JP6467722B2 - Prober - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a prober having a plurality of test heads.

  A prober as a wafer inspection apparatus is used to inspect the electrical characteristics of each semiconductor device on a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter simply referred to as “wafer”) on which a large number of semiconductor devices are formed. The prober includes a probe card facing the wafer, and the probe card includes contact probes that are a plurality of columnar contact terminals (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In this prober, each contact probe of a probe card sends an inspection signal to a semiconductor device connected to an electrode pad or a solder bump in the semiconductor device, thereby inspecting a conduction state of an electric circuit of the semiconductor device.

  Each contact probe of the probe card is supplied with an inspection signal from a test head equipped with a main board as an inspection circuit. Recently, in order to improve wafer inspection efficiency, a plurality of tests each equipped with a probe card are installed. 2. Description of the Related Art A wafer inspection apparatus that includes a head and can inspect semiconductor devices on a wafer with another test head while the wafer is being transferred to one test head by a transfer stage has been developed. In this wafer inspection apparatus, cells accommodating a plurality of test heads are arranged in a multi-stage stack from the viewpoint of reducing the footprint.

  Since the main board of each test head is a kind of consumable, it needs to be replaced periodically, but in order to replace the main board, it is necessary to pull out the test head from the wafer inspection device onto the maintenance carriage. .

JP 2012-063227 A

  However, since the test head has a weight of about 70 kgf and is supported by a slide rail, it is difficult to move the test head in a direction other than the drawing direction. Therefore, it is necessary to accurately align the position of the maintenance carriage with the position of the test head. However, the maintenance carriage has a lift mechanism and the like, and it is difficult to finely adjust the position because of its heavy weight. There is a problem that it is difficult to pull out the head.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a prober capable of easily pulling out a test head.

In order to achieve the above object, a prober of the present invention is a prober for inspecting electrical characteristics of a semiconductor device formed on a wafer, and a plurality of probe cards having a plurality of probes facing the wafer, A plurality of test heads arranged on the side opposite to the wafer with respect to each probe card, a plurality of inspection chambers containing each of the probe cards and the test heads, and the test head being elevated and placed a test head lift mechanism, and a slide mechanism to draw the test head from each of said inspection chambers in a direction perpendicular to the lifting direction of the test head, a plurality of said laboratory Ru arranged piled least vertically It is characterized by that.

  According to the present invention, the test head can be pulled out easily.

1 is a perspective view schematically showing a configuration of a wafer inspection apparatus as a prober according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2A and 2B are diagrams for explaining components built in each cell of the cell tower in FIG. 1, FIG. 2A is a perspective view of a test head, and FIG. 2B is a tester head and a pogo frame in each cell. It is a front view which shows the arrangement | positioning state of a probe card. It is a figure which shows schematically the structure of the maintenance trolley | bogie used for the prober which concerns on this Embodiment, FIG. 3 (A) is a side view, FIG.3 (B) is a front view. FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of the lifter and the test head case in FIGS. 3 (A) and 3 (B), FIG. 4 (A) is a side view, and FIG. 4 (B) is a front view. It is the elements on larger scale for demonstrating the play to the guide rail of a guide part. FIG. 6A is a side view schematically showing a configuration of a simple maintenance cart, FIG. 6A shows a case where the test head of the first stage cell in the cell tower is maintained, and FIG. 6B shows a second stage in the cell tower. The case where the test head of the cell is serviced is shown. FIG. 4 is a process diagram for explaining a maintenance method of a wafer inspection apparatus using the maintenance cart of FIG. 3. It is a front view which shows the modification of arrangement | positioning of the maintenance trolley | bogie of FIG.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  First, the prober according to the present embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing a configuration of a wafer inspection apparatus as a prober according to the present embodiment.

  In FIG. 1, a wafer inspection apparatus 10 includes a plurality of inspection chambers (cells) 11 arranged in multiple stages, for example, four stages, a cell tower 12 adjacent to the cell tower 12, and a transfer mechanism (not shown). And a loader 13 for loading and unloading the wafer into and from each cell 11. Each of the cell tower 12 and the loader 13 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape, and the height is, for example, 2.4 m.

  In the wafer inspection apparatus 10, a space where an operator can perform maintenance work on each cell 11 is secured on the opposite side (hereinafter referred to as “outside”) of the cell tower 12 on the side adjacent to the loader 13. A maintenance cart 27 is arranged.

  2 is a diagram for explaining the components built in each cell of the cell tower in FIG. 1, FIG. 2 (A) is a perspective view of a test head, and FIG. 2 (B) is a tester in each cell. It is a front view which shows the arrangement | positioning state of a head, a pogo frame, and a probe card.

  2A, the test head 15 has a main body 16 formed of a rectangular parallelepiped housing and a flange 17 projecting laterally from an upper portion of the side surface in the longitudinal direction of the main body 16, and the main body 16 is an inspection circuit. A certain main board (not shown) is accommodated.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 2B, each cell 11 internally holds a test head 15, a probe card 18, and a pogo pin (not shown) that electrically connects the probe card 18 and the main board. And a pogo frame 19. Seal members 20 and 21 are arranged between the probe card 18 and the pogo frame 19 and between the pogo frame 19 and the test head 15, and the space surrounded by the seal members 20 and 21 is decompressed, whereby the probe card 18. The pogo frame 19 is attached to the test head 15 by vacuum suction.

  The probe card 18 includes a disk-shaped main body 24 and a plurality of contact probes 25 which are a large number of columnar contact terminals arranged so as to protrude downward from the lower surface of the main body 24 in the drawing. Each contact probe 25 comes into contact with an electrode pad or a solder bump (none shown) of each semiconductor device formed on the wafer when a wafer (not shown) contacts the probe card 18.

  Returning to FIG. 1, a maintenance opening 26 is opened outside each cell 11, and the test head 15 is pulled out through the maintenance opening 26. The operator removes the worn main board from the pulled out test head 15 and attaches a new main board.

  By the way, the weight of the test head 15 is about 70 kgf, and it is difficult to handle it only by the operator's force. It is supported via a flange 17 by a slide rail (not shown) disposed along the slide rail 17 and is configured to be drawn out in the longitudinal direction by a plurality of ball pedestals provided on the upper surface of the slide rail.

  In the wafer inspection apparatus 10, a support mechanism for supporting the pulled-out test head 15 is necessary for the operator to easily replace the main board. Correspondingly, a maintenance mechanism described later in this embodiment is required. A trolley 27 is provided.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of a maintenance cart used in the prober according to the present embodiment, FIG. 3 (A) is a side view, and FIG. 3 (B) is a front view.

  3 (A) and 3 (B), the maintenance carriage 27 is supported by a plurality of rollers 28 (wheels) and is configured to be movable, and the maintenance carriage 27 is erected from the carriage base 29. A lift mechanism 30 and a housing-like test head case 31 (case) that can accommodate the test head 15 are included.

  A handle 32 is provided on the carriage base 29, and the operator moves the maintenance carriage 27 by pushing or pulling the handle 32. Each roller 28 is composed of twin wheels and is configured to be freely changeable in direction, so that the degree of freedom regarding the movement of the maintenance carriage 27 is improved.

  The lift mechanism 30 has a support 33 that extends upward from the carriage base 29 in the drawing, and a lifter that is attached to the support 33 and moves in the vertical direction in the drawing by moving along the extending direction of the support 33. 34 and a motor (not shown) for moving the lifter 34.

  Each roller 28 of the carriage base 29 has a brake (not shown), and the brake is released only when the lifter 34 is located at the lowest point in the vertical direction.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of the lifter and the test head case in FIGS. 3 (A) and 3 (B). FIG. 4A is a side view, and FIG. 4B is a front view. 4A and 4B, the test head 15 is indicated by a broken line. Further, in FIG. 4B, a slide rail cover 40 described later is shown by a one-dot chain line. In addition, the slide rail cover 40 is shown in a transparent state.

  As shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the test head case 31 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape, and both ends in the longitudinal direction are opened to form openings, and the test head 15 is pulled out from the cell 11. One of the openings at both ends faces the maintenance opening 26 of the cell 11, and the test head 15 pulled out through the maintenance opening 26 is accommodated inside. Further, since the upper surface of the test head case 31 is also open, the operator can access the accommodated test head 15 from the upper surface of the test head case 31 and replace the main board via the upper surface.

  The test head case 31 is supported by a lifter 34 via a horizontal position adjustment stage 35. The horizontal position adjusting stage 35 is composed of a base part 35a and a moving part 35b which are disk-like members stacked one above the other, and a large number of ball bearings (not shown) are spread between the base part 35a and the moving part 35b. 35b can move horizontally relative to the base 35a. The base portion 35 a is connected to the lifter 34, and the moving portion 35 b is connected to the test head case 31. Thereby, the horizontal position adjusting stage 35 can move the test head case 31 horizontally with respect to the lifter 34.

  Further, in the horizontal position adjusting stage 35, by moving air from the outside, the moving part 35b can be fixed to the base part 35a by engaging a part of the base part 35a and a part of the moving part 35b. .

  Since the movement of the moving part 35b is realized by a large number of ball bearings, a large force is not required for the movement of the moving part 35b. As a result, the test head case 31 can be easily moved horizontally by an operator. When the plate-like stopper 36 protrudes downward from the lower surface of the test head case 31 and the horizontal movement amount of the test head case 31 reaches a predetermined amount, the stopper 36 becomes the base portion 35a of the horizontal position adjustment stage 35. The amount of movement of the test head case 31 in the horizontal direction is restricted.

  A slide rail 37 made up of a plurality of ball pedestals is arranged on the upper part of both side surfaces of the test head case 31 in the longitudinal direction. The slide rail 37 supports the flange 17 of the test head 15 accommodated in the test head case 31 and slides the test head 15 in the longitudinal direction of the test head case 31.

  Further, stopper mechanisms 38 (fixing mechanisms) are disposed at both ends of the upper part of both side surfaces in the longitudinal direction of the test head case 31. The stopper mechanism 38 has a protruding contact 39 that can freely protrude, and the contact 39 protrudes and contacts the flange 17 of the test head 15, whereby the position of the test head 15 is fixed to the test head case 31. Is done. The lift mechanism 30 is configured such that when the test head 15 is accommodated in the test head case 31, the lifter 34 cannot be moved up and down when the contact 39 is not in contact with the flange 17.

  When the test head 15 is slid in the longitudinal direction of the test head case 31, there is a risk that an operator's hand, in particular, a finger may be caught between the flange 17 and the slide rail 37. Covered by.

  In the maintenance carriage 27, the lift mechanism 30 is positioned so that the position of the test head case 31 faces the flange 17 of the test head 15 in which the slide rail 37 of the test head case 31 is accommodated in the first-stage cell 11. The height of the slide rail 37 facing the flange 17 of the test head 15 accommodated in the second-stage cell 11, and the flange 17 of the test head 15 accommodated in the third-stage cell 11. It is possible to fix to the height facing directly and the height facing the flange 17 of the test head 15 accommodated in the cell 11 of the fourth stage.

  Returning to FIG. 1, a guide rail 41 is disposed on the outside lower side of the cell tower 12. The guide rail 41 is a tubular body having a rectangular cross section along the longitudinal direction of the cell tower 12, and a slit 42 is formed in a side wall 41 a opposite to the cell tower 12. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3B, the maintenance cart 27 has a guide portion 43 (guide mechanism) disposed on the cart base 29.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the guide portion 43 has a bracket 43 a that protrudes laterally from the carriage base 29 and a roller 43 b that is provided at the tip of the bracket 43 a and rotates horizontally. The bracket 43 a is a guide rail 41. The roller 43 b is accommodated in the guide rail 41 through the slit 42. That is, the guide portion 43 is loosely engaged with the guide rail 41. At this time, the side wall 41a of the guide rail 41 is interposed between the roller 43b and the carriage base portion 29.

  The maintenance carriage 27 described above is used when the entire test head 15 is pulled out. However, when the test head 15 is maintained, it may not be necessary to pull out the entire test head 15. In such a case, the wafer inspection apparatus 10 uses a simple maintenance carriage 44 on which the test head 15 is partially placed instead of the maintenance carriage 27.

  FIG. 6 is a side view schematically showing the configuration of the simple maintenance cart. FIG. 6A shows a case where the test head of the first cell in the cell tower is maintained, and FIG. 6B shows the cell tower. The case where the test head of the cell of the 2nd stage in FIG.

  6 (A) and 6 (B), a simple maintenance cart 44 includes a main frame 46 having a plurality of rollers 45 arranged at the bottom, and a maintenance table 47 movable up and down with respect to the main frame 46. Have The maintenance table 47 has a slide rail 48 composed of a plurality of ball pedestals, and the slide rail 48 supports the flange 17 of the test head 15 partially pulled out. The maintenance table 47 has a first height where the slide rail 48 faces the flange 17 of the test head 15 accommodated in the first-stage cell 11, and a test in which the slide rail 48 is accommodated in the second-stage cell 11. The head 15 is configured to be fixable to each of the second heights facing the flange 17.

  The simple maintenance cart 44 is significantly simplified and lighter than the maintenance cart 27 and has a plurality of rollers 45 arranged at the bottom of the main frame 46, so that the operator can use the simple maintenance cart 44. Can be easily adjusted, so that the flange 17 of the test head 15 accommodated in the first and second stage cells 11 and the slide rail 48 of the maintenance table 47 are correctly aligned. Can do. As a result, the test head 15 can be partially pulled out easily from the first-stage or second-stage cells 11.

  FIG. 7 is a process diagram for explaining a maintenance method of the wafer inspection apparatus using the maintenance cart of FIG.

  First, after the roller 43b of the guide portion 43 is accommodated in the guide rail 41 at the end of the guide rail 41, the maintenance cart 27 is maintained while the roller 43b is accommodated in the guide rail 41. The head 11 is roughly moved to a position where the cell 11 in which the head 15 is accommodated is present. Thereafter, the brakes of the rollers 28 of the carriage base 29 are actuated to fix the position of the maintenance carriage 27 (FIG. 7A).

  Next, the lift mechanism 30 raises the test head case 31 to a height where the slide rail 37 of the test head case 31 faces the flange 17 of the test head 15 to be serviced, and then the position of the test head case 31 is fixed. (FIG. 7B).

  Next, the position of the test head case 31 is finely adjusted in the horizontal direction by the horizontal position adjusting stage 35 so that the slide rail 37 is correctly opposed to the flange 17 of the test head 15 for maintenance (FIG. 7C). End this maintenance method.

  According to the maintenance carriage 27 according to the present embodiment, the horizontal position adjustment stage 35 includes the lifter 34 of the lift mechanism 30 erected from the movable carriage base 29 and the test head case 31 that houses the test head 15. Since the test head case 31 is moved horizontally with respect to the lifter 34, the position of the carriage base 29 is fixed, and the test head case 31 is moved up and down to the position where the test head 15 for maintenance is present. After fixing the position of the test head case 31, the position of the test head case 31 can be finely adjusted in the horizontal direction so that the slide rail 37 can be correctly aligned with the flange 17 of the test head 15 for maintenance. As a result, the test head 15 can be easily pulled out toward the test head case 31.

  In the maintenance carriage 27 described above, the slide rail 37 for sliding the test head 15 in the longitudinal direction of the test head case 31 is disposed on the upper part of both side surfaces of the test head case 31 in the longitudinal direction. Since the stopper mechanism 38 for fixing the position 15 is provided, the test head 15 accommodated in the test head case 31 can be moved to a desired position in the test head case 31 and then fixed to that position. The efficiency of the maintenance work of the test head 15 can be improved.

  In addition, since the maintenance cart 27 described above further includes a guide portion 43 that mates with the guide rail 41 provided at the lower portion of the cell tower 12, the maintenance cart 27 can be accurately moved along the cell tower 12, Accordingly, the time for adjusting the position of the maintenance carriage 27 can be shortened.

  Further, in the maintenance carriage 27 described above, the side wall 41a of the guide rail 41 is interposed between the roller 43b and the carriage base 29 provided at the tip of the bracket 43a protruding from the carriage base 29 to the side. When the carriage 27 is inclined, the roller 43b is engaged with the side wall 41a of the guide rail 41, and the maintenance carriage 27 is prevented from falling.

  As described above, the present invention has been described using the above-described embodiment, but the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment.

  For example, the maintenance cart 27 described above is arranged only outside the one cell tower 12, but as shown in FIG. 8, the two cell towers 12 are arranged so that the outsides face each other, and the two cell towers 12 are arranged. The maintenance cart 27 may be arranged so as to be sandwiched between the two. At this time, the test head case 31 of the maintenance carriage 27 has openings at both ends in the longitudinal direction, and each opening faces the maintenance opening 26 in each cell 11 of the wafer inspection apparatus 10. The test head 15 of the wafer inspection apparatus 10 can also be accommodated in the test head case 31, so that the efficiency of maintenance work of the test head 15 can be improved.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Wafer inspection apparatus 15 Test head 17 Flange 27 Maintenance cart 29 Cart base 30 Lift mechanism 31 Test head case 35 Horizontal position adjustment stage 37 Slide rail 38 Stopper mechanism 41 Guide rail 43 Guide portion 43b Roller

Claims (1)

A prober for inspecting electrical characteristics of a semiconductor device formed on a wafer,
A plurality of probe cards having a plurality of probes facing the wafer;
A plurality of test heads disposed on the opposite side of the wafer with respect to each probe card ;
A plurality of examination rooms for accommodating the probe cards and the test heads;
A test head lift mechanism for raising and lowering the test head; and
A slide mechanism for pulling out the test head from each examination room in a direction perpendicular to the ascending / descending direction of the test head ,
Prober plurality of said laboratory, characterized in Rukoto arranged piled at least vertically.

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