JPH0630370B2 - Probe device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a probe device having a mechanism for adsorbing and transporting a transported object.

(Prior Art) In this type of probe device, a loader unit is prepared as a mechanism for transporting a wafer, for example, a transport mechanism for the semiconductor wafer when inspecting the electrical characteristics of the semiconductor wafer.

This probe device, as shown in FIG.
And a measuring unit 7. The loader unit 1 is configured to take out the wafer 3 from the wafer cassette 2 by the transfer chuck 4 and carry it, and pre-align the wafer 3 with the alignment stage 5.

Then, the vacuum chuck 6 transfers the wafer 3 to the measuring stage 8 of the measuring unit 7, where final alignment is performed, and the electrical characteristics of the wafer 3 are inspected by a probe card or the like. ing.

Here, the transfer chuck 4 is formed in a substantially U-shape as shown in the figure, and the wafer 3 is vacuum-sucked on the mounting surface thereof and is movable in the arrow direction of the figure. And
The wafer 3 is received from the transfer chuck 4 by raising the alignment stage 5 through the central notch.

A groove 4a is formed on the mounting surface of the transfer chuck 4 along a U-shaped outer shape, and the wafer 3 is vacuum-sucked through the groove 4a.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) Since the flatness of the wafer 3 is usually extremely high, when the wafer 3 is placed on the transfer chuck 4, the groove 4a is completely sealed, which is sufficient. A good adsorption effect can be obtained, and in this case, there is no problem in transportation.

However, some of the wafers 3 have poor flatness and are warped as shown in FIGS. 6 (A) and 6 (B).

When such a warped wafer 3 is placed on the transfer chuck 4, there is a problem that the groove 4a cannot be completely sealed and a sufficient suction effect cannot be obtained.

This is especially a problem in the case of the wafer 3 which is warped to the upper side as shown in FIG. 6 (A), and has conventionally been provided with a suction / transport mechanism for securely vacuum-sucking and transporting this type of wafer 3 as well. No probe device was provided.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the related art, and to provide a transfer / conveyance mechanism capable of adsorbing and transferring even a warped object by a sufficient adsorption force. To provide a probe device.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving Problems) According to the present invention, an accommodating part for accommodating an object to be inspected and an object to be inspected in the accommodating part are vacuum-sucked by a substantially U-shaped mounting surface. A transfer chuck to be transferred, and a transfer chuck which is arranged to be movable up and down and rotatable on a transfer path of the transfer chuck, and is elevated through a central cutout portion of the mounting surface of the transfer chuck to receive the object to be inspected, A probe apparatus having an alignment stage that aligns the object to be inspected by vacuum suction and rotation, and a measurement stage that performs probe measurement of the aligned object to be inspected. It is characterized in that suction pads each having a suction surface at a position slightly higher than the surface are arranged at at least two positions on the substantially U-shaped mounting surface.

(Operation) According to the present invention, when the object to be inspected is vacuum-sucked on the substantially U-shaped mounting surface, the suction pads are arranged at least at two positions on the substantially U-shaped mounting surface to concentrate on the object to be inspected. Adsorption is performed. That is, the adsorption area can be made smaller than in the case where the elongated groove is formed along the substantially U-shaped mounting surface, and as a result, the provisional instruction, FIG. 6 (A), (B) As shown in the figure, even if the object to be inspected is warped, local suction is possible, and vacuum suction can be surely performed.

Further, when the transport chuck is formed in a substantially U-shape in order to prevent interference with the alignment stage, the suction pad has to be sucked at a position apart from the center of the object to be inspected. In one suction pad, it is unstable,
For this reason, such suction pads can be provided at least at two locations to ensure reliable suction.

(Embodiment) An embodiment in which the device of the present invention is applied to a loader section of a semiconductor wafer probe device will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings.

First, the overall configuration of a probe device to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. The probe device is roughly divided into a loader section 10 and a measuring section 40.

As an internal configuration of the loader unit 10, a cassette storage unit 11 is provided on the front side thereof. For example, four guide shafts 13 that can be rotated by a motor 12 are included in the storage unit 11.
Are vertically installed, and the two cassette mounting bases 14 are supported by the two guide shafts 15, respectively. The mounting table 14 is moved up and down by the rotation of the guide shaft 15. Further, a cassette 16 is placed on the cassette mounting table 14, and 25 wafers 18 to be inspected are housed in the cassette 16 at appropriate intervals.

The transfer chuck 30 for loading / unloading the wafer 18 from / to the cassette 17 is provided with a support rod 23 vertically provided on a horizontally arranged bolt shaft 21 connected to a motor 20 via a nut portion 22 to rotate the bolt shaft 21. Is attached to the support rod 23 that moves along the axial direction. And
The transfer chuck 30 is formed in a substantially U-shape due to the relative relationship of delivery of the wafer 18.

An alignment stage 24 on which the wafer 18 can be placed is provided along the slide movement path of the transfer chuck 30, and can be moved in the Z direction and the θ direction by driving a motor 25. The details of the transport chuck 30 and the alignment stage 24 will be described later.

A vacuum suction arm 26 for rotating and carrying the wafer 18 from the alignment stage 24 to the measuring stage 41 of the measuring unit 40 is provided, and the arm 26 is horizontally rotatable by a drive of a motor 27.

A column 28a is vertically provided on the upper part of the housing of the loader unit 10. The column 28a has a horizontally rotatable arm 28.
b is suspended. The tip of the arm 28b has a microscope 28 for enlarging the chip.
c is installed and can be vertically moved by, for example, 20 mm. Further, a CPU (not shown) for controlling the operation of the loader unit 10 is built in, and is connected to a keyboard 29 which is detachably arranged on the upper part of the housing of the loader unit 10.

The measuring stage 41 is arranged in the X direction and the Y direction by known means.
In the measurement position, a probe card (not shown) is set at a position facing the measurement stage 41, and the wafer 18 can be driven by a well-known means. It is designed to measure electrical characteristics.

Next, the transport chuck 30 and the alignment stage 24 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 (A) and (B) and FIGS. 2 (A) and (B).

The transport chuck 30 is provided with the alignment stage 2
In order to prevent interference during the up-and-down movement of 4, a mounting surface 32 having a central cutout 31 is provided in a substantially U shape, and an arc-shaped relief portion 33 is formed at a corner bent at a right angle, for example.

A vacuum passage 34 is formed inside the placing surface 32,
The pin 35 communicating with the vacuum passage 34 is connected to the escape portion 33.
Is formed so as to protrude toward the center. In addition, this pin 35
A large number of small holes (not shown) are formed at the tip of the.

Then, the suction pad 36 is supported by being fitted into the pin 35 in the escape portion 33. The suction pad 36 is made of a softening agent such as silicone rubber, and has a hole 37 into which the pin 35 is fitted and an upper surface opening 38 communicating with the hole 37. The opening 38 of the suction pad 36 is slightly higher than the mounting surface 32. In the case of this embodiment, the diameter of the mounting surface 32 is 13 mm, and the suction pad 3 is
6 is, for example, 0.3 mm higher.

The alignment stage 24 is shown in FIGS.
The upper surface recess 24b communicating with the vacuum passage 24a as shown in FIG.
A groove 24c that communicates with the recess 24b and is cut out in a circular shape, an O-ring 24d that fits into and is supported by the groove 24c, and a matte surface 24e formed on a surface other than the recess 24b and the groove 24c. And is configured.

The O-ring 24d is made of a material having a high friction coefficient, such as silicone rubber, and has a hardness lower than a normal value, for example, about 50 degrees. Further, the O-ring 24d is used for the alignment stage 24
The height is, for example, about 0.1 mm higher than the satin surface 24e.

Next, the operation will be described.

The transfer of the wafer 18 in the loader unit 10 will be described. First, the alignment stage 24 is moved to the transfer chuck 3
The transfer chuck 30 is moved to one of the two cassettes 16 and 16 while being lowered below the moving surface of 0, and one wafer 18 is mounted on the mounting surface 32. .

Here, the transport chuck 30 includes two suction pads 3
The wafer 18 will be adsorbed by 6. That is, since the vacuum path is formed by the opening 38 of the transfer chuck 30, the pin 35, and the vacuum path 34 inside the mounting surface 32, the wafer 18 is adsorbed by the suction pad 36 and is fixedly mounted on the transfer chuck 30. Will be.

Moreover, since the suction pad 36 is made of a flexible material and the opening 38 thereof is slightly higher than the mounting surface 32, a warped wafer as shown in FIGS. 6 (A) and 6 (B) is used. Even if there is, the suction pad 36 deforms following the surface of the wafer 18 due to its flexibility, and the opening 38 is completely sealed. As a result, even a warped wafer as described above can be attracted with a sufficient attraction force.

Further, since the wafer 18 is mounted so that the center thereof coincides with the center of the central cutout 31 of the transfer chuck 30, only one suction pad 36 can mount the wafer 18 on the mounting surface 32. Although it is difficult to perform the fixing stably, the suction pads 3 are provided at two positions as in the present embodiment.
Since 6 is arranged, the wafer 18 can be reliably placed and fixed.

In this embodiment, since the suction pad 36 is fitted into and supported by the pin 35, when the suction pad 36 is damaged by friction or the like, it is simply pulled out toward the central cutout 31. Can be easily replaced.

As described above, one wafer 18 in the cassette 16
After being mounted and fixed on the transport chuck 30, the transport chuck 30 is moved to a position above the alignment stage 24.

Here, the suction of the transfer chuck 30 is released, the alignment stage 24 is moved upward, and stopped at a position above the mounting surface 32 of the transfer chuck 30 via the central cutout 31 of the transfer chuck 30. . As a result, the wafer 18 is placed on the alignment stage 24 apart from the transfer chuck 30.

Then, the wafer 18 is vacuum-sucked on the alignment stage 24.

Here, in this embodiment, the alignment stage 24 is
A ring 24d is provided. The reason for this is as follows.

That is, there are some types of wafers 18 having a small outer shape, and there is a need to reduce the outer shape of the alignment stage 24 accordingly.

Here, if the outer shape is made smaller, the connection area with the wafer 18 becomes smaller, and the wafer 18 must be rotated especially as a pre-alignment operation. However, since the frictional force with the alignment stage 24 is small, at the time of this rotation. There is a problem in that the wafer 18 does not follow and rotate due to slippage.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the O-ring 24d compensates for the reduction in the frictional force due to the reduction in the diameter of the alignment stage 24. Therefore, as the O-ring 24d, one having a larger friction coefficient is preferable, and further, when the O-ring 24d is not substantially flush with the matte surface 24e during vacuum adsorption, a sufficient adsorption effect cannot be obtained, so that the O-ring 24d is relatively flexible. It is preferable to select a high material. The O-ring 24
If the groove 24c for burying d is communicated with the vacuum passage 24a, the wafer 18 is also adsorbed by this groove 24c, so that the operation in which the O-ring 24d and the satin surface 24e are flush with each other can be promoted.

In addition, in order to obtain such an effect, it is not always necessary to adhere the O-ring, and it is possible to adhere a member having a high friction coefficient by adhesion or the like. Considering it, the configuration in which the O-ring 24d is fitted is excellent.

By the above operation, the alignment stage 24
After the suction and pre-alignment of the wafer 18 are performed, the vacuum suction arm 26 is moved to the lower surface of the wafer 18, and the alignment stage 24 is lowered in this state to transfer the wafer 18 to the vacuum suction arm 26. Then, the vacuum suction arm 26 is moved onto the measurement stage 41 of the measurement unit 40 and the wafer 18 is transferred to the measurement unit 40, whereby the wafer supply operation of the loader unit 10 is completed.

Then, after the measurement by the measuring unit 40 is completed, the wafer 18 is returned to the cassette 16 by a route opposite to the supply route and is conveyed.
8 measurements will be performed.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention.

In the present invention, two or more suction pads 36 may be provided on the transfer chuck 30, and three suction pads 36 are preferably arranged to enhance the stability.
Further, the material and the mounting structure of the suction pad 36 are merely examples in the above embodiment, and other highly flexible materials can be used by another mounting structure.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, even if the flatness of the object to be inspected is bad and warped, such an object to be inspected is mounted and fixed on the transfer chuck with sufficient suction force. Can be transported.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 (A) is a plan view of the transfer chuck, FIG. 1 (B) is a cross-sectional view showing the attachment structure of the suction pad, and FIG. 2 (A).
Is a plan view of the alignment stage, FIG. 2 (B) is a sectional view of the alignment stage, FIG. 3 is a plan view of an embodiment of the probe device according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 is an internal configuration diagram of the loader part of the same device. FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a conventional probe device, and FIGS. 6 (A) and 6 (B) are schematic explanatory views of a warped object having a poor flatness. 24 ... Alignment stage, 24a ... Vacuum passage, 24c ... Groove, 24d ... O-ring, 30 ... Transport chuck, 31 ... Central cutout part, 32 ... Mounting surface, 33 ... Relief part, 34 ... Vacuum passage, 35 ... Pin, 36 ... Suction pad.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical display location G01R 31/28 H01L 21/66 B 7377-4M

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A storage section for storing an object to be inspected, a transfer chuck for transferring the object to be inspected in the storage section by vacuum suction to a substantially U-shaped mounting surface, and a transfer path on the transfer chuck. The object to be inspected is arranged so as to be vertically movable and rotatable, and rises through a central cutout portion of the mounting surface of the transport chuck to receive the object to be inspected, and the object to be inspected is vacuum-sucked and rotated. A probe apparatus having an alignment stage for aligning the object, and a measurement stage for performing a probe measurement on the aligned object to be inspected, wherein the transport chuck has an adsorption surface at a position slightly higher than the mounting surface. A probe device in which pads are arranged at at least two positions on a substantially U-shaped mounting surface. 2. The suction conveyance device according to claim 1, wherein the suction pad is provided at a corner of a substantially U-shaped mounting surface. 3. An alignment stage having a circular groove communicating with a vacuum passage in the center thereof on a mounting surface, and an O-ring made of a member having a high friction coefficient fitted in the groove. The suction conveyance device according to claim 1.