JPH09152471A - Inspection apparatus for liquid crystal display body - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simply and quickly exchange a probe card by electrically freely connecting/separating an end part where a connection terminal of a first printed wiring board is arranged, an end part where a connection terminal of a second printed wiring board is arranged and a connection terminal at the opposite end part. SOLUTION: A printed wiring board connecting a bump connection terminal with a connector is separated to a first printed wiring board 7 and a second printed wiring board 10. At the same time, the substrate 10 and the connector are so constructed and wired as to meet a plurality of kinds of substrates 7. Moreover, connection terminals 11 of the substrate 7 and connection terminals 13 of the substrate 10 are constituted to be electrically freely connected/ separated each other via a pogo pin 16. Accordingly, the substrate 10 and the connector can be shared among substrates 7 of a plurality of kinds of probe cards. The probe card can be exchanged simply and quickly only by connecting the substrate 7 to the pogo pin 16.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display (hereinafter referred to as "LCD") inspection device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional LCD inspection apparatus includes a mounting portion for mounting an LCD substrate in a cassette, a transport mechanism for transporting the LCD substrates one by one from the mounting portion, and this transport mechanism. And an inspection unit for inspecting the LCD substrate conveyed by. The inspection unit includes a mounting table on which an LCD substrate is mounted and which is movable in X, Y, Z, and θ directions.
A probe card removably mounted on the head plate above the mounting table. The probe card is
A plurality of contact terminals arranged corresponding to the drain electrodes formed on the vertical side edges of the LCD substrate and a plurality of contact terminals arranged corresponding to the gate electrodes formed on the lateral side edges thereof, respectively. And a flexible printed wiring board connected to the contact terminals, and a sub-plate to which each printed wiring board is attached. The probe card is replaced every time the type of LCD substrate changes.

On the other hand, in recent years, LCD substrate manufacturing technology has advanced, and the LCD substrate has become larger and the number of pixels has increased to achieve higher definition. The number of drain electrodes and gate electrodes rapidly increases due to the large-sized LCD substrate, the number of contact terminals of the probe card increases rapidly, and the number of pins of the connector corresponding to each contact terminal also increases, and the contact terminals of the probe card increase. There are more than 3000 books.

[0004]

However, if the 1
Even if each connector has about 100 pins, if the probe card is replaced according to the type of LCD substrate, the conventional LCD inspection device has a probe card with 30 or more connectors. Because 3
There has been a problem in that zero or more connectors must be removed and inserted each time replacement is performed, and a considerable amount of labor and time are required for replacement work of the probe card. In addition, there is a problem that the probe card replacement work deteriorates the inspection efficiency as the types of LCD substrates are diversified.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is not necessary to insert and remove the connector when exchanging the probe card, and the probe card can be exchanged easily and quickly. It is an object of the present invention to provide an inspection device for a liquid crystal display, which can improve the above.

[0006]

A liquid crystal display inspection apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention comprises a plurality of contact terminals corresponding to a large number of electrodes arranged on a peripheral portion of a liquid crystal display substrate, and these contact terminals. A flexible printed wiring board having a printed wiring connected to the contact terminals of the printed wiring board, a sub-plate having a plurality of the printed wiring boards attached thereto, and a support for supporting the sub-plates. In the liquid crystal display inspecting device for connecting the contact terminals to the tester side and electrically connecting the contact terminals to the tester, the printed wiring board is divided into a first printed wiring board on the contact terminal side and a second printed wiring board on the connector side. In addition, the second pudding wiring board and the connector have a wiring structure corresponding to a plurality of types of first printed wiring boards, and the contact terminals of the first printed wiring board are arranged. And the connection terminal provided at the opposite end and the end on which the contact terminals of the second printed wiring board are arranged and the connection terminal provided at the opposite end can be electrically separated and contacted. It is characterized by being configured in.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a liquid crystal display body inspection device according to the first aspect of the invention.
A pogo pin is provided between the connection terminal of the printed wiring board and the connection terminal of the second printed wiring board.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a liquid crystal display body inspecting apparatus according to the first or second aspect, wherein the contact terminal has a needle structure or a bump structure. To do.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below based on the embodiments shown in FIGS. Inspection device 1 of the present embodiment
As shown in FIG. 1, the probe card 2 includes a probe card 2, a support 3 that supports the probe card 2, and a head plate 4 to which the support 3 is fixed.
Can be attached to and detached from the support 3. A mounting table 6 on which the LCD substrate 5 is mounted is arranged below the head plate 4. This mounting table 6 has X, Y,
The LCD substrate 5 can be positioned with respect to the probe card 2 by moving in the Z and θ directions.

By the way, the probe card 2 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG.
A support block 8 to which the first printed wiring board 7 is attached, and a sub-plate 9 to which the support block 8 is attached. A plurality of bump contact terminals, which will be described later, are formed on one end of the first printed wiring board 7 so as to come into contact with the electrodes of the LCD board 5, and the other end thereof has one end of the second printed wiring board 10 as shown in FIG. A plurality of connection terminals 11 are formed to be connected to. Each connection terminal 11
2 are formed on the first printed wiring board 7 as shown in FIG. 2 and are electrically connected to the corresponding bump contact terminals via the printed wirings 12. Further, a connection terminal 13 that can be electrically connected to the connection terminal 11 of the first printed wiring board 7 is formed at one end of the second printed wiring board 10, and a tester side connector (not shown) is formed at the other end. The connector 14 to be connected is connected. Many pins of the connector 14 are electrically connected to the corresponding connection terminals 13 via the printed wirings 15 formed on the second printed wiring board 10. The head plate 4 and the sub plate 9 are made of metal such as stainless steel.

Connection terminal 13 of second printed wiring board 10
2 are formed in a larger number than the connection terminals 11 of the first printed wiring board 7 as shown in FIG. 2, and the connection terminals 11 of the first printed wiring board 7 included in the plurality of types of probe cards 2 are provided.
And the first printed wiring boards 7 of a plurality of types of probe cards 2 (hatched portions in FIG. 1) can be connected. Also, the connection terminals 11 of the first printed wiring board 7 and the connection terminals 13 of the second printed wiring board 10 are connected via the pogo pins 16. Although the pogo pins themselves are shown in FIG. 2, the number of pogo pins 1 corresponding to the connection terminals 13 of the second printed wiring board 10 is actually shown.
6 is configured as a pogo pin plate having a connection terminal 1 of the second printed wiring board 10.
It is fixed on the support 3 in a state of being connected to the support 3. The probe card 2 is configured to be attachable / detachable on the pogo pin plate, and by extension, the connection terminal 11 of the first printed wiring board 7 and the connection terminal 1 of the second printed wiring board 10.
3 is configured to be electrically separable and contactable via a pogo pin 16. That is, the second printed wiring board 10 and the connector 14 can be connected to any of a plurality of types of probe cards 2 having different numbers of connection terminals 11 of the first printed wiring board 7, and one second printed wiring board 10 and connector 14 can be connected.
Can be shared by a plurality of types of probe cards 2.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of sub-plates 9 project from the head plate 4 side so as to come into contact with a large number of electrodes arranged on the peripheral portion of the LCD substrate 5. Then, as shown in FIG. 4, each sub-plate 9
A support block 8 is attached to the lower surface of the with bolts 17. The first printed wiring board 7 is fixed to the lower surface of the support block 8 via a leaf spring 18 made of stainless steel, for example. Bump contact terminals 19 corresponding to the electrodes of the LCD board 5 are formed at the tips of the printed wirings 12 of the first printed wiring board 7, and the spring force of the plate spring 18 causes the bump contact terminals 19 to make elastic contact with the electrodes to make bump contact. The terminal 19 and the electrode are electrically connected to each other reliably. The bolt 17 is loosely fitted in a through hole (not shown) formed in the sub plate 9 and screwed into a screw hole (not shown) formed in the support block 8. The support block 8 is connected to the sub-plate 9 by a pin 20 at the center of the base end, and the support block 8 is rotationally adjusted in the θ direction in the horizontal direction about the pin 20 to rotate the bump contact terminal 19 in the LCD. The electrodes of the substrate 5 can be aligned with each other.

Further, an elastic member 21 such as rubber is coated on the tip of the leaf spring 18 to a thickness of about 0.3 mm. The elastic member 21 is elastically deformed when the bump contact terminals 19 are pressed against the electrodes, and absorbs the variation (about 5 μm) in the height direction of all the bump contact terminals 19 attached to the sub-plate 9. The leaf spring 18 is welded to the base of the support block 8 at the base by laser beam welding or electron beam welding. A pair of through holes 8A are formed on the left and right in the vicinity of the tip of the support block 8,
Further, screw holes 9A corresponding to the through holes 8A of the support block 8 are formed on the left and right sides near the tip of the sub plate 9. A height adjusting screw 22 is attached to each screw hole 9A and through hole 8A. This height adjustment screw 22
As shown in FIG. 4, the sharp lower end projects downward from the screw hole of the support block 8 and is pressed against the leaf spring 18 to be pressed.
It is designed to give elasticity to. Further, a ball (not shown) is embedded in the lower end of the height adjusting screw 22 so as to be configured like a pen tip of a ballpoint pen, and the height adjusting screw 22 adjusts the height of the leaf spring 18 when adjusting the elasticity thereof. The lower end of the screw 22 slides smoothly on the leaf spring 18 so that dust is not generated.

Next, the operation will be described. LCD board 5
In the case of performing the electrical inspection of (1), the mounting table 6 moves in the X direction, the Y direction, and the θ direction under the control of the control device so that each electrode of the LCD substrate 5 with respect to the bump contact terminal 19 of the probe card 2. Align. After that, when the mounting table 6 is raised and overdriven to perform a predetermined operation, the bump contact terminal 19 breaks the natural oxide film of the electrode, and the electrode and the bump contact 19 become electrically conductive. Here, when a predetermined electric signal is transmitted from the tester, the connector 14,
LC via the second printed wiring board 10, the pogo pins 16, the first printed wiring board 7, the bump contacts 19 and the electrodes.
An electric signal flows to the electric circuit of the D substrate 5. As a result, the tester receives the signal after the inspection that follows the reverse path, performs a predetermined electrical inspection of the LCD substrate 5, and detects the presence or absence of a defect in the electric circuit of the LCD substrate 5.

A series of inspections for a plurality of LCD substrates 5 of a predetermined type are completed, and another type of LCD substrate 5 is newly added.
When performing an electrical inspection of the existing probe card 2
Then, the probe card 5 is replaced with a new LCD substrate 5. For this purpose, the existing probe card 2 is removed from the support 3 on the head plate 4 side, and then a new probe card 2 is mounted on the support 3. When replacing the probe card 2, in the present embodiment, the existing probe card 2 can be removed from the apparatus main body by releasing the combined state of the sub plate 9 and the support body 3, and the new probe card 2 The new probe card 2 can be attached to the apparatus main body by attaching the sub-plate 9 of 1 to the support 3. Therefore, in the present embodiment, it is not necessary to insert and remove the connector as in the conventional inspection apparatus, and the probe card 2 can be replaced easily and quickly by an extremely simple operation.

As described above, according to this embodiment,
The printed wiring board connecting the bump contact terminal 19 and the connector 14 is the first printed wiring board 7 on the bump contact terminal 19 side.
And the second printed wiring board 10 on the connector 14 side, and the second pudding wiring board 10 and the connector 14 have a wiring structure corresponding to a plurality of types of first printed wiring boards 7.
Further, the connection terminal 11 at the end portion on the side opposite to the contact terminal of the first printed wiring board 7 and the connection terminal 13 at the end portion on the side opposite to the connector of the second printed wiring board 10 can be electrically separated and contacted via the pogo pin 16. Since the second printed wiring board 10 and the connector 14 thereof are configured to be shared by the first printed wiring boards 7 of the plurality of types of probe cards 2,
After inspecting one type of LCD board 5, another type of L
When inspecting the CD board 5, the first printed wiring board 7 of the existing probe card 2 is removed from the pogo pin 16, and then the first printed wiring board 7 of the new probe card 2 is connected to the pogo pin 16. The probe card 2 can be easily and quickly replaced with the LCD board 5
The inspection efficiency of can be improved. Therefore, in this embodiment, it is not necessary to perform a troublesome operation of inserting and removing a large number of connectors as in the conventional case.

FIG. 5 shows an LC according to another embodiment of the present invention.
It is a figure which shows the inspection apparatus for D. The LCD inspection apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment is configured according to the above embodiment except that the probe needle 119 is attached instead of the bump contact terminal 19 according to the above embodiment. The bump contact terminal 19 and the probe needle 119 are selectively used depending on the degree of integration of the electrodes of the LCD substrate 5. The bump structure is adopted when the electrodes are 70 μm or less, and the needle structure is often adopted when the electrodes exceed 70 μm. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, the LCD inspection apparatus 100 of the present embodiment includes a plurality of probe needles 119, film-shaped first and second printed wiring boards 107 and 110 having these probe needles 119, and a sub plate. 109 and the support 103, the connector 114 of the second printed wiring board 110 is connected to the tester side so that the probe needles 119 and the tester are electrically connected.

Then, the first and second printed wiring boards 10
As shown in FIG. 5, the reference numerals 7 and 110 are divided into a first printed wiring board 107 on the probe needle 119 side and a second printed wiring board 110 on the connector 114 side.
The pudding wiring board 110 and the connector 114 are configured as a wiring structure corresponding to the first printed wiring boards 107 of the plurality of types of probe cards 102, and further, the connection terminal (at the end portion on the side opposite to the probe needle 119 of the first printed wiring board 107 ( 2) and the connection terminal (see FIG. 2) at the end of the second printed wiring board 110 on the side opposite to the connector 114 are configured to be electrically separable. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the same operation and effect as in the above embodiment can be expected.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and such an invention is included in the present invention without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0020]

According to the present invention, as described above,
According to the invention described in claim 3, it is not necessary to insert and remove the connector when replacing the probe card, the probe card can be replaced easily and quickly, and the inspection efficiency can be improved. A body inspection device can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an embodiment of an LCD inspection device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing an enlarged main part of the LCD inspection device shown in FIG.

3 is a plan view of essential parts showing a state where bump contact terminals of a probe card of the LCD inspection device shown in FIG. 1 are in contact with electrodes of an LCD substrate.

4 is a cross-sectional view showing an enlarged vertical cross section of a terminal contact mechanism of the probe card shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view showing another embodiment of the LCD inspection device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 100 LCD inspection device 2, 102 Probe card 3, 103 Support 4, 104 Head plate 5 LCD substrate 7, 107 First printed wiring board 9, 109 Sub-plate 10, 110 Second printed wiring board 11 Connection terminal 12 Printed wiring 13 Connection terminal 14, 114 Connector 15 Printed wiring 16, 116 Pogo pin 19 Bump contact terminal 119 Probe needle (contact terminal)

Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Office reference number FI Technical display location H01L 21/66 H01L 21/66 B

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A flexible printed wiring board having a plurality of contact terminals corresponding to a large number of electrodes arranged on a peripheral portion of a liquid crystal display substrate, a printed wiring connected to the contact terminals, and a printed wiring board. For a liquid crystal display including a sub-plate on which a plurality of wiring boards are attached and a support for supporting the sub-plates, and connecting the connector of the printed wiring board to the tester side to electrically connect the contact terminals to the tester. In the inspection device, the printed wiring board is divided into a first printed wiring board on the contact terminal side and a second printed wiring board on the connector side, and the second pudding wiring board and the connector are wired corresponding to a plurality of types of first printed wiring boards. A second printed wiring board and a connection terminal provided at an end opposite to the end on which the contact terminals of the first printed wiring board are arranged. 2. An inspection apparatus for a liquid crystal display body, wherein the end portion on which the contact terminals are arranged and the connection terminal provided on the opposite end portion are configured to be electrically separable. 2. A connection terminal of a first printed wiring board and a second
The liquid crystal display inspection device according to claim 1, further comprising a pogo pin provided between the printed wiring board and the connection terminal. 3. The probe card for liquid crystal display substrate according to claim 1, wherein the contact terminal has a needle structure or a bump structure.