JP3494871B2 - Probe device and probe 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 apparatus and a probe method which are preferably used when inspecting an electrical characteristic of an object to be inspected such as a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter simply referred to as "wafer") at a low temperature. Regarding

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional probe devices of this type are usually
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a loader chamber 1 for transporting the wafer W and pre-aligning the wafer W and a prober chamber 2 for receiving the wafer W from the loader chamber 1 and inspecting the electrical characteristics are configured. Has been done. The tweezers 3 and the sub chuck 4 are arranged in the loader chamber 1, and while the wafer W is being transported by the tweezers 3, the wafer W is pre-aligned in the sub chuck 4 with reference to the orientation flat. Further, a main chuck 5 and an alignment mechanism 6 are arranged in the prober chamber 2, and the main chuck 5 on which the wafer W is mounted is X, Y,
The wafer W is aligned with the probe needle 7A of the probe card 7 above the main chuck 5 by the alignment mechanism 6 while moving in the Z and θ directions, and the wafer W and the probe needle 7A are electrically contacted to each other, and the test head T The electrical characteristics of the wafer W are inspected via the. The probe card 7 is detachably attached to a head plate 8 forming the top surface of the prober chamber 2.

The loader chamber 1 and the prober chamber 2 are partitioned by a partition wall 9, and an opening / closing door (not shown) is attached to the loading / unloading port 9A of the wafer W in the partition wall 9. The opening / closing door is opened when the wafer W is transferred between the loader chamber 1 and the prober chamber 2 via the tweezers 3.

The inspection of the wafer W includes not only room temperature inspection but also low temperature inspection and high temperature inspection. Therefore, the main chuck 5 has a built-in temperature adjusting mechanism, and the temperature of the wafer W can be increased from, for example, −10 to + using this temperature adjusting mechanism.
The temperature can be set in a wide range of 160 ° C.
For example, when the wafer W is inspected at a low temperature of −40 ° C., the wafer W on the main chuck 5 is cooled to −40 ° C. via the temperature adjusting mechanism and the inspection is performed.
In this case, dry air having a dew point of -40 [deg.] C. or lower is supplied into the prober chamber 2 so that dew condensation or icing does not occur on the surface of the wafer W. After the inspection, the wafer W is lifted from the main chuck 5 with the tweezers 3 so that the wafer W is unloaded from the prober chamber 2 to the loader chamber 1.

[0005]

However, when performing low-temperature inspection of a 12-inch wafer W, which will become the mainstream in the future, by using the conventional probe apparatus, a phenomenon that is not expected up to the current 8-inch wafer W is obtained. That is, during the transfer of the wafer W from the prober chamber 2 to the loader chamber 1, a phenomenon occurs in which dew condensation and freezing occur on the surface of the wafer W and frost adheres to the entire surface. When this wafer W is directly transferred to the loader chamber 1,
During this time, the problem that the frost on the wafer W melts and dust such as particles adheres to contaminate the surface of the wafer W has arisen.

[0006] The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, for example, 12-inch class condensation reliably explosion at the test subject during after cold test a device under test having a large diameter of
And stop, and its object is to provide a probe apparatus and a probe method which can reliably prevent contamination of the device under test due to condensation.

[0007]

A probe device according to a first aspect of the present invention is a loader chamber having a transport mechanism for transporting an object to be inspected, and is adjacent to the loader chamber and is X, Y, Z and θ. A prober chamber having a mounting table movable in a direction, a partition wall that partitions the prober chamber and the loader chamber, and an opening / closing door that opens and closes the loading / unloading port of the object to be inspected of the partition wall, via the mounting table described above. The opening / closing door is opened in the probe device for cooling the above-mentioned inspected object and supplying the dry air which does not condense at the cooling temperature of the inspected object into the prober chamber while inspecting the electrical characteristics of the inspected object. A hot air blowing device that blows hot air onto the object to be inspected that sometimes passes under the opening / closing door is provided , and the hot air blowing is performed.
The device is attached to the door and is integrated with the door.
And the door is opened and the inspection object is opened and closed.
When passing under the
The hot-air blowing mechanism that blows out hot air and the hot-air blowing mechanism
And a gas heating mechanism connected to supply hot air .

[0008]

[0009]

A probe device according to a second aspect of the present invention is the probe device according to the first aspect, wherein an air cylinder for opening and closing the opening / closing door is provided and a solenoid valve is provided in the hot air blowing device, and The solenoid valve is opened by the pressure of compressed air for driving the air cylinder to open.

In the probe method according to the third aspect of the present invention, the loading / unloading port of the partition between the loader chamber and the prober chamber is provided.
After opening and closing the openable door, the test object is transferred from the loader chamber to the loading table in the prober chamber via the loading / unloading port, and the opening and closing door is closed. In the probe method for cooling the inspected object to a predetermined inspection temperature and supplying a dry air that does not condense at the cooling temperature of the inspected object into the prober chamber while performing a low temperature inspection of the inspected object, the opening / closing door Open the above DUT from the above prober room through the above carry in / out port
In the process of conveying to the loader chamber and, when the inspection object passes below the door, the water above the prober chamber side
Hot air blowing equipment attached to the above-mentioned door that opens flat
To put al the inspection object is characterized in that blowing hot air.

[0012]

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The features of the present invention will be described below with reference to the embodiments shown in FIGS. As shown in FIG. 1, the probe device of the present embodiment includes a loader chamber 1, a prober chamber 2, tweezers 3, a sub chuck 4, a main chuck 5, an alignment mechanism (not shown), a probe card 7, and the like. Has been done. Further, the loader chamber 1 and the prober chamber 2 are partitioned via a partition wall 9. Then, a loading / unloading port 9A is formed in the partition wall 9, and the loading / unloading port 9A is formed.
A is opened and closed by the opening and closing door 10.

A receiving hole 2A for receiving dry air is formed in the prober chamber 2, and a pipe (not shown) for supplying dry air is connected to the receiving hole 2A. And
From this hole, for example, dry air having a dew point of -70 ° C is supplied into the prober chamber 2 and the dry air in the prober chamber 2 is discharged from a discharge hole (not shown) so that the dry air in the prober chamber 2 has a dew point of -70 ° C. It is kept and always kept clean. Further, a temperature adjusting mechanism (not shown) is built in the main chuck 5, and the temperature adjusting mechanism sets the wafer W placed on the main chuck 5 to a low temperature of, for example, about −60 ° C. for low temperature inspection. I can do it. Also, the wafer W is heated by the temperature adjusting mechanism to + 160 ° C.
It is possible to perform high-temperature inspection up to a certain degree.

In the probe device of this embodiment, a hot air blowing device 11 for blowing hot air to the wafer W passing through the loading / unloading port 9A when the opening / closing door 10 is opened is provided. The hot air blowing device 11 includes a hot air blowing mechanism 12 integrated with the opening / closing door 10, a gas heating mechanism (for example, a vortex tube) 14 connected to the hot air blowing mechanism 12 via a pipe 13A, and a vortex tube 14. A solenoid valve 15 connected via a pipe 13B is provided. The vortex tube 14 receives, for example, high-pressure air at around 30 ° C.,
It is configured to generate hot air at around 80 ° C and air at around -30 ° C. Also, the solenoid valve 15
The high pressure air is supplied to the vortex tube 14 by performing an opening operation in synchronization with an opening operation of an air cylinder described later that opens and closes the opening / closing door 10. Since the vortex tube 14 is conventionally known, a detailed description will be omitted.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the opening / closing door 10 and the hot air blowing mechanism 12 are attached to the carry-in / out port 9A of the partition wall 9 via a frame 16, and both of them are provided on the side of an air cylinder. The carry-in / out port 9A is opened and closed via 17. FIG. 4A is an exploded perspective view showing the relationship between the opening / closing door 10 and the hot air blowing mechanism 12. As shown in this figure, hot air mechanism 12, the inner (Plow
A rectangular box body 1 with a thin opening formed over the entire surface of the chamber 2 )
2A and a nozzle plate 1 for closing the opening of this box 12A
2B and a connecting part 12C for connecting the pipe 13A to the box 12A. The box body 12A, the nozzle plate 12B, and the opening / closing door 10 are stacked in this order, and are integrated by screws 12D at their peripheral portions to form a narrow space 12E inside as shown in FIG. 4B. . The nozzle plate 12B is formed with a large number of nozzle holes evenly distributed over almost the entire surface, and hot air is ejected from these nozzles. Further, the opening / closing door 10 is formed with an opening 10A so that each opening is not blocked by the opening / closing door 10. In this way, the hot air blowing mechanism 12 is integrated with the opening / closing door 10 and the carry-in / out port 9A of the partition wall 9 is formed.
Is opened and closed, and hot air is jetted directly below when the carry-out port 9A is opened. Therefore, when hot air is supplied from the pipe 13A, the box body 12 is passed through the connecting component 13C.
Hot air flows into the space 12E of A, and the nozzle plate 12B
The hot air is evenly ejected from each of the nozzle holes.

The prober chamber 2 is provided in the frame 16.
A concave recess 16A that bulges in a rectangular shape is formed on the side, and the open / close door 10 integrated with the hot air blowing mechanism 12 is openably and closably connected to the recess 16A via a plurality of hinges 18. Carrying in / out port 9 through hinge 18 at the upper end
The prober chamber 2 side is rotated about 90 ° from A to stop at the horizontal position. In addition, in FIG.
19 is a hinge stop plate, and 20 is a mylar.

As shown in FIG. 1, the solenoid valve 15 of the hot air blowing device 11 and the air cylinder 17 used for opening and closing the opening / closing door 10 are connected via an air pipe 21. That is, the air cylinder 17 has a first pipe 17A that supplies compressed air when the opening / closing door 10 is opened, and a second pipe 17B that supplies compressed air when the opening / closing door 10 is closed. The air pipe 21 is the first pipe 1
It branches from 7A. Therefore, when the opening / closing door 10 is opened, compressed air is supplied to the solenoid valve 15 via the air pipe 21, the solenoid valve 15 is driven by the pressure of this compressed air to open the valve, and high pressure air is supplied to the vortex tube 14. The hot air blowing mechanism 12 blows hot air directly below.

Next, an embodiment of the probe method of the present invention will be described together with the operation of the above probe device. Loader room 1
At tweezers 3, one 12-inch wafer W is taken out from the cassette, pre-alignment of the wafer W is performed on the sub chuck 3, and then the wafer W is placed in the prober chamber 2.
Carry in. At this time, the air cylinder 17 is driven based on the sequential control of the controller to open the opening / closing door 10 and open the carry-in / out port 9A of the partition wall 9. As a result, hot air is jetted directly from the hot air jetting mechanism 12. After that, the tweezers 3 picks up the wafer W on the sub chuck 3 and carries it into the prober chamber 2 from the carry-in / out port 9A. The tweezers 3 pass under the opening / closing door 10 in about 2 seconds, for example, and the wafer W is heated by hot air. The wafer W is delivered onto the main chuck 5 so as not to be heated as much as possible. After that, the tweezers 3 exits from the prober chamber 2 and stands by in the loader chamber 1 to carry out the wafer W after the inspection and the air cylinder 1
7 is driven to close the loading / unloading port 9A by the opening / closing door 10 to isolate the prober chamber 2 from the loader chamber 1.

On the other hand, in the prober chamber 2, the dry air having a dew point of −70 ° C. is continuously received from the receiving hole 2A and is discharged from the discharge hole so that the air in the prober chamber 2 is always held at the dew point and is kept inside. A clean environment is maintained without particles accumulating. Under such an environment, the main chuck 5 that has received the wafer W from the tweezers 3 holds the wafer W by vacuum suction of the wafer W, and holds the wafer W, for example, −6.
While cooling to 0 ° C., the electrode pad of the wafer W and the probe needle 7A are aligned under the action of an alignment mechanism (not shown) by moving in the X, Y, Z and θ directions. Next, the main chuck 5 moves up in the Z direction and comes into contact with the probe needle 7A to perform a low temperature inspection of the wafer W at −60 ° C.
After the inspection, it descends in the Z direction, and subsequently the main chuck 5 is index-fed to inspect all the IC chips on the wafer W.

When the inspection of all IC chips is completed, the main chuck 5 moves to the carry-out position of the wafer W and stops. In synchronization with this, the air cylinder 17 is driven to open the open / close door 10 and open the carry-in / out port 9A. At this time, the compressed air is supplied from the first pipe 17A to the air cylinder 17 to open the opening / closing door 10 and the hot air blowing device 11 operates. That is, the compressed air reaches the solenoid valve 15 of the hot air blowing device 11 via the air pipe 21 branched from the first pipe 17A, opens the solenoid valve 15, and, for example, high-pressure air at 30 ° C. is vortexed through the pipe 13B. 14 is supplied. In the vortex tube 14, high temperature air of around 80 ° C. is generated from high pressure air,
This high temperature air is supplied to the hot air blowing mechanism 12 via the pipe 13A, while the low temperature air generated at the same time as the high temperature air is exhausted to the outside of the system. In the hot air jetting mechanism 12, the hot air that has flowed into the space 12E of the box 12A jets hot air directly below from each nozzle hole of the nozzle plate 12B.

Hot air blowing mechanism 12 of hot air blowing device 11
In a state where hot air of 80 ° C. is ejected from the tweezers 3, the tweezers 3 are driven to advance from the loader chamber 1 to the prober chamber 2, the wafer W on the main chuck 5 is taken, and the wafer W is unloaded from the prober chamber 2 to the loader chamber 1. To do. During this time, air with a high dew point is transferred from the loader chamber 1 to the prober chamber 2 through the carry-in / out port 9A.
Since it flows into the inside, the dew point in the prober chamber 2 rises considerably. Further, the low-temperature wafer W is loaded into the loader chamber 1 in an air atmosphere having a high dew point. If the wafer W is kept at a low temperature, the surface of the wafer W is frosted when the wafer W comes into contact with the above-mentioned air having a high dew point, and the surface of the wafer W is frozen to be covered with frost and becomes pure white. That is, when the wafer W is lifted from the main chuck 5 by the tweezers 3, the temperature of the wafer W rapidly rises from −60 ° C. However, since this wafer W has a large diameter of 12 inches, its temperature is different from that of wafers up to 8 inches. Since the temperature rises slowly and remains much lower than room temperature, the wafer W is covered with frost and becomes pure white.

However, in the present embodiment, when the wafer W is unloaded to the loader chamber 1, the tweezers 3 retreat from the prober chamber 2 to the loader chamber 1 under the control of the controller at a speed much slower than when the wafer is loaded, and the hot air is blown out. It passes under the mechanism 12 for about 13 seconds, for example. During this time, hot air of 80 ° C. is blown onto the wafer W from the hot air blowing mechanism 12,
Moisture can be reliably removed from the wafer W by melting and evaporating frost on the surface of the wafer W, or by scattering water. Further, since the wafer W reaches a temperature considerably higher than room temperature by this hot air, even if the wafer W is carried out from the prober chamber 2 to the loader chamber 1 and comes into contact with air having a high dew point, dew condensation and frost formation on the surface are prevented. be able to. Therefore, when the wafer W is stored in the cassette with the tweezers 3, the surface of the wafer W is completely free of moisture and is in a completely dry state.

As described above, according to this embodiment,
In the course of closing door 10 of the transfer port 9A is unloading the wafer W from the prober chamber 2 to the loader chamber 1 is opened, the wafer W is unloaded
When passing through the inlet 9A , the hot air blowing device 11 blows hot air of about 80 ° C. onto the wafer W, and further, it is carried out from the prober chamber 2 to the loader chamber 1 at a slow speed. At this point, the temperature of the wafer W rises due to the hot air to prevent dew condensation and frost formation on the wafer W, and the temperature of the wafer W rises and is completely dried. Therefore, there is no possibility that the wafer W is contaminated by dust such as particles in the loader chamber 1.

In the above embodiment, the hot air blowing device 11
Although the vortex tube 14 that heats air is used as the gas heating mechanism, a heater or the like may be used as a heating source, and an inert gas such as nitrogen may be used instead of air. Further, although the solenoid valve 15 is used as a valve for supplying hot air, an electric valve may be used.

[0026]

According to the first to third aspects of the present invention, the loading / unloading port of the partition between the loader chamber and the prober chamber is provided.
Open the openable door that can be opened and closed, and transport the object to be inspected from the loader chamber to the loading table in the prober chamber through the loading / unloading port and close the opening door, and then open the loading table. When the low temperature inspection of the object to be inspected is performed while cooling the object to be inspected to a predetermined inspection temperature through it and supplying dry air that does not condense at the cooling temperature of the object to be inspected to the prober chamber, the opening / closing door Open the above-mentioned object to be inspected after the low-temperature inspection from the prober chamber through the carry-in / out port.
And reason in the course of conveying to the loader chamber, when the inspection object passes below the door, in the prober chamber side
Hot air blowing attached to the above-mentioned door opened horizontally
Since hot air is blown from the device to the object to be inspected, even if the object to be inspected has a large diameter of, for example, a 12-inch class, it is caused by moisture in the atmosphere of the object to be inspected after the low temperature inspection. It is possible to provide a probe device and a probe method capable of reliably preventing the contamination of the object to be inspected due to dew condensation.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a main part of an embodiment of a probe device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing a state in which the hot air blowing mechanism of the hot air blowing device shown in FIG. 1 is attached to a partition wall.

3 is an enlarged perspective view showing the air cylinder shown in FIG. 2. FIG.

4A is an exploded perspective view of the hot air blowing mechanism and the opening / closing door shown in FIG. 2, and FIG. 4B is a sectional view of a part of the hot air blowing mechanism.

FIG. 5 is a partial cross-sectional view showing an example of a conventional probe device with a prober chamber cut away.

6 is a configuration diagram showing the inside of the probe device shown in FIG. 5. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 loader room 2 Prober room 3 tweezers (transport mechanism) 5 Main chuck (mounting table) 9 partitions 9A entrance / exit 10 open / close door 11 Hot air blowing device 12 Hot air blowing mechanism 14 Vortex tube (gas heating mechanism) 15 Solenoid valve 17 Air cylinder

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI H01L 21/68 G01R 31/28 K (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01L 21/66 G01R 31 / 26 G01R 31/28 H01L 21/68

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A loader chamber having a transport mechanism for transporting an object to be inspected, and X, Y, Z and θ adjacent to the loader chamber.
A prober chamber having a mounting table movable in a direction, a partition wall that partitions the prober chamber and the loader chamber, and an opening / closing door that opens and closes the loading / unloading port of the object to be inspected of the partition wall, via the mounting table described above. The opening / closing door is opened in the probe device for cooling the above-mentioned inspected object and supplying the dry air which does not condense at the cooling temperature of the inspected object into the prober chamber while inspecting the electrical characteristics of the inspected object. A hot air blowing device for blowing hot air to the object to be inspected, which sometimes passes under the opening / closing door, is provided .
Is attached to the door and integrated with the door.
In addition, the opening / closing door is opened so that the inspection object is under the opening / closing door.
When passing through
The hot air blowing mechanism that blows out the wind and the hot air blowing mechanism
And a gas heating mechanism connected to supply the probe device. 2. An air cylinder for opening and closing the opening and closing door is provided, a solenoid valve is provided for the hot air blowing device, and the solenoid valve is opened by the pressure of compressed air for opening and driving the air cylinder. The probe device according to claim 1 . 3. Loading and unloading of a partition wall between the loader chamber and the prober chamber
After opening the opening / closing door attached to the mouth so that it can be opened / closed, the object to be inspected is transferred from the loader chamber to the loading table in the prober chamber through the loading / unloading port, and the opening / closing door is closed, and then the loading table described above. In the probe method for performing a low-temperature inspection of the inspected object while supplying the dry air that does not condense at the cooling temperature of the inspected object to the prober chamber while cooling the inspected object to a predetermined inspection temperature via Open the open / close door and move the DUT from the prober chamber to the loading / unloading port.
When the object to be inspected passes under the opening / closing door in the process of being transferred to the loader chamber via the prober chamber side.
With hot air blowing attached to the above-mentioned door that opens horizontally with
A probe method comprising blowing hot air onto the object to be inspected from a cleaning device .