JP4183859B2 - Semiconductor substrate testing equipment - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a semiconductor substrate testing apparatus for testing a semiconductor substrate (hereinafter, typically referred to as a wafer) in which a semiconductor integrated circuit element or the like is built, and in particular, a waveform of a test signal transmitted from a tester body. The present invention relates to a semiconductor substrate testing apparatus capable of measuring with high accuracy.
[0002]
[Prior art]
A large number of semiconductor integrated circuit elements are fabricated on a substrate such as a silicon wafer or a glass plate, and then completed as electronic components through various processes such as dicing, wire bonding, and packaging. Such an IC device is subjected to an operation test before shipment, and such a test is performed in a finished product state or a wafer state.
[0003]
Particularly in recent years, with the progress of semiconductor manufacturing technology, devices using a chip size package (CSP) such as a ball grid array (BGA) type IC device have become widespread. In this type of IC device, packaging is performed in a wafer state, and then dicing is performed. Therefore, the device operation test is often performed in the wafer state.
[0004]
As a semiconductor substrate testing apparatus for testing an IC device in a wafer state, for example, one disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 5-15431 is known. In this type of semiconductor substrate testing apparatus, the wafer to be tested is vacuum-adsorbed to the wafer chuck, and the needle (needle-shaped contact) provided on the probe card is brought into contact with the contact built in the wafer. Done.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, in the operation test of the IC device, one or more kinds of predetermined test signals are sent from the tester main body to each contact of the IC device through the test head. For example, a test signal a and a test signal b as shown in FIG. 4 are transmitted. If the different test signals a and b are out of phase, a device test at a high clock frequency cannot be performed. Therefore, the test signal waveform as shown in FIG. Thus, it is common to perform phase correction of both test signals.
[0006]
In a test apparatus called a handler, which is an IC device that is a finished product, a general phase correction is performed by connecting an oscilloscope for waveform observation to a contact pin of the test head. If the contact pin is too far from the ground point (earth, GND), noise or the like is mixed in the waveform output to the oscilloscope, and an accurate waveform cannot be obtained. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, a waveform such as a waveform y or a waveform z is observed with respect to a regular waveform x. For this reason, if there is a ground point in the vicinity of the contact pin, it is used, and if there is no ground point in the vicinity, a separate ground pad is provided.
[0007]
However, in a semiconductor substrate testing apparatus for testing a wafer, needles corresponding to the contact pins of the handler are arranged at a narrow interval such as 150 μm, so it is extremely difficult to provide a grounding point near the needle.
[0008]
For this reason, the waveform of the test signal was observed by using the wiring pattern part of the probe card arranged at a relatively wide interval. However, in this method, the test signal itself input to the contact of the wafer device is used. Although it is not observed, there is a problem in the accuracy of the waveform obtained because the waveform of the test signal is measured using a contact point away from the input as an input unit.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
An object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor substrate testing apparatus capable of measuring a signal characteristic such as a waveform of a test signal transmitted from a tester main body with high accuracy.
[0010]
(1) According to the first aspect of the present invention, a semiconductor substrate that performs a test by sending a plurality of test signals to a device portion formed on a semiconductor substrate, and determines the quality of the device portion according to the result A test apparatus, comprising: a plurality of first needle contacts that are in electrical contact with the device portion; and a grounding portion provided in the vicinity of the first needle contacts on one main surface. A probe card electrically connected to the first contact point, a contact portion electrically contacting the first needle contact, and a second needle contact electrically contacting the grounding portion are provided on one main surface. There is provided a semiconductor substrate testing apparatus including a measurement chip.
[0011]
In the present invention, the measuring chip may have one or more pairs of second needle contacts and contact portions according to the arrangement of the first needle contacts and the grounding portion of the probe card. preferable.
[0012]
In the present invention, it is more preferable to further include a measurement chip stage for moving the measurement chip relative to the first needle contact and the grounding portion of the probe card.
[0013]
Further, in the present invention, it further comprises a substrate stage for holding the semiconductor substrate and bringing the device portion into contact with the first needle contact of the probe card, and the measuring chip is provided on the substrate stage. preferable.
[0014]
The present invention may further include a signal characteristic measuring device connected to the output terminal of the measuring chip and outputting the characteristic of the test signal.
[0015]
The characteristics of the test signal in the present invention are not particularly limited, and examples thereof include a signal waveform of the test signal.
[0016]
(2) According to the second aspect of the present invention, a plurality of needle-like contacts that are electrically connected to the test head substrate of the semiconductor substrate testing apparatus and are in electrical contact with the device portion of the semiconductor substrate are formed on one main surface There is provided a probe card for a semiconductor substrate testing apparatus provided, wherein the probe card for a semiconductor substrate testing apparatus is provided with a grounding portion in the vicinity of the needle-like contact.
[0017]
In the present invention, the grounding portion may be provided for one needle-like contact, or may be provided in common for a plurality of needle-like contacts.
[0018]
(3) According to a third aspect of the present invention, a grounding portion that is in electrical contact with the first needle-shaped contact provided on the probe card for a semiconductor substrate testing apparatus and provided in the vicinity of the first needle-shaped contact. A measurement chip for a semiconductor substrate testing apparatus is provided, which includes a second needle-like contact that is in electrical contact with the grounded portion.
[0019]
(4) According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, a semiconductor substrate that performs a test by sending a plurality of test signals to a device portion formed on the semiconductor substrate, and determines whether the device portion is good or bad according to the result. A test apparatus for measuring the characteristics of the test signal, wherein the semiconductor substrate test apparatus includes a needle contact for transmitting a test signal to the device section, and a grounding section provided in the vicinity of the needle contact. There is provided a method for measuring a test signal characteristic in a semiconductor substrate testing apparatus for measuring the characteristic of the test signal using the needle-shaped contact and the grounding part as an input part .
[0020]
In the present invention, the characteristics of the test signal are not particularly limited, and examples thereof include a signal waveform of the test signal.
[0022]
[Action]
In the above invention, before or during the test of a semiconductor substrate such as a wafer or a glass substrate to be tested, the second needle contact of the measurement chip is used as the grounding portion of the probe card, and the contact portion of the measurement chip is used as the probe. The test needles are sent to the first needle contacts of the card in this state. The second needle-like contact and contact part of the measuring chip receives a test signal that is almost the same as that input to the device part of the semiconductor substrate to be tested, and this is output to a signal characteristic measuring device such as an oscilloscope. The Therefore, the characteristics of the test signal can be measured in an electrical environment equivalent to an actual test, and the reliability of the measurement result is remarkably increased. In the present invention, since the grounding portion is provided in the vicinity of the first needle contact of the probe card, there is very little possibility that noise or the like is mixed into the test signal obtained from the grounding portion via the measuring chip.
[0023]
Such measurement is performed for each first needle contact of the probe card or for several groups (pairs), and for this purpose, the measuring chip is moved to each first needle contact. If a plurality of pairs of second needle contacts and contact portions are provided on the measuring chip, the test signals sent to each of the first needle contacts can be measured at a time, and all the first needle contacts are measured. Measurement time for the contact can be shortened. On the contrary, when the measuring chip is provided with a pair or a small number of second needle contacts and contact portions, a simple cable for a signal characteristic measuring device such as an oscilloscope is sufficient.
[0024]
In addition, by providing the measurement chip on the substrate stage of the semiconductor substrate, the measurement chip can be moved on the substrate stage, eliminating the need for a stage device dedicated to the measurement chip, and in terms of cost and space. Will also be advantageous.
[0025]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is an overall view showing a semiconductor substrate testing apparatus of the present invention,
2 is a cross-sectional view showing a main part of the semiconductor substrate testing apparatus of FIG.
FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the probe card of FIG. In FIG. 3, two measurement chips are shown, but the right measurement chip 35 is a diagram in which the left measurement chip is turned upside down.
[0026]
As shown in FIG. 1, the semiconductor substrate testing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment includes a tester body 10 that outputs a test signal and executes a test, a test head 20 connected to the tester body 10 via a cable, and the like. A prober 30 is provided, which is supplied with a wafer W, which is a device under test, and sequentially moves a plurality of device parts built in the wafer W so as to contact needles (needle contacts) of the test head 20.
[0027]
In the prober 30, a wafer W, which is a device under test, is obtained by integrating a large number of semiconductor circuits (device units) on a single wafer, and a wafer chuck (not shown) is used for testing. It is vacuum-adsorbed and held in a highly accurate position. For this reason, the wafer chuck is provided on the wafer stage 31. The wafer stage 31 can be moved with high accuracy in the XY plane shown in the figure with respect to the base plate 32, and the entire wafer stage 31 or only the wafer chuck can be moved. It can be moved up and down in the Z-axis direction.
[0028]
Although not shown, when a predetermined temperature is applied to the wafer W and a high temperature test is performed, the wafer W is heated via a heater built in the wafer chuck.
[0029]
In the prober 30 of this embodiment, a card holder 33 is provided above the wafer stage 31, and a probe card 34 is held here. The probe card 34 of this example has a substrate 341 made of ceramic or silicon and formed in a rectangular shape, and a plurality of needles 342 are formed on one main surface (the lower surface in FIGS. 1 and 2 and the front surface in FIG. 3). (Corresponding to the first needle-like contact of the present invention) is provided, and arranged in a plurality of rows as shown in FIG. In addition, on the same main surface of the substrate 341, a pattern of a ground portion 343 connected to the ground is formed between the rows of needles 342.
[0030]
The needle 342 is provided upright, for example, so as to come into contact with the terminals (contacts before wire bonding) of one device portion integrated and formed on the wafer W, and the above-described wafer stage 31 is placed in the XYZ space. Can be contacted with each terminal of the device portion to be tested by sequentially moving the device.
[0031]
In the probe card 34 of the present embodiment, one of the connectors 344 including a zero insertion / extraction force connector is mounted on the main surface opposite to the substrate 341 (the upper surface in FIGS. Yes.
[0032]
The zero insertion force connector is a force in the insertion / removal direction (in this example, the vertical direction) when the other zero insertion / removal connector 221 provided on the test head 20 side described later is inserted / removed. A type of connector that does not need to be added, for example, a rail built in the connector in the longitudinal direction is driven back and forth by a cylinder, and a cam engaged with the rail is moved up and down. A system that narrows or widens the interval between socket contacts that sandwich the contact, or another system can be used.
[0033]
Each needle 342 and each contact point of the zero insertion / extraction force connector 344 are electrically connected by a wiring pattern or a through hole (both not shown) formed on the substrate 341 of the probe card 34.
[0034]
In the semiconductor substrate testing apparatus of the present invention, means for electrically connecting the probe card 34 and the test head 20 is not limited to the above-described zero insertion / extraction force connector, but other types of connectors and connection terminals. But there is no problem.
[0035]
On the other hand, the test head 20 of the semiconductor substrate testing apparatus 1 is located above the wafer stage 31, and various substrates such as a performance board are provided here, although not shown. A top panel 21 is fixed to the lowermost surface of the test head 20 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and a contact ring 22 is fixed to the lower surface of the top panel 21. Further, the other end 221 of the zero insertion / extraction force connector described above is fixed to the contact ring 22. The sectional view of FIG. 2 shows how the zero insertion / extraction force connectors 221 and 344 are attached.
[0036]
Although detailed illustration is omitted, the above-described positioning of the probe card 34 and the contact ring 22 is performed by engaging a guide pin provided on the probe card 34 side with a guide bush provided on the contact ring 22 side. And so on.
[0037]
Further, the zero insertion / extraction force connector 221 attached to the contact ring 22 side and the performance board in the test head 20 are electrically connected by a large number of wirings or daughter boards.
[0038]
In particular, in the prober 30 of this embodiment, the measurement chip 35 shown in FIG. 3 is provided upward on the flange 311 of the wafer stage 31 as shown in FIG. This measuring chip 35 has a substrate 351 made of the same ceramic or silicon as the substrate 341 of the probe card 34, and one main surface of this substrate 351 (the upper surface in FIGS. 1 and 2, the lower surface in the left diagram of FIG. 3), A pattern of one needle 352 (corresponding to the second needle-like contact of the present invention) and one contact portion 353 connected to the ground is formed on the upper surface in the right side of FIG. The distance between the needle 352 and the contact portion 353 is set to be approximately equal to the distance between the needle 342 and the grounding portion 343 of the probe card 34 described above, and the measurement chip 35 is connected to the probe card 34 as shown in FIG. When the pair of needles 342 and the grounding part 343 are brought close to each other, the needle 353 of the measuring chip simultaneously contacts the grounding part 343 of the probe card 34 and the needle 342 of the probe card 34 simultaneously contacts the contact part 353 of the measuring chip 35. .
[0039]
The needle 352 and the contact portion 353 of the measurement chip 35 are connected to the oscilloscope 40 via a cable or the like as shown in the right diagram of FIG. 3, and the waveform of the measured test signal is observed.
[0040]
Next, the operation will be described.
When testing the wafer W, the wafer W is first positioned so as to be attracted and held on the wafer chuck, and the needle 342 of the probe card 34 contacts the contact of the device portion of the target wafer W. The stage 31 is raised while being positioned on the XY plane. As a result, some device unit tests are performed. When the test is completed, the wafer stage 31 is slightly lowered so that the needle 342 of the probe card 34 contacts the contact of the next device. Then, the wafer stage 31 is raised again while being positioned on the XY plane. This operation is sequentially repeated to test the device portion of the wafer W in all regions. When a high temperature test is performed on the wafer W, a heater built in the wafer chuck is operated to heat the wafer W up to, for example, 100 ° C.
[0041]
In particular, in the semiconductor substrate testing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the tester main body 10 passes the test head 20 to the device section before the above-described wafer test or when a need arises during the wafer test. The waveform of the transmitted test signal is measured, and the phase of each test signal is corrected.
[0042]
That is, the wafer stage 31 is moved in the XY plane, and the measurement chip 35 fixed to the flange 311 is positioned below the probe card 34. Here, the wafer stage is raised so that the contact portion 353 of the measuring chip and the needle 352 come into contact with one needle 342 of the probe card 34 and the grounding portion 343 formed in the vicinity thereof. In this state, a predetermined test signal is sent from the tester body 10 and observed with an oscilloscope.
[0043]
In this example, since the tip of the needle 342 of the probe card 34 is used as the input part to the oscilloscope 40 at the same position as the device part of the wafer W to which the actual test signal is input, The waveform of the observed test signal is almost equal to that actually input. In addition, since the probe card 34 is provided with a grounding portion 343 in the vicinity of the needle 342, it is possible to prevent noise and the like from being mixed into the signal waveform observed by the oscilloscope 40 as much as possible. A signal waveform can be obtained.
[0044]
In this example, the same material as that of the substrate 341 of the probe card 34 is used as the substrate 351 of the measuring chip 35. However, by doing so, at least the same fine needle and grounding part as the probe card 34 can be formed. That's why. Therefore, the material is not particularly limited as long as a fine one according to the pattern of the needle and the grounding portion of the probe card 34 can be manufactured.
[0045]
The embodiment described above is described for facilitating the understanding of the present invention, and is not described for limiting the present invention. Therefore, each element disclosed in the above embodiment is intended to include all design changes and equivalents belonging to the technical scope of the present invention.
[0046]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a semiconductor substrate testing apparatus capable of measuring a signal characteristic such as a waveform of a test signal transmitted from a tester body with high accuracy.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an overall view showing a semiconductor substrate testing apparatus of the present invention.
2 is a cross-sectional view showing a main part of the semiconductor substrate testing apparatus of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the probe card of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a waveform diagram showing an example of a test signal output from an IC test apparatus (tester body).
FIG. 5 is a waveform diagram for explaining the problem of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Semiconductor substrate test apparatus 10 ... Tester main body 20 ... Test head 30 ... Prober 31 ... Wafer stage 34 ... Probe card 342 ... Needle (1st needle-shaped contact)
343 ... Grounding part 35 ... Measuring tip 352 ... Needle (second needle contact)
353 ... Contact 40 ... Oscilloscope (signal characteristic measuring device)

Claims (11)

A semiconductor substrate testing apparatus for performing a test by sending a plurality of test signals to a device portion formed on a semiconductor substrate, and determining whether the device portion is good or bad according to the result,
A plurality of first needle contacts that are in electrical contact with the device portion and a grounding portion provided in the vicinity of the first needle contacts are provided on one main surface and are electrically connected to the test head substrate. Probe card
A semiconductor substrate test comprising: a contact chip that electrically contacts the first needle-shaped contact; and a measuring chip provided on a main surface with a second needle-shaped contact that is electrically contacted with the grounding section. apparatus. 2. The semiconductor substrate according to claim 1, wherein the measurement chip has one or more pairs of second needle contacts and contact portions according to the arrangement of the first needle contacts and the grounding portion of the probe card. Test equipment. The semiconductor substrate testing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a measurement chip stage for moving the measurement chip with respect to the first needle-like contact and the grounding portion of the probe card. The semiconductor according to claim 1, further comprising a substrate stage for holding the semiconductor substrate and bringing the device portion into contact with a first needle contact of the probe card, wherein the measurement chip is provided on the substrate stage. Board testing equipment. The semiconductor substrate testing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a signal characteristic measuring apparatus connected to an output terminal of the measuring chip and outputting a characteristic of the test signal. 6. The semiconductor substrate testing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the characteristic of the test signal is a signal waveform. A probe card for a semiconductor substrate test apparatus, which is electrically connected to a test head substrate of a semiconductor substrate test apparatus and has a plurality of needle-like contacts that are in electrical contact with a device portion of the semiconductor substrate on one main surface,
A probe card for a semiconductor substrate testing apparatus, wherein a grounding portion is provided in the vicinity of the needle-like contact. The probe card for a semiconductor substrate testing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the grounding portion is provided in common to a plurality of needle-like contacts. A contact portion that electrically contacts a first needle-like contact provided on a probe card for a semiconductor substrate testing apparatus, and a second needle-shape that electrically contacts a grounding portion provided near the first needle-like contact. A chip for measurement of a semiconductor substrate testing apparatus provided with a contact. A method of measuring characteristics of the test signal of a semiconductor substrate test apparatus that performs a test by sending a plurality of test signals to a device portion formed on a semiconductor substrate and determines whether the device portion is good or bad according to the result. There,
The semiconductor substrate testing apparatus includes a needle contact for transmitting a test signal to the device unit, and a grounding unit provided in the vicinity of the needle contact, and the test is performed using the needle contact and the grounding unit as an input unit. A method for measuring test signal characteristics in a semiconductor substrate testing apparatus for measuring signal characteristics. The method of measuring a test signal characteristic in a semiconductor substrate testing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the characteristic of the test signal is a signal waveform.

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