JPH05157790A - Device for inspecting probe card - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To inspect the variation in height, contact resistance and the coordinate pattern of the point of the measuring needle of a probe card quickly and very accurately. CONSTITUTION:An elevating unit 31 is so supported as to move up and down by the base 30 of an inspecting device, and a combined inspection board 32 is fixed on the unit 31. The board 32 can be slid in the unit 31, an electrode plate 33 made of conductor and a transparent glass plate 34 are parallely provided on the same plane, and either of the plates 33 and 34 can be made to face an inspecting position 200. A probe card 36 is located above the board 32 and held by a probe card holder, and the measuring needle 37 of the card 36 and the plate 33 are connected to a tester. A device for observing the needle point consisting of an optical microscope 38 and a CCD camera 39 is provided movably in X and Y directions in the unit 31, and the image of the point of the needle 37 through the plate 34 is recognized. Therefore, various inspections can be continuously carried out by sliding the board 32.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a probe card inspection device, and more particularly, to a high precision and speedy measurement of the height variation of the tips of a plurality of conductive measuring needles provided on the probe card, the contact resistance to the counter electrode and the needle tip coordinates. The present invention relates to an improved probe card inspection device capable of inspecting.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A large number of semiconductors I formed on a wafer
A prober tester system is used to perform the electrical characteristic test of C, and a probe card having a plurality of conductor measuring needles arranged according to the electrode pattern of each semiconductor IC is attached to the blower. This probe card usually has a structure in which a plurality of conductive material measuring needles such as tungsten are erected and fixed on a substrate made of epoxy resin or the like, and the tip of the measuring needle is brought into contact with each electrode pad of a semiconductor IC which is an object to be measured. And the desired electrical test is performed. The tip of such a measuring needle is usually bent into an L-shaped hook shape, and each measuring needle is brought into contact with, for example, a bonding pad, which is an electrode of a semiconductor IC chip, and an electrical test is performed by a tester.

Therefore, the tip of the measuring needle of such a probe card must be arranged in a pattern that exactly corresponds to the electrode pattern of the IC chip to be measured, and its height accuracy must be strictly controlled. Similarly,
To ensure good electrical continuity with each bonding pad, the contact resistance at its tip must also be properly controlled.

As described above, the probe card inspection apparatus has been put into practical use in order to correctly position the measuring needle of the probe card and to repair the deformation of the measuring needle that occurs during long-term use.

Conventionally, as a device for measuring the probe tip of the probe card, as shown in JP-A-3-89102, a prober tester system is provided with a measuring optical system having an optical lens and a CCD camera. Therefore, an apparatus for measuring the probe tip position of the probe card during wafer measurement has been proposed.

However, such a measuring device has a problem in that it is only possible to know the approximate position of the needle tip and it is not possible to measure the height variation or the contact resistance. Since the measurement is carried out in a floating state, there is a problem that the needle tip pattern cannot be inspected when the bonding pad of the actual wafer is contacted.

FIG. 11 shows a schematic structure of a conventional probe card inspection apparatus. With this apparatus, the height and contact resistance of the measuring needle of the probe card can be inspected. In FIG. 11, a lifting unit 11 is attached to the base 10.
Is vertically movably supported, and the lifting unit 11
The electrode plate 12 is fixed to the upper end of the. A probe card 13 is fixedly held on the electrode flat plate 12 in parallel with the flat plate 12. In practice, the probe card 13 is fixed to a holder (not shown), and any probe card 13 is removably positioned so as to face the electrode flat plate 12. A tester 15 is connected between the metal flat plate 12 and each measuring needle group 14 of the probe card 13, and a contact state and a contact resistance in a state where the measuring needle 14 and the electrode flat plate 12 are in contact with each other are precisely measured. It

In such a conventional apparatus, after the probe card 13 is fixed at a predetermined position, the metal electrode flat plate 12 is moved to the probe card 13 side by the elevating unit 11, and the first measuring needle 14 is connected to the electrode flat plate 12. Record the location of contact. Then, the elevating unit 11 further moves the electrode flat plate 12 sequentially in the upward direction and records the contact position with each measuring needle 14, so that the height variation of each measuring needle 14 can be inspected. At the same time, the contact resistance between each measuring needle 14 and the electrode plate 12 at this time can also be inspected.

However, in such a conventional device, although the height and contact resistance of the tip of the measuring needle can be inspected, there is a problem that the coordinate of the tip of each measuring needle 14 cannot be measured.

On the other hand, as another conventional inspection apparatus, FIG.
Shows a conventional device capable of observing the coordinates of the tip of the measuring needle. In this conventional apparatus, a probe card holder 18 is fixed to an elevating unit 17 provided on a base 16 so as to be movable in the vertical direction, and a probe card 19 to be measured is positioned and fixed to the probe card holder 18. .. On the other hand, a transparent glass flat plate 20 is mounted on the base 16.
Is fixed on the bottom surface of the glass flat plate 20.
A transparent conductive film such as O is formed by vapor deposition or the like. A microscope 21 and a camera 22 are provided above the glass plate 20.
An observation device including is provided.

Therefore, according to this conventional apparatus, the glass plate 20 having the probe card holder 18 and the conductive film is provided.
The contact between the measuring needle 23 of the probe card 19 and the conductive film is detected by a contact detector (not shown) provided between the measuring needle 23 and the glass flat plate 20 and the measuring needle 23 is pressed. The coordinates can be observed from above with an observation device, and the coordinates of the measuring needle and the pattern shape can be inspected.

[0012]

However, in each of the above-mentioned conventional devices, it was not possible to inspect the height, contact resistance and coordinate pattern of the measuring needle with a single inspection device. Further, in the above-described glass plate having the transparent conductive film, the measuring needle 23 of the probe card 19 must be brought into pressure contact with the conductive thin film at the time of shape pattern inspection, and due to friction between the measuring needle and the conductive film at this time. There has been a problem that the conductive film is worn out in an extremely short time, and the height and position of contact detection cannot be determined. As a result, accurate measurement cannot be performed with the above-described conventional apparatus, and there is a need for maintenance in which the glass flat plate having the conductive film must be replaced in a short period.

Further, the coordinate pattern of the measuring needle 23 by the observing device must also be formed by an optical image through the transparent conductive film, and although the conductive thin film such as ITO has excellent light transmittance, it is a normal glass. Since the transmittance is lower than that of the plate, there is a problem that blur distortion occurs in the optical image and the coordinate pattern cannot be measured accurately.
Further, in the conventional device, the size of the device is increased because the observation device is arranged on the upper part of the glass flat plate fixed to the base, and further, since the probe card is positioned at the lower part of this glass flat plate, it is possible to replace the probe card. It is troublesome, and at the same time, when correcting the measuring needle of the probe card, the probe card must be removed from the inspection device each time, which is not suitable for quick inspection.

The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional problems, and an object thereof is to measure the height of a measuring needle, contact resistance and observation of a needle tip coordinate pattern with high accuracy by a single inspection device. An object of the present invention is to provide an improved probe card inspection device.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a probe card inspection device which is small and lightweight and has excellent operability.

[0016]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, an inspection substrate on which a measuring needle of a probe card is pressed has an electrode flat plate made of a conductor and a transparent glass flat plate arranged in the same plane. The composite inspection board is provided on the base, and the composite inspection board is arranged in an elevating unit supported by a base so as to be vertically movable.

Further, according to the present invention, the probe card holder, which is the object to be measured is detachably held and supported by the base, is arranged on the upper side of the inspection device, and the measuring needle of the probe card is positioned downward during measurement. It has a feature that the inspection work is facilitated by this, and the measuring needle is easily repaired during the inspection.

A tester is provided to electrically measure the contact resistance between the measuring needle and the electrode plate, which is electrically connected to the measuring needle of the probe card and the electrode plate. It includes a needle tip observation device that is movably provided and that can observe the measurement needle of the probe card through the transparent glass plate.

[0019]

Therefore, according to the present invention, when measuring the height variation and contact resistance of the measuring needle, the electrode flat plate is opposed to the probe card positioned at the inspection position, and the measuring needle is pressed against the electrode flat plate. Is used to measure the height and contact resistance of each measuring needle.

On the other hand, at the time of measuring the needle tip coordinate pattern, the composite inspection board is slid so that the transparent glass flat plate faces the inspection position instead of the electrode flat plate, and in this state, the transparent glass flat plate is passed through the needle tip observation device. Observe the tip of the needle while it is pressed against the glass plate. Therefore, there is an advantage that both of these measurements can be sequentially and continuously measured using a single inspection device.

[0021]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of the probe card inspection apparatus according to the present invention in a state in which the main internal mechanism is shown, and the side view seen from that direction is shown in FIG.
Is shown in.

An elevating unit 31 is provided on the apparatus base 30, and as will be described later, the composite inspection board characteristic of the present invention is moved up and down in the Z direction with respect to the probe card to be measured. The lifting unit 31 also houses a moving mechanism for moving the needle tip observation device in the horizontal direction.

As is apparent from the figure, a composite inspection board 32 is slidably mounted on the upper surface of the elevating unit 31, and this slide mechanism will be described in detail later. Reference numeral 32 has a structure in which an electrode flat plate 33 and a transparent glass flat plate 34 are arranged side by side on the same plane. The electrode flat plate 33 is made of a low resistance conductive plate having a conductor plated with gold, while the transparent glass flat plate 34 is made of a glass plate such as lead glass having an excellent light transmittance.

In the present invention, as will be apparent from the inspection procedure described later, both flat plates 33 and 34 must have the same height in the slid state, and for this reason, the upper surface height of both flat plates 33 and 34 is high. It is fixed in a precisely adjusted state.

A probe card holder 35 is supported on the inspection device base 30, and a probe card 36 to be measured is detachably mounted on the probe card holder 35. In the embodiment, the probe card holder 35 can be turned around an axis of rotation fixed to the base 30, so that at the inspection position 200, the probe card 36 has its measuring needle 37 and the composite inspection board. It is facing downward toward the 32 side. On the other hand, when the probe card holder 35 is turned upside down, the measuring needle 37 of the probe card 36 is exposed upward, and for example, the position of the measuring needle 37 can be corrected during the inspection.

Although not shown in detail in FIGS.
The measuring needles 37 and the electrode flat plate 33 are electrically connected to a tester for measuring the contact resistance between the measuring needle 37 and the electrode flat plate 33.

In the present invention, a needle tip observing device for observing the measuring needle 37 of the probe card 36 is mounted in the elevating unit 31, and the elevating unit 31 moves together with the composite inspection substrate 32 in the Z direction, that is, in the vertical direction. You can move in any direction. In this embodiment, the needle tip observation device includes an optical microscope 38 and a CCD camera 39, and at the inspection position 200, the desired tip of the measuring needle 37 can be image-recognized through the transparent glass plate 34.

The elevating unit 31 includes a Z stage 40, and can be moved up and down in the Z direction of the drawing by a Z-direction moving mechanism which will be described later. Either the electrode flat plate 33 or the transparent glass flat plate 34, which is positioned so as to face, can be pressed against the measuring needle 37 of the probe card 36. In addition, in the lifting unit 31, X
A stage 41 and a Y stage 42 are provided, and the optical microscope 38 and the CCD camera 39 can be moved in the X and Y directions with respect to the Z stage 40 to take desired plane coordinate positions.

As described above, the lifting unit 31
Is capable of moving the composite inspection board 32 up and down in the Z direction while carrying the needle tip observation device therein.
2 can be pressed against the measuring needle 37 of the probe card 36 or retracted from the measuring needle 37, and the height of each measuring needle 37 can be measured while the contact amount with the measuring needle 37 is sequentially changed. Becomes Therefore, the electrode plate 33
By pressing and moving the needle against the measuring needle 37, the height of the needle tip and the contact resistance can be measured. On the other hand, when the transparent glass flat plate 34 is pressed against the measuring needle 37 by a predetermined amount, the needle tip coordinate is measured by the observing device. The pattern can be observed. At the time of observing the needle tip coordinate pattern, it becomes possible to sequentially follow and observe the plurality of measuring needles 37 by moving the optical microscope 38 carried by the elevating unit 31 to a predetermined position by the XY tables 41 and 42.

FIG. 3 shows an overall external view of this embodiment, and the above-mentioned mechanism portion of FIGS. 1 and 2 is housed in the main body cover 43. The probe card holder 35 is capable of 180 ° inversion movement about the shaft 44 as indicated by arrow C, and is measured as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 at the probe card holder position shown by the solid line in FIG. The measuring needle 37 of the probe card 36 is held downward on the composite inspection board 32 side so as to perform, and when it is inverted to the position shown by the chain line, the measuring needle 37 of the probe card 36 is opened upward. In this state, the position of each measuring needle 37 can be repaired very easily.

In FIG. 3, the main body cover 43 has a built-in personal computer 45, which performs predetermined data processing, and uses a well-known tester (not shown in detail) to measure the measuring needles 37 and the electrode flat plate 33. The contact resistance between the two is measured by the four-terminal method, and the measurement result is processed by the personal computer 45.

A monitor 46 and a personal computer display 47 are further mounted on the inspection apparatus of this embodiment, and the image information output from the observation apparatus by the monitor 46 is displayed after being processed by the image processing apparatus. .. On the other hand, the personal computer display 47 displays the output processed by the personal computer 45. Each of these data processing outputs can be printed out by the printer 48 as needed. As described above, according to the present embodiment, the probe card 36 to be measured is mounted on the probe card holder 35, and the composite inspection substrate 32 is slid so that either the electrode flat plate 33 or the transparent glass flat plate 34 is moved. It is possible to successively measure the height of the measuring needle 37, the contact resistance, and the needle tip coordinate pattern by using the measuring needle 37. These series of measurement procedures are performed automatically or manually by an instruction from the control panel 49, and in the embodiment, the sliding movement of the composite inspection board 32 is performed by pneumatic driving, while the lifting unit 31 moves. Vertical movement in the Z direction and horizontal movement of the XY tables 41 and 42 are performed by driving a pulse motor. The control panel 49 includes a joystick in the embodiment, and the XY tables 41 and 42 can be manually moved at any time.

The detailed structure of the lifting unit 31 and the composite inspection board 32 and the probe card holder 3 will be described below.
5 preferred embodiments will be described in detail.

FIG. 4 shows the lifting unit 3 in this embodiment.
One Z-direction moving mechanism is shown. Two Z receiving plates 50 and 51 are vertically fixed to the base 30.
Z slide plates 52 and 53 are guided in the vertical direction so that the Z slide plates 52 and 53 are firmly fixed to the Z stage 40. It is understood that is supported movably in the vertical direction.

As is apparent from the above description, this Z
Posts 54 and 55 are fixed to the stage, the composite inspection board 32 is supported via the posts 54 and 55, and an observation device including the above-mentioned optical microscope 38 and CCD camera 39 is mounted together with the XY stage. In order to smoothly move the Z stage 40 in the vertical direction under the weight of these devices, a pressurizing mechanism including a compression spring, which is not shown in detail, is provided between the base 30 and the Z stage 40. Is provided.

To drive the Z stage 40 in the vertical direction, a Z pulse motor 56 is fixed to the base 30, and is fixed to the lower end of a pulley 57 and a Z drive screw 58 fixed to the motor shaft. A drive belt 60 is hung between the pulley 59 and the Z pulse motor 56.
The Z drive screw 58 can be rotationally driven by the rotation of. The Z drive screw 58 is mounted on the base 30 with a bearing 61.
On the other hand, a Z nut 62 is fixed to the Z stage 40, and the Z drive screw 58 is screwed to the Z nut 62 to rotate the Z drive screw 58. 40 can be moved up and down to an arbitrary height.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, the composite inspection board 32 is pushed up toward the measuring needle 37 of the probe card 36 by the Z drive device shown in FIG. 4, and the height in the Z direction at this time is set to the Z pulse motor. It can be known by the drive pulse of 56, and in the embodiment, one feed pulse of the motor 56 is set to correspond to 1 μm in the Z direction. Therefore, according to the elevating unit 31, it is possible to measure the contact height between the composite inspection substrate 32 and the measuring needle 37 with an accuracy of 1 μm. Further, by moving the Z stepping motor 56 at high speed, the composite inspection board 32
Can be quickly withdrawn from the measuring needle 37 of the probe card 36, or can be moved at a high speed to a predetermined position.

FIG. 5 shows an XY drive mechanism of the needle tip observation device in this embodiment, in which the X receiving plate 63 of the X stage 41 is fixed on the Z stage 40 of FIG. An X slide plate 64 is supported on the X receiving plate 63 so as to be slidable in the X direction.

An X step motor 65 is attached to the X receiving plate 63.
Is fixed, and X (not shown) fixed to its main shaft
The drive screw has an X fixed to the X slide plate 64.
The nut is screw-coupled, and as a result, the X slide plate 64 can be moved to an arbitrary position by the rotation of the X step motor 65. In the embodiment, the movement in the X direction can be known by the number of pulses applied to the X step motor 65, but in this embodiment, an accurate X direction position can be determined by the linear encoder 66 fixed to the X slide plate 64. Can be detected.

Similarly, the Y receiving plate 67 of the Y stage 42 is fixed to the X slide plate 64.
A Y slide plate 68 is supported on the slider 7 so as to be slidable in the Y direction. Then, by rotating the Y step motor 69 fixed to the Y receiving plate 67, the Y drive screw 70 is screwed to the Y nut 71 fixed to the Y slide plate 68, and the Y slide plate 68 is moved to the Y direction. It can be moved to a predetermined position in the direction. Y as with the X stage 41
A linear encoder 73 is fixed to the Y slide plate 68 also on the stage 42, and the position in the Y direction can be accurately detected.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, an optical microscope 38 and a CCD camera 39 are fixed to the Y slider 68, whereby the observation position of the microscope 38 is adjusted to the tip of each measuring needle 37 of the probe card 36. In the automatic measurement, while continuously moving the optical microscope 38 to each needle tip position of the plurality of measuring needles 37, the tip shape of the needle tip at this time is measured by the monitor 46 and the personal computer display 47. Can be displayed.

A feature of the present invention is that the composite inspection substrate 32 having the electrode flat plate 33 and the transparent glass flat plate 34 is slid to either the inspection position 200 or the retracted position, and the electrode flat plate 33 raises the height of the measuring needle 37. And the contact resistance are measured, while the coordinate pattern of the tip of the measuring needle 37 can be measured by the transparent glass plate 34. FIG. 6 shows a preferred embodiment of the slide mechanism for the composite inspection board 32. A slider receiving plate 74 is fixed to the columns 54 and 55 provided on the Z stage 40, and a slide plate 75 on which the composite inspection board 32 is mounted is mounted on a slide guide 75 provided on the slider receiving plate 74. It is slidably supported. For this,
The slide plate 76 is provided with guide pieces 77, 78 that slide on the slide guide 75. In the embodiment, a pneumatic actuator 79 is provided in order to move the slide plate 76 by a stroke indicated by S. The pneumatic actuator 79 includes a cylinder 80 and a piston rod 81, and the cylinder 80 has a slide receiving plate. 74, while the piston rod 8
1 is fixed to a bracket 82 fixed to the slide plate 76. Therefore, by operating the pneumatic actuator, the slide plate 76 carrying the composite inspection substrate 32 can be quickly moved to the left or right by the stroke S shown in the figure, whereby either the electrode flat plate 33 or the transparent glass flat plate 34 is inspected. It becomes possible to face the position 200.

FIG. 7 shows the preferred embodiment of the probe card holder in this embodiment in detail.

In the present invention, the composite inspection board 32 and the needle tip observation device are mounted in the elevating unit 31, and as a result, the probe card 36 to be measured has its measuring needle 37 on the upper surface of the composite inspection board 32. Must be positioned at the inspection position 200 so as to face the.

Therefore, in the present invention, the probe card 36 is mounted so that its measuring needle 37 faces downward,
Therefore, in this embodiment, the probe card holder 35 has a holder frame 83, and the mother frame 84 is attached to the holder frame 83.
Is clamped and fixed by clamps 85 and 86, the probe card 36 is mounted on the mother board 84, and the measuring needle 37 is arranged downward at the measuring position.

One end of the holder frame 83 is rotatably supported by a rotary shaft 87 provided on the base 30, and the holder frame 83 can be reversed around the rotary shaft 87. Therefore, when the holder frame 83 is positioned as shown by the solid line in FIG. 7, the probe card 36 is automatically positioned at the inspection position, and the probe card 36 is inverted in the state of the chain line,
By exposing the measuring needle 37 upward, it is possible to easily repair the measuring needle under inspection or the like. In the inspection position shown by the solid line in FIG. 7, the holder frame 83 is firmly positioned by the lock 88, and the lock 88 in the embodiment holds the holder frame 83 during the inspection by the holding force from the pneumatic pump (not shown). To do.

In the present embodiment, the weight of the holder frame 83 accommodating the mother board 84 and the probe card 36 becomes large, and there is a problem that the operability is deteriorated when performing the reversing operation. In order to reduce the operation amount, a tension spring 90 is applied to a spring hook 89 provided on the tail portion 83a of the holder frame 83, and the reversing operation force of the holder frame 83 is reduced by the pulling force of the tension spring 90.

The structure of the preferred embodiment of the probe card inspection apparatus according to the present invention is apparent from the above description, and the inspection procedure will be described below with reference to FIGS. 8, 9 and 10.

FIG. 8 shows the outline of the measurement procedure.
In step S1, the data of the probe card to be measured is input. This data includes the probe card name, serial number, number of measurement channels, measuring needle coordinate pattern, etc., and these data are read into the inspection device from the keyboard of the control panel 49, the floppy disk reader, or the like.

Step S2 is an initial setting of the inspection device, which includes an overdrive amount, a relief amount, and a measurement pitch.

The overdrive is the moving penetrate amount of the elevating unit 31 in which the composite inspection board 32 is pressed against the measuring needle 37. In measuring the height of the measuring needle and the contact resistance, the maximum overdriving amount from the first contact is previously set. When the needle tip coordinate pattern is measured, the amount of overdrive from the first contact during measurement is set in advance. For example, about 100 μm or less is selected as such an overdrive amount.

In the present invention, the escape amount is the composite inspection board 32.
Is the amount of withdrawing from the measuring needle 37.
The amount of withdrawal in each direction when one of the transparent glass flat plates 34 is selectively moved to the measurement position 200 is determined, and for example, 50
About 0 μm is suitable.

Furthermore, the measurement pitch is a setting of the ascending pitch when measuring the height variation, and by setting it to, for example, about 1 μm, highly accurate observation measurement can be performed.
When the initial setting is completed as described above, the probe card 36 to be measured is correctly mounted on the probe card holder 35, and after each measuring needle 37 and the tester are electrically connected, the menu by the personal computer display 47 is displayed. According to the display, a predetermined inspection mode is selected in step S3. In this embodiment, the following six types of inspection can be selected.

1. Measurement of measurement tip height variation 2. Needle tip resistance measurement 3. Pin-to-pin short measurement 4. Leak measurement between pins 5. Measurement of needle tip position 6. Measurement of Needle Tip Diameter In the present embodiment, the mode selection S3 can select each of these measurements individually or continuous measurement. When individual inspection is selected, each measurement corresponds to each of the above measurements. Steps S4, S5, S6, S7, S8,
The measurement of S9 is performed individually, and after each of these measurements is completed, after the measured value is recorded by steps S10 to S15,
It returns to the step S3 again and waits for selection of the next inspection mode.

On the other hand, when the continuous inspection mode is selected, the individually selected individual inspections of the steps S4 to S9 are successively performed in accordance with the continuous program shown in step S16, and the predetermined order is set. The continuous measurement of is completed.

FIG. 9 shows the detailed procedure of the height variation measurement described above. First, in step S20, the electrode flat plate 33 of the composite inspection substrate 32 is moved to the inspection position 200. This movement is quickly performed by the pneumatic actuator as described above, and of course, at this time, the lifting unit 31 is used.
Is lowered, and the composite inspection board 32 and the measuring needle 37 are not in contact with each other.

In step S21, the lifting unit 3
1 rises to the first contact with the measuring needle 37,
Each time the measuring needle 37 is contacted (S22), the Z coordinate data at this time is read (S23), and this rising measurement is repeated until a predetermined overdrive amount is reached (S24).

When the predetermined upward movement in the Z direction is completed, the contact position of each measuring needle 37 is read during this period, and the raising / lowering unit 31 stops raising (S25).

When all the data has been taken in, the elevating unit 31 descends again and the electrode plate 33 is retracted from the measuring needle 37 (S26).

As described above, the height variation of the measuring needle 37 is inspected. During such procedure, the electrode flat plate 33 is
The contact between each of the measuring needles 37 and each of the measuring needles 37 is performed by measuring the contact resistance by a tester. Therefore, the contact resistance value of each measuring needle itself can be measured by the same procedure as shown in FIG.

FIG. 10 shows the procedure for measuring the position of the measuring needle tip.
In step S30, the transparent glass flat plate 34 of the composite inspection substrate 32 is brought to the inspection position 200 by the pneumatic actuator. Then, the elevating unit 31 is raised from the first contact position with the measuring needles 37 by a predetermined overdrive amount, for example, 50 μm, and the transparent glass substrate 34 is pressed against all the measuring needles 37. (S31, S3
2).

Then, in step S33, the optical microscope 38 is aligned with a predetermined measuring needle tip using a joystick or the like. In this state, the personal computer 45 can display on the display 47 the position of the needle tip measured with respect to the previously input pad position.

Next, the XY stage is sequentially moved stepwise by a predetermined inter-pin distance, and image recognition is performed on each measuring needle 37 (S34, S35).

When the measurement of all the needles is completed, the apparatus is stopped (S36), and after the measurement is completed, the composite inspection board 3
2 is retracted from the probe card 36 (S37).

The needle tip position is measured as described above, and the inspection as to whether the measuring needle 37 of the probe card 36 is assembled in a predetermined coordinate pattern is completed.

When the pin tip position is measured, if the tip diameters of the respective measuring needles 37 that have been image-recognized are stored at the same time, it is possible to utilize them for tip diameter measurement.

As described above, according to the present invention, by sliding the composite inspection board 32 in a single inspection device,
Variations in the height of the measuring needle, contact resistance, and needle tip coordinate pattern can be continuously measured, and there is an advantage that accurate measurement can be performed in an extremely short time.

Further, according to the present invention, if the assembly of the measuring needle is not appropriate during measurement, the defective measuring needle can be repaired arbitrarily, and this repaired state can be inspected at the same time. ..

[0070]

As described above, according to the present invention,
There is an advantage that the electrical characteristics and geometrical arrangement of the contact needles of the probe card can be performed quickly and highly accurately, and an optimum probe card that does not cause an error in the measurement of the semiconductor IC chip can be provided. ..

Further, the present invention has an advantage in that a probe card having a large number of measuring needles can be inspected fully automatically at a high speed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram showing a preferred embodiment of a probe card inspection device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view seen from the direction in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an overall external view when the present embodiment is assembled as an inspection device.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of an essential part showing a detailed structure of a Z-direction moving mechanism of the lifting unit according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of an essential part of an XY moving device of a needle tip observation device carried by an elevating unit in this embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a front view of essential parts showing a slide mechanism of a composite inspection board according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a main part front view showing a preferred embodiment of the probe card holder according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of an inspection procedure in the present embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a height variation measurement procedure in the present embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a procedure for measuring the needle tip position in the present embodiment.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic structure of a conventional probe card inspection device.

FIG. 12 is a schematic explanatory diagram of still another conventional probe card inspection device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 30 Base 31 Elevating Unit 32 Composite Inspection Board 33 Electrode Flat Plate 34 Transparent Glass Flat Plate 35 Probe Card Holder 36 Probe Card 37 Measuring Needle 200 Inspection Position

Front Page Continuation (72) Inventor Atsuhiro Kakimoto 1-10-14 Itabashi, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo Stock Company Tokyo Cathode Research Institute (72) Inventor Riki Hashimoto 1-10-14 Itabashi, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo Stock Company Inside the Tokyo Cathode Laboratory (72) Inventor Sadachika Ota 1-10-14 Itabashi, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo Inside the Tokyo Cathode Institute of Stock Companies (72) Shinji Oso 1-10-14 Itabashi, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo Incorporated Tokyo Cathode Research Institute (72) Inventor Noboru Nagano 1-10-14 Itabashi, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo Incorporated Tokyo Cathode Research Institute

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A composite unit comprising an elevating unit supported by a base so as to be vertically movable, and an electrode flat plate made of a conductor and a transparent glass flat plate, which are slidably mounted on the upper surface of the elevating unit and arranged side by side on the same plane. An inspection board and a probe card are detachably attached, and a probe card holder that exposes the probe card's measuring needle to the composite inspection board is electrically connected to the measuring needle of the probe card and the electrode plate, and the measuring needle A tester for measuring the contact resistance between the electrode plate and the electrode plate, and a needle tip observation device that is provided movably in the horizontal direction in the elevating unit and observes the measuring needle of the probe card through the transparent glass plate. Measure the height variation and contact resistance of the measuring needle by facing the electrode plate to the probe card positioned on the A probe card inspection device characterized in that transparent glass flat plates are opposed to each other to measure the coordinates of the measuring needle tip. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the probe card holder is supported so as to be capable of being turned upside down with respect to the base, and the measuring needle is exposed upward when the probe card is avoided from the inspection position. And a probe card inspection device. 3. The probe card inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the composite inspection board is slid by an air pressure actuator.