ... support, 6 ... support surface, 9 ... probe card, 11 ... probe needle, 11a ... contact surface, 15 ... abrasive body, 16 ... hollow part, 17 ... abrasive plate, 18 ... ... holding plate, 19 ... piano wire, 20 ... powder piece, 20a ... surface, 21 ... tip, 21a ... cone.

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A probe needle provided on a probe card and in contact with a semiconductor wafer to be inspected for inspecting the same.
A probe device comprising a polishing body for polishing the probe needle, wherein the polishing body has a large number of elastic thin wires implanted in a direction orthogonal to the surface of the polishing body. 2. The probe device according to claim 1, wherein a polishing piece is provided at a tip end of said elastic thin wire. 3. A step of taking out a semiconductor wafer to be inspected from a wafer cassette, a step of aligning the semiconductor wafer to be inspected, and a step of bringing the aligned semiconductor wafer to be inspected into contact with a probe needle of a probe card for inspection. After the inspection has been performed a preset number of times, a large number of elastic fine wires are taken out of the cassette by a program stored in advance in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the abrasive body, and the probe needle is polished. Wherein the polishing body and the probe needle move relatively up and down, and the tip of the probe needle elastically comes into contact with the plurality of elastic fine wires. Inspection method characterized by polishing.