JPH0782027B2 - Manufacturing method of test contact pin - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a test contact pin, and more particularly to a method for manufacturing a test contact pin such as a probe pin or a socket pin that contacts an IC wafer or a bare chip for an electrical test. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional test contact pin is generally a movable spring pin having a spring mechanism or a tapered cantilever type probe pin. However, it is difficult to make the spring pin small due to its mechanism, so its application is limited to relatively large ones such as printed circuit boards.
Probe pins are used exclusively for testing IC chips. This probe pin is manufactured for each pin by electrolytic polishing or the like.

[0003]

Such a conventional test contact pin is formed by arranging tapered probe pins in a fan shape and attaching them to a probe card, or by bending the contact portion at the tip according to the arrangement of the IC pad. It is put into practical use after undergoing the steps of adjusting the height and pitch. These processes are commonly called a needle stand, and their work requires craftsmanship. Particularly for highly integrated ICs, there are severe demands for higher pin counts and narrower pitches, the number of highly skilled workers who can meet these demands is extremely limited, and the product performance tends to vary and reliability tends to deteriorate. In addition, often difficult readjustment work is required even during use. For this reason, with this type of contact pin, the productivity and performance of cards, sockets, etc. cannot keep up with the progress of ICs.

In order to solve such a problem, a method of making a contact pin by etching has been proposed. However, dry etching is too poor in productivity, and wet etching requires a tapered cross-sectional shape due to occurrence of taper etching. There is a defect such as not being able to secure sufficient contact force. Further, even if the cross-sectional shape is secured by using an anisotropic material, the material is limited and the conductivity cannot be secured. There is also a method of giving up the contact portion as a pin and pressing a pad by attaching it to the wiring pattern on the resin substrate, but this method cannot secure so-called overdrive, so that the contact pressure easily fluctuates and the contact resistance is reduced. Unstable and unreliable.

Therefore, such contact pins produced by etching are not practical, apart from experimental or limited use. The object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art.
It is to realize a highly productive method of manufacturing a test contact pin suitable for testing a C wafer, a bare chip, or the like.

[0006]

In order to achieve this object, a method of manufacturing a test contact pin according to the present invention comprises a first contact material made of a material that is adhered to or bonded to the material of the test contact pin on a substrate layer. A forming step of forming a metal layer, and a first step
A step of forming a second metal layer to be used for the test contact pin by a plating process on the unmasked portion of the second metal layer, and a second step of removing the mask. A step of depositing a film covering a portion other than the portion provided for the test contact pin on the metal layer, the portion including the film and the second metal layer, the substrate layer, and the first layer. And a separation step of separating the portion composed of the metal layer and the metal layer.

[0007]

In the method of manufacturing a test contact pin of the present invention having such a structure, the contact pin is not directly formed by etching, but the contact pin is formed by plating on an unmasked portion. To do. As a result, it is possible to prevent the cross-sectional shape of the pin from becoming an undesired tapered shape, and it is possible to manufacture a contact pin having a substantially rectangular preferable cross-sectional shape. Further, since the substrate layer is plated and then separated, the contact points of the contact pins are relatively aligned and the surface is smooth. Therefore, a sufficient overdrive and a substantially uniform and sufficient contact pressure can be secured even in the case of demanding a large number of pins and a narrow pitch, which is suitable for testing IC wafers or bare chips. Further, since the pin can be manufactured only by a general process such as plating, the pin manufacturing efficiency is good.

[0008] Further, the film of the second metal layer other than the portion provided for the test contact pin is covered. As a result, a large number of contact pins are integrally formed through the film, so that the probe card or IC
When assembled into a socket, etc., it is possible to handle multiple contact pins at once. Therefore, it is possible to easily assemble even without craftsmanship such as a needle stand. That is, by using this test contact pin, it is possible to improve the productivity of pin-embedded products such as cards and sockets.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a schematic cross-sectional view in each step, and FIG. 2 shows an overall schematic view of a test contact pin 14d, a lead-out wiring pattern 14e and the like connected to the test contact pin 14d, and a film 15 on which these are formed. This is for the purpose of explanation, and in practice, the number of test contact pins is generally tens to hundreds, and the pitch is not always constant. Note that, hereinafter, the test contact pin is simply referred to as a pin, the lead-out wiring pattern is referred to as a pattern, and the pin 14d and the pattern 14e are combined to form the pin 1
Call it 4. The pin 14 and the film 15 are collectively referred to as a pin film body 22.

In the pin manufacturing process, a first metal layer forming process, a resist pattern forming process which is the first half of the plating process, and a second metal layer forming the second half of the plating process are mainly performed. It includes an electrolytic plating step of forming, a film adhering step, a peeling step which is the first half of the separating step, and a removing step which is the second half of the separating step. In addition, pin 14
The material is preferably Ni from the viewpoint of strength and toughness. further,
Pd and the like may be included. Further, when importance is attached to conductivity, it is preferable to coat gold to increase conductivity. Alternatively, beryllium copper may be used instead of Ni. Hereinafter, each step will be described in this order.

In the step of forming the first metal layer, a copper layer 11 as the first metal layer is thinly formed by electrolytic plating on the stainless plate 10 as the substrate layer. The use of copper as the first metal layer has excellent adherence to the Ni-made pins 14 and the like, and the adhesion to the stainless steel plate 10 is weaker than the adhesion of the film 15 to the Ni-made pins 14 and the like. , Because it is a good conductor. Since copper has better conductivity than stainless steel, electrolytic plating can be performed quickly and uniformly. The stainless steel plate 10 is mirror-finished so that its surface is flat and smooth.

In the resist pattern forming step, the copper layer 11 is used.
1 is coated with a photoresist 12 (see FIG. 1A), and is exposed through a mask 13 (see FIG. 1B). As a result, the pattern corresponding to the mask 13 is transferred to the resist 12. Further, this is developed to form a resist 12 having a pattern corresponding to the mask 13, and a resist mask is applied on the copper layer 11 (see (c) of FIG. 1).

In the electrolytic plating process, the void 12a above the copper layer 11 which appears in the portion not covered with the resist mask is used.
Then, Ni is deposited and grown by electrolytic plating (see (d) of FIG. 1). After the completion of Ni plating, the resist 12 is removed and the mask is removed (see (d) of FIG. 1). The Ni layer thus formed is used for the pin 14.

In the film deposition step, a polyimide film 15 is coated on the Ni layer (14) to cover the pattern 14e other than the portion provided for the pin 14d. Specifically, the adhesive plastic 15a is sandwiched and thermocompression bonding is performed from above the film 15 with a jig having a flat pressing surface (see FIG. 1).
(F)). This makes the plastic side pin 1
Since it is partially deformed in accordance with No. 4, minute irregularities and uneven thickness existing on the upper surface of the Ni layer (14) are absorbed. As a result, the thickness of the pin film body 22 can be made uniform.

The film 15 also has an opening 15b (see FIG. 2). The opening 15b is bonded so as to correspond to the pin 14d. As a result, the pin 14d is supported by the film 15 in a cantilevered state, and the film 15 is used as a substrate that integrally supports the pin 14d and the like.

In the peeling step, the portion consisting of the copper layer 11, the Ni layer (14) and the film 15 is peeled from the stainless plate 10 and separated between the stainless plate 10 and the copper layer 11. As described above in the description of the step of forming the first metal layer, the adhesion force to the stainless steel plate 10 is weaker than the adhesion force of the film 15 to the Ni pins 14 and the like. Separates easily.

In the removing step, the copper layer 11 is removed from the Ni layer (14) by wet etching. Since the copper layer 11 is thin, an Ni layer (14) is formed by using an etching solution having a high selectivity.
The copper layer 11 is removed without damaging. As a result, the portion including the film 15 and the pin 14 is separated from the stainless layer 10 and the copper layer 11. The test contact pin 14 thus manufactured has a substantially rectangular cross section (normally 50 μm × 50 μm). Therefore, when contacted by being bent in a cantilever shape, a contact pressure and an overdrive capacity larger than those of a triangular cross section or a circular cross section can be exhibited.
In addition, the bending rigidity in the diagonal direction is large, and it rarely bends at an angle. Therefore, there is no inconvenience even if the pitch is narrowed (about 80 μm).

The side surface 1 that contacts the IC chip
4a, 14b, and 14c have a uniform height corresponding to the flat surface of the stainless steel plate 10.
Therefore, there is no need to perform work for adjusting the height of the pin tip. Further, the side surfaces 14a, 14b, 14c to which tensile stress is applied when making contact with the IC chip have a smooth surface state corresponding to the smooth surface of the stainless plate 10. Therefore, the fatigue strength affected by the smoothness of the surface is increased, and the number of times of repeated use is improved.

FIG. 3 shows a so-called chip carrier that holds the bare chip 30 of the IC to be tested inside, as an example of applying the pin film body 22 manufactured in this way. (A) is a perspective view of the appearance, and (b) is an enlarged view of a substantially central left portion of the BB ′ cross section. Although not shown, the pin film body 22 is also applied to a probe card.

[0020]

As can be understood from the above description, according to the method of manufacturing a test contact pin of the present invention,
A step of forming a first metal layer of a material to be adhered to or bonded to the material of the test contact pin on the substrate layer, and a mask on the first metal layer to form an unmasked portion, A plating process of forming a second metal layer to be used for the test contact pin by plating, and covering a portion other than the part to be used for the test contact pin on the second metal layer from which the mask has been removed. The method includes a deposition step of depositing the film, and a separation step of separating a portion including the film and the second metal layer from the substrate layer and the first metal layer. As a result, there is an effect that a highly productive method of manufacturing a test contact pin suitable for testing an IC wafer or bare chip can be realized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view in each step of one embodiment of a test contact pin having the structure of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an overall schematic view of a pin film body.

FIG. 3 shows a chip carrier as an application example of a pin film body.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Stainless Steel Plate 11 Copper Layer 12 Photoresist 13 Photomask 14 Pins 15 Film 20 Chip Carrier Body 22 Pin Film Body 30 Bare Chip

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Internal reference number FI Technical display location H05K 3/20 B 7511-4E (72) Inventor Etch Dun Higgins United States, Arizona, Gilbert, Suite 101, Nostech Boulevard 1478 in Fresh Quest Corporation (72) Inventor Pete Normington United States, Arizona, Gilbert, Sweet 101, Nostec Boulevard 1478 in Fresh Quest Corporation (56) References JP Sho 60 -147192 (JP, A) JP-A-62-242389 (JP, A)

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A forming step of forming a first metal layer of a material to be adhered to or bonded to a material of a test contact pin on a substrate layer, and a mask is formed on the first metal layer by masking. A plating process of forming a second metal layer provided for the test contact pin on a non-etched portion by a plating process, and forming a second metal layer on the test contact pin on the second metal layer from which the mask is removed. A deposition step of depositing a film covering a portion other than the provided portion; a separation step of separating a portion including the film and the second metal layer and a portion including the substrate layer and the first metal layer; A method of manufacturing a test contact pin, comprising: 2. The method for producing a test contact pin according to claim 1, wherein the film is used as a substrate for supporting the test contact pin. 3. The separating step comprises a first step of separating the substrate layer and the first metal layer by peeling, and a second step of removing the first metal layer from the second metal layer. Claim 2
A method for manufacturing the contact pin for test described. 4. The test contact pin is a probe pin, the forming step forms a first metal layer on the substrate layer by electrolytic plating, and the plating step comprises a first metal layer. A first step of forming a resist having a pattern corresponding to the mask on the layer, and a second step of forming a second metal layer on the first metal layer provided with the mask by electrolytic plating, The film has an opening, and in the attaching step, the opening is made to correspond to the probe pin, and the film is first attached via an adhesive.
The method for manufacturing a test contact pin according to claim 3, wherein the test contact pin is bonded onto the metal layer. 5. The method of manufacturing a test contact pin according to claim 1, wherein the first metal layer is formed on the substrate layer. A method for manufacturing a test contact pin, wherein the adhesion force of the conductor is weaker than the adhesion force of the film to the second metal layer. 6. Claim 1, claim 2, claim 3, claim 4
6. The method of manufacturing a test contact pin according to claim 5, wherein the surface of the substrate layer on which the first metal layer is formed is flat and smooth. Is a method for manufacturing a test contact pin, which has a substantially rectangular cross section.