JP3947795B2 - Cleaning member and probe device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a cleaning member that cleans a probe of a probe card and a probe device including the cleaning member, and more particularly to a cleaning member and a probe device that can improve the cleaning efficiency of the probe.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the probe apparatus performs an electrical characteristic inspection of a loader chamber 1 that conveys an object to be inspected (for example, a wafer) W and a wafer W that is adjacent to the loader chamber 1 and received from the loader chamber 1. And a prober chamber 2 to be performed. As shown in the figure, the prober chamber 2 is disposed so as to be movable in the X, Y, Z, and θ directions, and is disposed above the wafer chuck 3 and a mounting table (wafer chuck) 3 on which a wafer is mounted. And a clamp mechanism 5 that holds the probe card 4. In the prober chamber 2, the wafer W and the probe 4 A of the probe card 4 are aligned through the alignment mechanism 6 while the wafer chuck 3 moves in the X, Y, Z, and θ directions, and then the index feed of the wafer W is performed. The electrical characteristics are inspected by bringing the probe 4A into electrical contact with the electrode pad of the wafer W while performing the above. The alignment mechanism 6 includes an upper camera 6A and a lower camera 6B. T is a test head.

  Thus, when the inspection of the wafer W is continued, deposits such as shavings of the electrode pad adhere to the probe 4A. Therefore, a cleaning member 7 is attached to the side surface of the wafer chuck 3, and the probe 4A is cleaned by the cleaning member 7 so as to remove deposits from the probe 4A. The deposits include those in which metal pad shavings or the like are firmly attached to the probe 4A by welding or the like, and are difficult to remove, or those with weak adhesion and easy to remove. The adhered matter firmly fixed is polished using a polishing member to remove the adhered matter, and the adhered matter having a weak adhesive force is removed from the probe 4A using a brush or the like.

  As a polishing member, for example, there is one proposed in Patent Document 1. This polishing member (polishing plate) is placed on a wafer chuck in place of the wafer, and the probe is polished by bringing the probe into sliding contact with the upper edge of the groove formed on the surface of the polishing plate from an oblique direction. The deposits such as the deposits are removed.

  Moreover, as a brush, there exists a thing proposed in patent document 2, for example. This brush is formed by a conductive cleaning body and attached to the side surface of the wafer chuck. This conductive cleaning body is grounded, and discharges static electricity generated by friction between the probe and the conductive cleaning body through the grounded conductive cleaning body during cleaning to prevent charging of the probe during cleaning. Therefore, the discharge from the probe to the wafer is prevented during the inspection.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-019226 JP-A-08-250557

  However, the polishing member of Patent Document 1 uses a deposit on which a probe is polished and electrode pad shavings are firmly fixed as a cleaning target, and a deposit having a weak adhesion is not a cleaning target. In this technique, the wafer on the wafer chuck is replaced with a polishing member for cleaning, so that the cleaning workability is poor and the throughput is reduced.

  On the other hand, the chargeable cleaning body disclosed in Patent Document 2 uses a deposit having a weak adhesive force as a cleaning target. The conductive cleaning body is formed by a bundle of carbonaceous fibers, boron fibers and the like, and each fiber is generally formed to have a circular or elliptical cross section as shown in FIG. Therefore, at the time of cleaning, each fiber 7A is in sliding contact with the deposit O on the probe 4A needle tip as schematically shown in (a) of the figure, and the deposit O is removed by the friction force at this time. Since the cross section is circular or elliptical, it is easy to slip, and the contact area with the deposit O is narrow because it is an arc surface as shown in FIG. there were. Further, each fiber 7A is cut at the time of cleaning, but the broken ends remain entangled between the plurality of probes 4A as indicated by arrows in FIG. As shown by the arrow in FIG. 5B, the current flows through the conductive fiber 7A, and there is a risk of short circuit between the probes 4A and 4A. In FIG. 7 (a), it appears that the deposit O is firmly attached to the probe tip of the probe 4A, but it is actually an aggregate of metal pad shavings, etc., and is not welded.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is to provide a cleaning member and a probe device that can improve cleaning efficiency. It is another object of the present invention to provide a cleaning member and a probe device that can increase the cleaning efficiency and prevent a short circuit between probes due to the fibers of the cleaning member at the time of inspection.

  The cleaning member according to claim 1 of the present invention has a base and a brush made of a plurality of fibers standing on the base, and is used when inspecting an object to be inspected with the brush. In the cleaning member for cleaning the probe, the outer peripheral surface of the fiber is provided with a plurality of depressions formed in the length direction of the fiber at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction. It is.

  Further, in the cleaning member according to claim 2 of the present invention, in the invention according to claim 1, the plurality of depressions are respectively formed at boundaries where a plurality of bulging surfaces are continuous in the circumferential direction of the fiber. It is characterized by.

  The cleaning member according to claim 3 of the present invention is characterized in that, in the invention according to claim 1 or 2, the cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the fibers has a trefoil shape. is there.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the cleaning member according to any one of the first to third aspects, the fiber is formed of an insulating plastic fiber. To do.

The cleaning member according to claim 5 of the present invention is the cleaning member according to claim 4, wherein the insulating plastic fiber has a specific resistance of 10 ¹⁴ to 10 ¹⁶ Ω · cm. It is.

  The probe device according to claim 6 of the present invention is the probe device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the base is made of metal, and the insulating plastic fiber is made of a metal wire. It is bundled and is erected on the base.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a probe apparatus comprising: a cleaning member attached to a movable mounting table on which an object to be inspected is mounted; and a probe card disposed above the cleaning member. Then, after moving the mounting table to electrically contact the object to be inspected and the plurality of probes of the probe card to perform an electrical characteristic test, the cleaning member is moved through the mounting table. In the probe apparatus for cleaning the plurality of probes, the cleaning member has a base and a brush made of a plurality of fibers standing on the base, and the outer surface of the fiber has a length of the fiber. The depression formed in the vertical direction is provided over a plurality of strips at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction.

  The probe device according to claim 8 of the present invention is the probe device according to claim 7, wherein the plurality of depressions are formed at boundaries where a plurality of bulging surfaces are continuous in the circumferential direction of the fiber. It is characterized by this.

  The probe device according to claim 9 of the present invention is the probe device according to claim 7 or claim 8, characterized in that the cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the fiber has a trefoil shape. is there.

  The probe device according to claim 10 of the present invention is the probe device according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein the fibers are formed of insulating plastic fibers. To do.

The probe device according to an eleventh aspect of the present invention is the probe device according to the tenth aspect, wherein the insulating plastic fiber has a specific resistance of 10 ¹⁴ to 10 ¹⁶ Ω · cm. .

  According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, in the probe device according to any one of the seventh to eleventh aspects, the base is made of metal, and the insulating plastic fiber is made of a metal wire. It is bundled and is erected on the base.

  According to the first to twelfth aspects of the present invention, it is possible to provide a cleaning member and a probe device capable of increasing the cleaning efficiency, and between the probes caused by the fibers of the cleaning member at the time of inspection. A cleaning member and a probe device that can prevent a short circuit can be provided.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on the embodiment shown in FIGS. FIG. 1 is a side view showing the main part of one embodiment of the probe device of the present invention, and FIGS. 2A and 2B are views showing a cleaning member used in the probe device shown in FIG. (A) is a perspective view thereof, (b) is a cross-sectional view schematically showing an enlarged portion thereof, and (a) and (b) of FIG. 3 are each used to clean the probe card with the cleaning member shown in FIG. 4A is a horizontal plan view showing the relationship between the fibers of the cleaning member and the probe, FIG. 4B is a side view showing the relationship between the fibers of the cleaning member and the probe, and FIG. FIGS. 5A and 5B are horizontal sectional views showing modifications of the fibers of the cleaning member, respectively. FIG. 5 is a view showing a state where the fibers of the cleaning member are entangled between the probes shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, for example, the probe apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment includes a movable mounting table (wafer chuck) 11 on which an object to be inspected (for example, a wafer) W is mounted and a side surface of the wafer chuck 11. A protruding cleaning member 12 and a probe card 13 disposed above the cleaning member 12 are provided, and the configuration is the same as in the prior art except that the cleaning member 12 is different. The wafer chuck 11 is arranged on an XY table (not shown) via an elevating mechanism 14, moves in the X and Y directions in the horizontal direction via the XY table, and moves up and down via the elevating mechanism 14. It is configured to move up and down.

  When inspecting the wafer W, the wafer chuck 11 is index-fed and the wafer chuck 11 is moved up and down under the control of a control device (not shown) to electrically connect the wafer W and the plurality of probes 13A of the probe card 13. Make contact. If the inspection of the wafer W is repeated, shavings or the like of the electrode pad adhere to the probe tip portion of the probe 4A, and the attached matter becomes an electrical insulator and becomes an obstacle to the inspection. Therefore, the needle tip of the probe 13A is cleaned by the cleaning member 12 to remove the deposits.

  The cleaning member 12 of the present embodiment removes deposits attached to the probe tip of the probe 13A with a weak adhesion force, and is mainly composed of a brush made of fibers to be described later. As will be described later, this fiber has a special cross-sectional shape in order to increase the cleaning efficiency.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 2A, the cleaning member 12 has a metal base 121 and a brush 123 made up of a bundle of a plurality of fibers 122 erected on the upper surface of the base 121. The base 121 is grounded via a conducting wire 124. As shown in FIG. 1, the cleaning member 12 is mounted on a support base 15 that extends horizontally from the upper end of the side surface of the wafer chuck 11. For example, a recess into which the base 121 is fitted is formed on the upper surface of the support base 15, and an adhesive surface is formed on the bottom surface of the recess. When the cleaning member 12 is mounted on the support base 15, the cleaning member 12 is fixed on the support body 15 by the base 121 sticking to the adhesive surface.

  A plurality of recessed portions 121A are arranged in a matrix on the upper surface of the base 121, and a fiber bundle in which a large number of fibers 122 are bundled is implanted in the recessed portion 121A. The fiber bundle is packed at the base end portion in each recessed portion 121A without a gap. The planar shape of the recessed portion 121A is, for example, circular.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 2B, the fibers 122 are folded 180 degrees one by one and both ends are aligned, and the folded parts are stored so as to contact the bottom surface of the recessed portion 121A. The fiber bundles implanted in all the recessed portions 121 </ b> A are aggregated on the base 121 and are formed on the upper surface of the brush 123 with almost no gap. A through hole 121B is formed at the center of the bottom surface of the recessed portion 121A, as shown in the figure, through which a fine metal wire (for example, a stainless steel thin wire) 125 that fixes the fiber bundle at the recessed portion 121A is passed. When fixing the fiber bundle in the recessed portion 121A, the stainless thin wire 125 is passed through the through hole 121B from the lower surface of the base 121, and after passing through the bent portions of all the fibers 122, it is pulled out from the through hole 121B. The lower end portion of the fiber bundle is fixed in the recessed portion 121A. The fiber bundle of each recessed portion 121A may be fixed with one stainless thin wire 125, or may be fixed with a plurality of stainless thin wires 125 as necessary. The fiber bundle planted in the recessed portion 121A by the thin stainless wire 125, that is, the height from the base 121 of the brush 123 is formed to be a length for cleaning the needle tip of the probe 13A, for example, 12 mm ± 200 μm.

  Further, the fibers 122 are formed in a special cross-sectional shape in order to increase the cleaning efficiency. That is, on the outer peripheral surface of the fiber 122, as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, recesses 122A formed over the entire length in the longitudinal direction of the fiber 122 extend over a plurality of strips at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction. Are formed parallel to each other. In (a) of the figure, three dents 122 </ b> A are formed on the outer peripheral surface of the fiber 122. And the outer peripheral surface between adjacent dents 122A and 122A is formed as a bulging surface. In (a) of the figure, the bulging surface is formed as an arcuate surface having a central angle of approximately 120 °, and the cross section is formed in a three-leaf shape. Since the longitudinal recess 122A is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the fiber 122 as described above, the tip of the probe 13A or the attached portion O is conventionally provided as shown in FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b). In this way, the fiber 122 is once captured by the recess 122A without sliding on the outer peripheral surface of the fiber 122, and the sliding contact area with the deposit O is larger than the conventional one. In comparison, cleaning can be performed in a significantly shorter time, and throughput can be improved. At the time of cleaning, the tip of the brush 123 of the cleaning member 12 is overdriven by 200 μm from the lower end of the probe 13A as shown in FIG.

  The cross-sectional shape of the fiber 122 is not limited to the three-leaf shape shown in FIG. 3A, and as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, for example, four or eight arcuate surfaces are circumferential. And four or eight depressions 122A and arcuate surfaces 122B may be formed. However, in order to reliably capture the needle tip of the probe 13A with the recess 122A and increase the cleaning efficiency, it is preferable that the recess 122A is deeper.

Further, the fiber 122 of the present embodiment is formed of an insulating plastic fiber having a specific resistance of 10 ¹⁴ to 10 ¹⁶ Ω · cm, for example. Since the brush 123 is made of an aggregate of insulating plastic fibers 122, it is charged by friction with the probe 13A during cleaning. Since the charging of the brush 123 becomes noise at the time of inspection, there is a possibility that the inspection may be disturbed. Therefore, a voltage of 1000 V was applied to the brush 123 using a noise injector (manufactured by Sanki Electronics Co., Ltd .: STATIC E TESTER SET-15) to charge the brush 123, and the time required from charging to discharging was measured. As a result, the average value was about 1000 V to 80 V after 1 second of discharge, and 0 V after 5 seconds. Due to the charging of the brush 123, the base 121 is charged with a charge opposite to that of the brush 123, and electrical neutralization is maintained in the cleaning member 12. Here, since the base 121 is grounded as described above, the electric charge of the base 121 is instantaneously discharged, so that the electric charge remains only at the upper end of the brush 123. Therefore, the discharge time of the brush 123 means the discharge time of the charge at the upper end of the brush 123, and can be discharged in a shorter time, for example, within 5 seconds. Since the average time required for starting inspection after completion of cleaning is about 5 seconds on average, even if inspection is started after cleaning, the inspection can be performed without being affected by noise due to charging.

  The insulating plastic fibers 122 of the brush 123 are cut by the cleaning, and the pieces of the insulating plastic fibers 122 are entangled between the plurality of probes 13A as shown in FIG. In this case, if the insulating plastic fiber 122 is poor in insulation, a leakage current flows and there is a failure in inspection. Therefore, the current in the insulating plastic fiber 122 was measured with a withstand voltage measuring instrument (manufactured by Kikusui Electronics Co., Ltd .: KIKUSUI TOS-5051), and the presence or absence of leakage current was examined. For the measurement, 100 insulating plastic fibers 122 were bundled, voltages of 2500 V and 5000 V were individually applied to the fiber bundle, and the current value of the fiber bundle was measured. In each case, a current value of 0.00 mA was obtained. There was no leakage current. Therefore, even if the insulating plastic fiber 122 is entangled with the probe 13A, there is no problem in the inspection.

  In addition, the insulating plastic fiber 122 has the following characteristics in addition to the above characteristics. That is, the insulating plastic fiber 122 is formed as a thin fiber having an outer diameter of 20 to 30 μm. This insulating plastic fiber 122 has a Young's modulus of 38 to 85 and a cutting strength of 1.5 to 2.0 g / d, and is relatively soft. Even when entangled with the probe 13A, the probe 13A can be easily damaged. It is formed to cut. Therefore, when the insulating plastic fiber 122 is entangled with the probe tip of the probe 13A during cleaning, there is no possibility that the insulating plastic fiber 122 is cut and the probe 13A is damaged.

  For a probe card with a probe 13A pitch of 60 to 80 μm and a needle tip outer diameter of 10 to 15 μm, the brush 123 of the cleaning member 12 is overdriven by 200 μm, and in this state, it is moved 10,000 times by 999 μm in the X and Y directions. After cleaning the probe 13A, the displacement amount of the needle tips of all the probes 13A was measured. As a result, the amount of displacement of the needle tip in the X direction and the Y direction was both 2 μm or less at the maximum. Further, the amount of displacement of the needle tip in the Z direction was 1 μm or less. From these points, it can be seen that the brush 123 made of a fiber bundle of the insulating plastic fibers 122 is extremely effective as a material of the cleaning member 12 without damaging the probe 13A.

  Further, the insulating plastic fiber 122 has an extremely low metal component content as compared with the conventional fiber. For example, the Cu component content is 0.1 μg / g. Thus, since there is little content of a metal component, there is no possibility of causing the conduction | electrical_connection inhibition resulting from a metal component.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the cleaning member 12 includes the base 121 and the brushes 123 made of the insulating plastic fibers 122 standing on the base 121, and the insulating plastic fibers. A recess 122A formed in the longitudinal direction of the insulating plastic fiber 122 is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the 122 at three intervals at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction, and the cross section is formed in a three-leaf shape. When cleaning the probe 13A with the member 12, the needle tip of the probe 13A is once captured by the recess 122A without sliding on the arcuate surface 122B of the insulating plastic fiber 122, and more specifically, the deposit O on the needle tip is recessed 122. The deposit O is efficiently removed from the needle tip while the deposit O slides on the arcuate surface 122B from the recess 122A, and the It is possible to increase the throughput of the training.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, since the brush 123 is formed of an aggregate of the insulating plastic fibers 122, the insulating plastic fibers 122 are cut during cleaning, and the cut ends are entangled between the plurality of probes 13A. Even if it remains, the current does not leak in the insulating plastic fiber 122 during the inspection, the inspection can be performed without any trouble, and the reliability inspection can be performed.

Moreover, according to this embodiment, since the insulating plastic fiber 122 has a specific resistance of 10 ¹⁴ to 10 ¹⁶ Ω · cm, it is possible to more reliably prevent a leakage current at the time of inspection. In addition, since the base 121 is made of metal and the insulating plastic fibers 122 are bound by the stainless steel thin wires 125 and are erected on the base 121, even if the brush 123 is charged during cleaning, the stainless steel fine wires 125 are used. Thus, the electric charge of the brush 123 can be discharged from the base 121 side in a short time, and the inspection after cleaning can be performed quickly.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and each component can be changed in design as necessary.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be suitably used for a probe device used for electrical property inspection of an object to be inspected such as a wafer.

It is a side view which shows the principal part of one Embodiment of the probe apparatus of this invention. (A), (b) is a figure which shows the cleaning member used for the probe apparatus shown in FIG. 1, respectively, (a) is the perspective view, (b) is the cross section which expands the part and shows typically FIG. (A), (b) is a figure which shows the state which cleans a probe card with the cleaning member shown in FIG. 2, respectively, (a) is a top view in the horizontal direction which shows the relationship between the fiber of a cleaning member, and a probe, (b) ) Is a side view showing the relationship between the fibers of the cleaning member and the probe. (A), (b) is sectional drawing of the horizontal direction which shows the modification of the fiber of a cleaning member, respectively. FIG. 2 is a view showing a state where fibers of a cleaning member are entangled between probes shown in FIG. It is a front view which shows an example of the conventional probe apparatus partially fractured | ruptured. FIGS. 5A and 5B are views showing the cleaning member and the probe card shown in FIG. 5, respectively. FIG. 5A is a horizontal plan view showing the relationship between the fibers of the cleaning member and the probe during cleaning, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a view showing a state where fibers of a cleaning member are entangled with a probe card.

Explanation of symbols

10 Probe device 11 Wafer chuck (mounting table)
12 Cleaning member 13 Probe card 13A Probe 121 Base 122 Insulating plastic fiber (fiber)
122A Dimple 123 Brush W Wafer (Subject to be inspected)

Claims (12)

  In a cleaning member having a base and a brush made of a plurality of fibers erected on the base, and cleaning a probe used when inspecting an object to be inspected with the brush, an outer peripheral surface of the fiber In the cleaning member, recesses formed in the length direction of the fiber are provided over a plurality of strips at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction.   2. The cleaning member according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of depressions are formed at boundaries where a plurality of bulging surfaces are continuous in the circumferential direction of the fibers.   The cleaning member according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a cross section perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the fiber has a trefoil shape.   The cleaning member according to claim 1, wherein the fiber is formed of an insulating plastic fiber. The cleaning member according to claim 4, wherein the insulating plastic fiber has a specific resistance of 10 ¹⁴ to 10 ¹⁶ Ω · cm.   6. The cleaning according to claim 1, wherein the base is made of metal, and the insulating plastic fibers are bound by a metal wire and are erected on the base. Element.   A cleaning member attached to a movable mounting table for mounting the object to be inspected, and a probe card disposed above the cleaning member, and the inspection object and the probe are moved by moving the mounting table. In the probe device for cleaning the plurality of probes by moving the cleaning member through the mounting table after performing electrical characteristics inspection by making electrical contact with the plurality of probes of the card, the cleaning member is A base and a plurality of brushes that are erected on the base, and recesses formed in the length direction of the fibers are spaced apart in the circumferential direction on the outer peripheral surface of the fibers. The probe device is provided over a plurality of strips.   8. The probe device according to claim 7, wherein the plurality of depressions are formed at boundaries where a plurality of bulging surfaces are continuous in the circumferential direction of the fiber.   The probe device according to claim 7 or 8, wherein a cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the fiber has a trefoil shape.   The probe device according to claim 7, wherein the fiber is formed of an insulating plastic fiber. The probe device according to claim 10, wherein the insulating plastic fiber has a specific resistance of 10 ¹⁴ to 10 ¹⁶ Ω · cm.   The probe according to any one of claims 7 to 11, wherein the base is made of metal, and the insulating plastic fibers are bound by a metal wire and are erected on the base. apparatus.

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