JPH07111990B2 - PROBE METHOD AND DEVICE THEREOF - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Object of the Invention (Industrial field of application) The present invention is directed to a probe method and an apparatus for inspecting an object to be inspected such as a supplied semiconductor wafer by contacting it with a probe needle. Regarding

(Prior Art) A probe device is used to inspect a semiconductor chip provided on the surface of a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter referred to as a wafer).
This probe device is configured to inspect a semiconductor chip by connecting a loader for supplying a wafer, an inspection unit for contacting a probe needle with an electrode unit of a semiconductor chip on the wafer, and an electrical connection with an external tester by contact between the probe needle and the electrode unit. It has become.

Examples of such technologies include Japanese Patent Publication No. 59-50942 and Shokai Sho6.
No. 1-88240, No. 61-96544, No. 61-206237
No. 61-220349, 61-222231, 61-222231
61-234543 and JP-A-61-237443.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the conventional probe apparatus, the probing region where the electrode portion of the semiconductor chip of the wafer is brought into contact with the probe needle of the probe card provided in the inspection unit and the alignment of the semiconductor chip on the wafer Positioning means for positioning the direction in one direction are arranged with a certain distance in plan view.

Therefore, the mounting body supplied with the wafer from the loader is moved to the positioning means. Then, the wafer on the mounting body is positioned by this means. Next, the positioned wafer has a configuration in which the mounting body is moved to just below the probe needle provided in the inspection unit, and the mechanical error of the transfer rail or the like is included in the above movement amount, resulting in inaccurate positioning. There was a problem. Further, since the positioning and means are arranged two-dimensionally between the probing area of the inspection unit and the position where the wafer is supplied from the loader to the mounting body, the probe device cannot be downsized. was there. It is an object of the present invention to provide a probe method and an apparatus thereof which solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, maintain the positioning accuracy with higher accuracy, and can be further downsized.

[Structure of Invention]

(Means for Solving the Problems) A first aspect of the present invention is a probe apparatus for positioning a supplied test object and then inspecting it by bringing a probe needle into contact with the test object. And a positioning means having means for recognizing the object to be inspected, wherein the positioning means is provided so as to be movable to a region for inspecting the object to be inspected.

A second aspect of the present invention is a probe method for positioning a supplied inspection object and bringing a probe needle into contact with the inspection object to inspect, and mounting the inspection object by aligning a direction of the inspection object in a certain direction. A first step of transferring to the mounting table and a second step of moving the positioning means for positioning the inspection object transferred onto the mounting table to the mounting table to position the inspection object. The method is characterized by including a step and a third step of withdrawing the positioning means after the positioning.

A third invention is a probe apparatus for inspecting a semiconductor chip by bringing a probe needle of a probe card into contact with an electrode portion of a semiconductor chip formed on a wafer, and a mounting body for sucking and fixing the supplied wafer, Positioning means for recognizing the semiconductor chips of the wafer on the mounting body and positioning the arrangement of the semiconductor chips in a fixed direction, a transfer mechanism for transferring the positioning means to directly below the probe card, and electrodes of the semiconductor chips of the wafer. A drive mechanism for bringing the probe needle into contact with the portion.

(Operation) With the configuration described above, a positioning means for positioning the object to be inspected in the inspection section of the probe device of the present invention,
The probe card that comes into contact with the object to be inspected is formed at substantially the same position.

Therefore, after the positioning unit positions the inspection object, the inspection is performed by bringing the probe needle of the probe card into contact with the inspection object without moving the inspection object.

(Example) Next, the Example of the probe apparatus of this invention is described using drawing.

As shown in FIG. 1, the overall structure of the probe apparatus (1) is roughly classified into a loader section (4) for taking out the wafer (2) from a wafer cassette (3) accommodating the wafer (2) and supplying it to a mounting body. And a wafer inspection unit (6) for inspecting the wafer (2) supplied from the loader unit (4) by transporting it to just below the probe needle (5a) of the probe card (5).

The loader part (4) is provided on the side part of the purob device (1).

The loader unit (4) takes out the wafers (3) one by one from the wafer cassette (3), and the wafers (2) supplied in an arbitrary direction are aligned in a certain direction, and a mounting body (7) of the inspection unit (6) is arranged. Is configured to supply.

This structure has already been described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-245134, and a description thereof will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 1, the structure of the inspection unit (6) is such that a mounting body (7) for adsorbing and fixing the supplied wafer (2) and a wafer (2) on the mounting body (7). Positioning means (8) for positioning the array of semiconductor chips in a fixed direction, a transfer mechanism (9) for transferring the positioning means (8) directly below the probe card (5), and the semiconductor chips of the wafer (2). The probe card (5) for contacting the probe needle (5a) with the electrode part of the.

As shown in FIG. 2, the above-mentioned mounting body (7) is mounted on the rail member (11) mounted on the base (10) of the probe device (1) so that the rail member (11) is mounted on the rail member (11).
An Y drive unit that moves in the axial direction and a rail that also moves in the X direction are laid inside the Y drive unit, and there is an X drive unit that moves in the X axis direction on the rail. The drive mechanism (12) is provided. The mounting body (7) is mounted on the top surface of the drive mechanism (12) by the probe device (1).
It is installed parallel to the base (10). A plurality of suction holes are provided on the surface of the mounting body (7).

The suction holes are connected to an external vacuum source (not shown). When the mounting body (7) described above moves to a predetermined position below the probe card (5) of the inspection unit (6), the probe needle (5a) of the probe card (5) of the inspection unit (6) Vertical movement that rises to make contact (Z-axis direction)
A drive unit (12a) is provided. Further, a circumference (θ) for rotating the wafer (2) on the mounting body (7) in the circumferential direction.
Directional rotation drive (12b) is also provided.

The amount of movement of the mounting body (7) that rotates in the XYZ axis directions and the θ direction is automatically determined by the amount of movement when the correction error is recognized by the positioning means and when it is moved or rotated in each direction by the program stored in advance. It is configured to move or rotate.

The positioning means (8) is movably provided in the Y direction of the probe device (1) so as to be arranged directly below the probe card (5) provided in the inspection unit (6) for inspecting the wafer (2). There is. Here, the positioning means (8) is
The probe device (1) is movably provided for the purpose of reducing the depth of the entire probe device (1) in the Y direction.
If the length in the X direction is reduced, the positioning means (8) should be provided so as to be movable in the Y direction.

As shown in FIG. 3, the positioning means (8) has an orthogonal coordinate system in which a wafer (2) in which a plurality of semiconductor chips of a predetermined size are two-dimensionally arranged at a predetermined pitch is arranged. In the positioning means (8) along XY, the first information corresponding to the pattern in the region (13) of the first portion on the wafer (2) and the mounting body (7) are moved to move the first information. A distance that is an integral multiple of the pitch from the partial region (13) in the semiconductor chip arrangement direction, for example, the size of the semiconductor chip is 4 mm width × 5
A pattern information extracting means for extracting the second information corresponding to the pattern of the area (14) of the second part, which is separated by a distance of 5 mm × 20 = 100 mm, is used as the distance of the 20th second part of mm length, Based on the comparison of the first information and the second information, the coordinate system X- of the wafer (2)
A rotation error with respect to Y is detected.

Based on the detected information, the X-axis.Y-axis and the [theta] direction are corrected and moved by a program stored in advance. Here, in order to obtain the second information of the second portion after extracting the first information of the first portion on the wafer (2), the mounting body (7) on which the wafer (2) is mounted is indicated by an arrow. It is designed to move to (15). Further, an example of the drive unit that rotates in the circumferential direction (θ direction) is described in JP-A-60-242621 and JP-A-62-806.

As the principle of the positioning means (8), as shown in FIG. 4, two types are widely used: one for irradiating a laser beam on a wafer (2) and one for imaging the surface of the wafer (2) with an image pickup tube. ing.

The laser system has a laser generating portion, and a beam emitted from the laser generating portion is linearly deformed by a cylindrical lens. The wafer (2) is irradiated with this deformed beam, the reflected beam is converged by a lens to extract a diffraction image, and the diffraction image is detected by a sensor (8b) incorporated in a special array on the wafer (2). To read the state of.

Details of using the principle of the above-mentioned positioning means are described in JP-A-60-245134 and JP-B-61-42422, and therefore description thereof is omitted here.

Further, in addition to the above-mentioned laser beam, a recognition device, for example, an image pickup means is provided.
There is also a method of extracting information on a region of a certain place, comparing singular points of these regions, recognizing the tilt of the wafer, and then correcting and moving the rotation of the mounting body in the XY axis and the θ direction.

Currently, pattern recognition is the mainstream.

As shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the transport mechanism (9) is provided with the above-mentioned positioning means (8) so as to be movable back and forth directly below the probe card (5) of the inspection section (6).
That is, in order to position the wafer (2) on the mounting body (7) disposed directly below the probe card (5),
The positioning means (8) is provided just below the probe card (5).
Need to be installed. Further, after the wafer (2) is positioned, if the housing (8a) of the positioning means (8) is directly under the probe card (5), the needle alignment with the probe needle (5a) and the electrode portion of the semiconductor chip is possible. Can not. Therefore, the positioning means (8) is configured to retreat to the rear of the probe device (1).

In the structure of the transport mechanism (9), the main pillar (17) is erected from the side end of the base (10) of the probe device (1). A pedestal for receiving the probe card (5), which is called a head plate (18), is laterally provided on the erected main pillar (17). An independent planar member called a bridge (19) is provided so as to surround the outer periphery of the head plate (18). The bridge shares the main pillar (17) by fixing the bridge (19) with a screw or the like from the main pillar (17) supporting the head plate (18).

Therefore, while the head plate (18) provided parallel to the base (10) is provided so as to be openable and closable upward,
The bridge (19) is provided parallel to the base (10).

Two rail members (11) are provided on the bottom surface (19a) of the bridge (19) along the Y-axis direction of the probe device (1) with screws or the like in close contact with the bottom surface.

The two rail members (11) are provided symmetrically with respect to the probe card (5).

The above two rail members (11) have gripping type bearings (2
0), for example, it is provided so as to slide a plurality of LM guides (trade name) manufactured by NSK.

The bearing (20) has two bearings (20) arranged in series on the left rail member (11), and one bearing (20) on the right rail member (11) on the left side. ) Is provided symmetrically.

In addition, the bearing (2
0) and the bearing (20) of the right rail member (11) are provided with a housing (8a) of the positioning means (8) in parallel with the mounting body (7). In addition, the bottom surface (19
A ball screw (21) is provided in a) in parallel with the rail member (11). Further, a nut member (22) is screwed onto the ball screw (21). At both ends of the ball screw (20) screwed with the nut member (22), the ball screw (20) is provided so as to be suspended from a side end portion of the bridge (19) by a support body (23) vertically provided.

A drive unit (24) for rotating the ball screw (21) is provided at one end of the ball screw (21) mounted on the shaft. The drive section (24) is provided so as to drive from a predetermined position to another predetermined position by a program stored in advance.

The nut member (22) is connected to the housing (8a) in which the positioning means (8) is stored. Therefore, the drive unit (24) is driven according to the instructions of the program, and the casing (8a) in which the positioning means (8) is housed is inspected (6) via the ball screw (21) and the nut member (22). It is configured to be conveyed from directly below the probe card (5) to the rear part of the probe device (1) or from the rear part of the probe device (1) to directly below the probe card (5).

In the probe card (5), a main pillar (17) is erected from the side end of the base (10), and a probe card (5) receiving base called a head plate (18) is provided on the main pillar (17). It is installed horizontally.

A probe card (5) is detachably provided in the center of the head plate (18).

Further, the housing (8a) of the positioning means (8) is moved directly below the probe card (5) via the above-described transport mechanism (9), stopped, positioned, and then withdrawn. There is. Further, the mounting body (7) is raised so that the probe needles (5a) of the probe card (5) come into contact with the wafer (2).

Next, the operation will be described.

From the side end of the base (10) of the probe device (1) to the main pillar (1
7) is erected. The main pillar (17) is provided with a transfer mechanism (9) on a bridge (19) provided in common with the main pillar (17) of the head plate (18). Further, a casing (8a) accommodating the positioning means (8) is fixed to the transport mechanism (9).

The casing (8a) is in a state of being provided so as to be conveyed from directly below the probe card (5) to the rear portion of the probe device (1).

In the above-mentioned state, as shown in FIG. 1, first, the wafers (2) are guided one by one from the wafer cassette (3) of the rotor part (4) to the pre-alignment part (16) by vacuum tweezers (not shown). Be freaked out.

The vacuum tweezers mechanism is described in the specification of Japanese Patent Application No. 61-161336 of the applicant of the present application, and is omitted here.

The pre-alignment unit (16) adjusts the wafer (2) in an arbitrary direction so that the wafer (2) is aligned in a fixed direction, and the wafer (2) is supplied to the mounting body via the rotary arm (25).

As shown in FIG. 2, the wafer (2) supplied to the mounting body (7) is driven by the drive mechanism (12) of the mounting body (7) to drive the probe card (5) of the inspection unit (6). ) Just below.

Here, the moving distance by which the above-mentioned mounting body (7) moves the wafer (2) from the position supplied from the loader section (4) to directly below the probe card (5) is quantitatively determined.
The position of the wafer (2) on the mounting body (7) moved by the quantitative distance has not yet been determined with respect to the probe card (5). Therefore, the positioning means (8) is moved from the rear part (27 in FIG. 5) of the probe device (1) to the center of the probe needle (5a) group of the probe card (5) and stopped. At this time, the positioning means (8) is positioned so that the center of the positioning means (8) and the center of the probe needle (5a) group of the probe card (5) coincide with each other.

Therefore, the traverse distance is detected by traversing the wafer (2) with respect to the fixed positioning means (8) by the drive mechanism (12) of the mounting body (7) in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction, respectively. To be done. Half of this distance is the central axis of the wafer.

When the center of the wafer is obtained, the size of the semiconductor chip is set as well.

Therefore, when the center of the semiconductor chip is arranged at the center of the wafer, it is sufficient to extract the position of the distance symmetrically distributed about the center. That is, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, in order to extract the surface information of the region (13) of the first portion of the wafer (2), the laser light (26) of the positioning means (8) is applied to the wafer (26). The area (13) of the first part of 2) is irradiated. The laser light (26) is reflected by the surface of the wafer (2). The reflected light (26a) is collected by the lens (L3), and the diffracted image is detected by the special sensor (8b). A singular point on the surface of the wafer (2) is extracted from this diffraction image so that the area (1
The first information corresponding to 3) is extracted.

Next, the mounting body (7) on which the wafer (2) is mounted is stored in advance by the program stored in the second portion area (14).
For example, it moves via the drive mechanism (12) of the mounting body from the first partial region to the region (14) of the second portion having an integral multiple of the pitch in the arrangement direction of the semiconductor chips.

Here, the second information corresponding to the area (14) of the second portion is extracted.

The singular points of the first information and the second information described above are compared. By this comparison, the amount of inclination of the semiconductor chip array on the wafer is extracted. Based on the extracted information, the mounting body (7)
X axis.Y axis.Z axis. Correction movement is performed by the drive unit in the θ direction.

The positioning means (8) described above is disclosed in JP-A-60-245134.
Since it is written at the back of the issue, it will be briefly summarized only. After the wafer is thus positioned, the transfer mechanism (9) is used to move the housing (8a) of the positioning means (8).
Is moved to the rear part (27) of the probe device (1).
Then, the wafer (2) after the positioning is completed is lifted in the Z-axis direction of the mounting body (7), and the probe needle (5a) of the probe card (5) provided on the head plate (18).
It comes into contact with the external tester (28 in FIG. 1) and conducts inspection.

Although the positioning means (8) is provided on the bottom surface (19a) of the bridge (19) here, there is no problem if it is provided on the head plate (18). By providing the head plate (18) in this way, the bridge (19) becomes unnecessary and the number of members is reduced, so that the probe device can be manufactured at low cost.

Further, a pillar (not shown) for the bridge (19) may be erected directly on the base (10), and the bridge (19) may be provided at the top end of the pillar in parallel with the base (10). It suffices to use a member that is economical.

Furthermore, the embodiment has been described by using the two rails and moving the ball screw (21) by rotation, but it is also possible to drive the transfer mechanism by a solenoid using a fluid, for example, gas. It can also be manufactured at low cost. It is also possible to move using electromagnetic waves.

A timing belt (not shown) is also stretched between the pulleys instead of the ball screw (21). This timing belt stretched along the rail or guide bar
It is also possible to move a), and it is not particularly limited to the ball screw (21).

〔The invention's effect〕

Since the means for positioning the object to be inspected is provided in the inspection part of the probe device, the object to be inspected and the probe needle can immediately perform contact operation (probing) after positioning the object to be inspected. Can be done. Therefore,
High quality and high yield inspection can be performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view for explaining the entire probe apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory view for explaining the mechanism of the inspection unit in FIG. 1,
FIG. 3 is an explanatory view for explaining the relationship between the wafer and the positioning operation of FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is an explanatory view for explaining the positioning means using the laser used in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a top view of the transport mechanism for transporting the positioning means used in FIG. 1 seen from the top of the probe device, and FIG. 6 is a front view of the same. 1 ... probe device, 2 ... wafer 3 ... wafer cassette, 4 ... loader section 5 ... probe card, 5a ... probe needle 6 ... inspection section, 7 ... placement body 8 ... positioning means, 8a …… Case 9 …… Transport mechanism (positioning means) 10 …… Base, 11 …… Rail member 12 …… Drive mechanism (for XY axis direction) 13 …… First part area, 14 …… Area of the second part 16 …… Pre-alignment position 17 …… Main pillar, 18 …… Head plate 19 …… Bridge, 20 …… Rail 21 …… Ball screw, 22 …… Nut member

Claims (21)

[Claims] 1. After positioning the supplied inspection object,
A probe apparatus for contacting with a probe needle for inspecting, comprising: a mounting body on which the inspected object is placed; and a positioning means having means for recognizing the inspected object, wherein the positioning means is the inspected object. A probe device, wherein the probe device is provided so as to be movable to an area for inspecting a body. 2. In a probe method of positioning a supplied test object and bringing a probe needle into contact with the test object to perform the test, the test object is aligned with a certain direction. And a second step for positioning the inspected object by moving the positioning means for positioning the inspected object transferred on the mounting table to the mounting table. And a third step of withdrawing the positioning means after the positioning, the probe method. 3. The probe apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the positioning means is composed of an image pickup means. 4. The probe apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the positioning means is provided on a support body provided so as to be movable along a pair of rail members. 5. The probe according to claim 4, wherein the support is provided in a bearing slidably mounted on the rail member in parallel with the mounting body. apparatus. 6. A ball screw is provided in parallel with the rail member, a nut member is screwed to the ball screw, a drive portion is provided at one end, and the nut member is connected to the support body. The probe device according to claim 5, which is characterized. 7. The probe apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the drive section moves the positioning means to a position directly below the probe needle in the inspection area according to a predetermined program. 8. The probe device according to claim 1, wherein the positioning means is provided so as to be movable in the Y direction of the probe device, that is, in the front-back direction. 9. The probe device according to claim 1, wherein the positioning means is provided behind the probe device so as to be able to retreat. 10. The positioning means is an X of a probe device.
The probe device according to claim 1, wherein the probe device is provided so as to be movable in a direction, that is, in the left-right direction. 11. The positioning means is movably provided between a probe guard provided with the probe needle and the mounting body as set forth in claim 1, wherein the positioning means is movable. Probe device. 12. In a probe device for inspecting a semiconductor chip by bringing a probe needle of a probe card into contact with an electrode portion of a semiconductor chip formed on a wafer, a mounting body for sucking and fixing the supplied wafer, Positioning means for recognizing the semiconductor chips of the wafer on the mounting body and positioning the arrangement of the semiconductor chips in a fixed direction, a transfer mechanism for transferring the positioning means directly below the probe card, and an electrode part of the semiconductor chip of the wafer A probe device comprising: a drive mechanism for bringing a probe needle into contact with the. 13. The probe device according to claim 12, wherein the positioning means is composed of an imaging means. 14. The transport mechanism includes a pair of rail members,
The probe device according to claim 12, further comprising: a support body provided so as to be movable along the rail member. 15. The probe according to claim 14, wherein the support is provided in a bearing slidably mounted on the rail member in parallel with the mounting body. apparatus. 16. The transport mechanism includes a ball screw provided in parallel with the rail member, a nut member screwed to the ball screw, and a drive unit provided at one end of the ball screw. The probe device according to claim 15, wherein the nut member is connected to the support. 17. The probe device according to claim 16, wherein the drive unit moves the positioning unit to directly below the probe card according to a predetermined program. 18. The positioning means is a Y of a probe device.
The probe device according to claim 12, wherein the probe device is provided so as to be movable in a direction, that is, in the front-back direction. 19. The probe device according to claim 12, wherein the positioning means is provided behind the probe device so as to be able to retreat. 20. The positioning means is an X of a probe device.
The probe device according to claim 12, wherein the probe device is provided so as to be movable in a direction, that is, in the left-right direction. 21. The probe device according to claim 12, wherein the positioning means is movably provided between the probe card and the mounting body.