JP3246237B2 - Protector for semiconductor measurement probe card and storage method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a probe card for testing a semiconductor chip function in an inspection process for manufacturing a semiconductor device, and more particularly to a probe protection means and a storage method for storing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a semiconductor manufacturing process, after forming an IC circuit such as a transistor in each chip area on a wafer, various functional tests are performed on the circuit of each chip. In a semiconductor inspection apparatus (for example, a synchro master tester (trade name)) for performing such a test, an inspection apparatus main body called a prober to which a wafer to be tested is transported, and a test head provided on the prober so as to be movable up and down. I have it. The test head contains a relay circuit for reading signals and performing other signal processing as close as possible to the wafer to be measured in order to prevent noise from being mixed into the detection signal, especially when performing a digital signal test. It is connected to the processing circuit of the terminal, the monitor device, the drive device, the input device, etc., and has a probe card having a large number of probes for measuring by touching the electrode pads of the chip at the lower end thereof. Is done. This probe card is a circuit board (DU) on which inspection circuits such as a relay circuit, an operational amplifier circuit, and a noise cut circuit are mounted.
T board: Device Under Test board)
And is electrically connected. The DUT board is mounted on a board holding ring which is a support member of the DUT board, and the board holding ring is fitted into an insert ring on the test head side and locked.

[0003] A number of probes are provided protrudingly at a predetermined angle on the lower surface side of the probe card. When performing an inspection, the test head descends onto the wafer in the prober device main body and presses a probe of a probe card against each electrode pad of a chip formed on the wafer, and a probe required for the inspection according to a predetermined inspection program. Are electrically selected to perform various measurements on analog and digital signals. The probe of such a probe card is made of a tungsten wire having a diameter of 20 to 30 μm,
Because it is pressed against a pad of about m square, high-precision positioning is required and slight mounting errors and deformations are not allowed.
Therefore, after use, the probe must be stored with protection to prevent mechanical contact with the probe.

For this reason, conventionally, the probe card, the DUT board, and the board holding ring detached from the test head have been separated and stored separately. In this case, the probe cards were individually stored by covering the entire probe card from both sides with a plastic protective cover.

[0005]

However, in the conventional semiconductor measuring device, the probe card and the DU are not used.
Since the T board and the board holding ring are stored separately, these three parts must be taken out of their respective storage locations and assembled before starting the inspection and measurement work. In this assembling work, first, a probe card is inserted into a DU by a worker using a screwdriver with a plurality of screws.
The DUT board was fixed to a T board, and then the DUT board was attached to a board holding ring with a plurality of screws, and then the board holding ring was attached to a test head.

However, such an assembling operation is troublesome and requires a lot of time and labor, prolonging probe card replacement time and inspection preparation time, resulting in inefficiency, lowering the operation rate of the apparatus, and reducing the time of completion of the inspection. Management of each part at the time of disassembly work and storage was also troublesome. Regarding the protection of the probe, the protective cover made of plastic is not sufficient in strength and may fall off, so that the protection of the probe is not reliably performed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, and is intended to provide a probe protection method capable of reliably protecting a probe of a probe card during storage, facilitating attachment / detachment to an inspection device, and easy storage management. The purpose is to provide means and storage methods.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a probe card having a large number of probes protruding on one side thereof for touching a semiconductor chip to be measured, and a probe card connected to the probe card. In a semiconductor measuring device having a test circuit board (DUT board) obtained and a board holding member (board holding ring) for holding the test circuit board and mounting it on the test head side, the probe card A protector for protecting the probe when not in use, which is configured to cover the probe protruding surface side of the probe card and to be detachably attached to the test circuit board via the probe card with a decorative screw. A protector for a semiconductor measurement probe card is provided.

Further, according to the present invention, there is provided a probe card having a large number of probes protruding on one side for touching a semiconductor chip to be measured, a test circuit board (DUT board) connected to the probe card, In a semiconductor measuring apparatus having a board holding member (board holding ring) for holding the test circuit board and mounting it on the test head side, a method for storing the probe card when the probe card is not used. Then, with the probe card fixed to the test circuit board mounted on the board holding member, the probe protruding surface side of the probe card is covered with a protector, and the protector is attached to the test circuit board with a decorative screw. These test circuit boards, board holding members,
A method of storing a semiconductor measurement probe card, wherein the probe card and the protector are stored in a state of being integrally connected as a storage unit.

[0010]

The probe card, the test circuit board (DUT board), and the board holding member (board holding ring) are assembled and joined together (attached to the test head). The protector of the card can be easily attached and detached with a decorative screw without using a tool such as a screwdriver.

The integrated body of the probe card, the test circuit board, and the board holding member with the protector attached is stored in an integrated state as a storage unit detachable from the test head.

[0012]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a test head portion of a semiconductor measuring device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an exploded side view thereof.

A pogo pin block 3 and an insert ring 4 are mounted on a test head 1 via a socket adapter 2. The pogo pin block 3 obtains electrical continuity with a mounted member by a resilient pin provided inside. The insert ring 4 is for inserting and locking a board holding ring, which will be described later, on the test head side.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a DUT board on which inspection circuits (not shown) such as a relay circuit, an operational amplifier circuit, and a noise cut circuit are mounted. The probe card 7 is mounted on the DUT board 5. The DUT board 5 is fixed to the board holding ring 6 via a suitable means such as a screw (not shown). At the center of the lower surface side of the probe card 7, 70, 120, or 160 other probes 8 are attached at a predetermined angle downward toward the center depending on the type of the card. The probe 8 of the probe card 7 is exposed downward through the lower surface opening 6a of the board holding ring 6.

A protector 9 made of transparent acrylic is attached to the probe projecting surface side (lower surface side) of the probe card 7 when storing the probe card. The protector 9 has a recess 9a for accommodating and protecting the probe 8. The protector 9 uses two knurled screws 10 to pass DU through an insertion hole 11 provided at a position facing the outer edge of the protector 9 and an insertion hole 12 of the probe card 7.
It is screwed into the screw hole 13 of the T board 5 and fixed. DUT
For example, eight screw holes 15 are formed in the board 5, and eight insertion holes 14 are formed in the probe card 7 correspondingly. Insertion hole 11 for fixing protector 9
Are aligned with two of the eight holes 14 (15) used as the holes 12 (13) for fixing the protector. The probe card 7 is fixed to the DUT board 5 using screws (not shown) using the remaining six holes 14 (15). By thus sharing the mounting hole, there is no need to separately provide a protector mounting hole, and the mounting operation is performed smoothly.

The protector 9 does not necessarily need to be transparent, but if it is transparent, it is preferable that the protector 9 be transparent so that the type of the probe card 7 can be checked while the protector is mounted. In addition, by using an acrylic protector, sufficient strength can be obtained and the probe can be reliably protected.

When storing the probe card 7, the probe card 7 is fixed to the DUT board 5, and the DUT board 5 is fixed.
The protector 9 is attached to the probe card 7 while the board 5 is fixed to the board holding ring 6, and these are integrated as a storage unit 16 and stored as one component.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are a perspective view and a side view, respectively, as seen from the back (lower) side of such a storage unit. 4 (A) and 4 (B) are a cross-sectional view and a bottom view showing the state of connection between the DUT board 5, the probe card 7 and the protector 9. As shown, the protector 9 is fixed to the DUT board 5 with two knurled screws 10 via the probe card 7 therebetween. The probe card 7 is fixed by screws 17 (FIG. 4) using six screw holes 15 out of eight screw holes formed in the DUT board 5. The knurled screw 10 is screwed into the remaining two screw holes 13. By using such a knurled screw 10, screwing can be performed without using a tool such as a screwdriver, and the attaching / detaching operation can be performed efficiently. The knurled shape of the knurled screw 10 is not limited to the illustrated example, and may be a mesh shape or other shapes, or a thumb screw or other screw means that can be attached and detached without a driver may be used. In the present specification, such a screw means that can be detachably operated without a tool is referred to as a decorative screw.

When starting a test using the storage unit composed of the DUT board 5, the board holding ring 6, the probe card 7 and the protector 9 having the above structure, setting of a wafer, a driving circuit, a measuring device, etc. In the state where the preparation is completed, the storage unit 16 with the protector 9 attached is mounted on the insert ring 4 on the test head side. Thereafter, the protector 9 is removed to start the test.

At the end of the test or when replacing the probe card, first, the protector 9 is mounted on the probe card 7 mounted on the test head. Thereafter, by removing the board holding ring 6 from the insert ring 4 of the test head, the DUT board 5, the board holding ring 6, the probe card 7 and the protector 9 are removed in a state where they are integrally connected as a storage unit 16, and the storage unit 16 is removed. Carry.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, the probe card is integrally connected to the test circuit board (DUT board) and the board holding member (board holding ring) and the protector is provided on the probe protruding surface of the probe card. Is stored as an integrated unit that is fixed with a detachable decorative screw without tools, so that work such as removing and replacing probe cards at the start and end of a test and replacing probe cards can be performed easily in a short period of time. Significant improvement and easy storage management. Further, if the protector is made of an acrylic resin, the strength is sufficient, the protection of the probe can be easily and surely achieved, the reliability of the measurement using the probe card is enhanced, and the quality is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a test head portion of a semiconductor measuring device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded side view of a test head portion of the semiconductor measuring device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are a perspective view and a side view, respectively, of a storage unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an assembly configuration of a DUT board, a probe card, and a protector according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: Test head, 2: Socket adapter, 3:
Pogo pin block, 4: Insert ring, 5: DU
T board, 6: Board holding ring, 7: Probe card, 8: Probe, 9: Protector, 10:
Knurled screw, 16: Storage unit.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01L 21/66 G01R 1/06

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A probe card having a large number of probes protruding on one side for touching a semiconductor chip to be measured, a test circuit board connected to the probe card, and holding the test circuit board A semiconductor measuring device having a substrate holding member for mounting the probe card on the test head side, a protector for protecting the probe when the probe card is not used, and A protector for a semiconductor measurement probe card, wherein the protector is configured to be covered and detachable from the test circuit board via the probe card with a decorative screw. 2. A probe card having a large number of probes protruding on one side for touching a semiconductor chip to be measured, a test circuit board connected to the probe card, and holding the test circuit board. And a method for storing the probe card when the probe card is not used in a semiconductor measuring device having a substrate holding member for mounting the probe card on the test head side.
With the probe card fixed to the test circuit board mounted on the board holding member, the probe protruding surface side of the probe card is covered with a protector, and the protector is fastened to the test circuit board with decorative screws. And storing the test circuit board, the board holding member, the probe card and the protector in a state of being integrally connected as a storage unit.