JPH11326381A - Contactor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a contactor with excellent contacting ability which achieves a simple support structure of a probe terminal and moreover, an absorption of difference in height of electrodes. SOLUTION: This contactor 1 is provided with a pattern electrode 3 formed on the surface of a ceramics substrate 2 and a bump-shaped probe terminal 4 provided on the surface of the pattern electrode 3. An electroconductive tubular elastic member 5 is interposed between the probe terminal 4 and the pattern electrode 3. In this case, the probe terminal 4 has a flat contact surface at the tip thereof while being preferably formed as bump gradually tapered toward the tip thereof from the base end part thereof.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a contactor used for inspecting electrical characteristics of an object to be inspected, and more particularly, to a contactor which can be suitably used for KGD (Known Good Die) inspection.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An object to be inspected, for example, a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, referred to as a semiconductor wafer)
Simply referred to as "wafer". In order to inspect the electrical characteristics of a large number of IC chips formed in (1), a probe card is used as a contactor. The probe card plays a role of relaying the transmission and reception of the test signal between the tester and the IC chip when the probe card comes into contact with the electrode pad of the wafer during the test.

Recently, the degree of integration of IC chips has rapidly increased, and the pitch of electrode pads has been increasingly narrowed. As a probe card corresponding to the narrow pitch, there are a probe card having a vertical needle and a membrane probe card shown in FIG. 3, for example. The former probe card is vertically supported by through holes 12A, 13A, 14A of three guide plates 12, 13, 14 in which a plurality of probe needles 11 are vertically arranged in parallel with each other, as shown in FIG. It is the structure which was done. Further, the latter membrane probe card has a large number of bump terminals arranged on the membrane.

[0004]

However, in the case of the conventional vertical needle type probe card, a plurality of guide plates are required to support the vertical needles 11 as shown in FIG. There was a problem that the support structure was complicated. In recent years, flip chip mounting technology has been developed with the progress of IC chip mounting technology, and the quality of bare chips, that is, KGD, is being traded. In addition, the KGD on which the solder bumps are formed may be supplied to the electrode pads in preparation for flip chip mounting. In this case, the bare chip is inspected with the solder bumps for quality assurance.In this case, the conventional vertical needle type probe card can absorb the height difference of the solder bumps, There is a problem in the contact surface because the solder bump is easily damaged by the tip of the needle. Further, in the case of a bump terminal type probe card, the bump terminals themselves cannot absorb the height difference of the solder bumps well, and there is a problem in contact with the solder bumps.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a contactor which has a simple structure for supporting a probe terminal and has excellent contact properties capable of absorbing a height difference between electrodes. The purpose is.

[0006]

A contactor according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a pattern electrode formed on a surface of a substrate, and a bump-like probe terminal provided on the surface of the pattern electrode. A contactor used for inspecting electrical characteristics of a device under test, characterized in that a conductive tubular elastic member is interposed between the probe terminal and the pattern electrode.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the contactor according to the first aspect, the probe terminal has a flat contact surface at a distal end, and has a flat contact surface from a base end to a distal end. It is characterized in that it is formed as a bump that gradually becomes thinner.

The contactor according to a third aspect of the present invention is the contactor according to the first or second aspect,
The substrate is formed of ceramics.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B and FIG. The contactor 1 of the present embodiment includes, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a ceramic substrate 2 on which a plurality of internal wiring patterns are laminated.
A plurality of square pattern electrodes 3 arranged in a matrix on the surface of the ceramic substrate 2; and bump-shaped probe terminals 4 provided on the pattern electrodes 3, respectively. The number of probe terminals 4 is set so that a plurality of chips can be inspected simultaneously. A tubular elastic member 5 made of a conductive metal is interposed between the probe terminal 4 and the pattern electrode 3, and this tubular elastic member 5 is elastically deformed in accordance with the needle pressure at the time of inspection, and is connected to the pattern electrode 3 and the pattern electrode 3. The probe terminals 4 are electrically connected.

The tubular elastic member 5 is made of a conductive metal such as beryllium-copper alloy or copper and has an outer diameter of 100 to 1 mm.
50 μm, wall thickness 2-3 μm, length 100-150 μ
m. The plane shape is substantially square as is clear from FIG. The needle pressure at the time of inspection is appropriately adjusted by the thickness of the tubular elastic member 5. This tubular elastic member 5 is a pattern electrode 3
It is welded to the surface. A plated portion 6 made of a conductive metal such as a beryllium-copper alloy or a nickel-gold alloy is formed at the center of the upper end of the tubular elastic member 5, and the probe terminal 4 is provided on the plated portion 6. Although the probe terminal 4 is provided at the center of the tubular elastic member 5 as shown in FIG. 2, the probe terminal 4 is provided so as to be appropriately deviated from the center of the tubular elastic member 5 according to the arrangement of the electrode pads of the chip. Can also.

As shown in FIG. 1, for example, the bump-shaped probe terminal 4 gradually becomes narrower from the base end to the tip end, and has a substantially square flat surface at the end. Is formed. Although not shown, the probe terminal 4 has a core portion formed of a material having a higher hardness than the electrode pad, for example, diamond, sapphire, ore such as quartz, in a truncated quadrangular pyramid shape, and gold,
It is composed of a conductive film coated with a highly conductive metal such as rhodium or an alloy thereof. And
The base end of the conductive film is connected to the plating portion 6 to achieve conduction with the electrode pad of the chip via the conductive film. The height of the probe terminal 4 from the surface of the pattern electrode 3 is, for example, 50 to
The flat surface at the tip has a side length of, for example, 5 to 200 μm. Side length of flat surface is 5
If it is less than μm, it is difficult to ensure sufficient contact resistance between the peripheral surface of the probe terminal 4 and the electrode pad even if the probe terminal 4 bites into the electrode pad, and if it exceeds 200 μm, it may be difficult to dig into the electrode pad. The bump-shaped probe terminals 4 can be formed by applying a process technique such as a chemical vapor deposition method. Further, the probe terminal 4 is not limited to the truncated quadrangular pyramid, but may be a truncated cone.

Next, the operation will be described with reference to FIG. After mounting a carrier (not shown) containing a plurality of bare chips T on a mounting table (not shown) movable in the X, Y, Z and θ directions of the probe device, the mounting table is mounted on the probe device. It moves to just below the mounted contactor 1. Next, when the mounting table rises, the solder bumps B come into contact with the probe terminals 4. Further, when the mounting table is overdriven, a stylus pressure acts on the probe terminal 4. At this time, even if there is a height difference between the plurality of solder bumps B of the bare chip T, the tubular elastic member 6 is elastically changed from the state shown by the dashed line in FIG. 3 to the state shown by the solid line according to the height of each solder bump B. By deforming, the height difference between the solder bumps B is absorbed, and the probe terminals 4 can reliably bite into the respective solder bumps B to make reliable contact, so that the tester and the bare chip T can be electrically connected. In this state, when a predetermined test signal is transmitted from the tester, the test signal is received by the bare chip T via the pattern electrode 3 and the probe terminal 4, and the test result signal is transmitted to the tester along the reverse path. Thereafter, when the carrier descends and the solder bump B separates from the probe terminal 4, the probe terminal 4 returns from the state shown by the solid line in FIG. 3 to the original state shown by the one-dot chain line, and the inspection of the bare chip T is completed. To the inspection of the next bare chip T.

When the probe terminal 1 bites into the solder bump B, a shearing force acts on the solder bump B from the edge around the flat surface at the tip of the probe terminal 4, and the solder bump B
Is cut at the edge, and the probe terminal 4 starts to bite into the solder bump B. After the rise of the bare chip T,
The solder bumps B are gradually penetrated and spread around the peripheral surface of the probe terminal 4 while being spread to the surroundings, thereby ensuring good conduction with the solder bumps B. If the inspection is performed in this state, signals can be reliably transmitted and received between the probe terminals 4 and the solder bumps B, and a highly reliable inspection can be performed.

As described above, according to this embodiment,
Pattern electrode 3 formed on the surface of ceramic substrate 2
And a bump-shaped probe terminal 4 provided on the surface of the pattern electrode 3. The contactor 1 is used when an electrical characteristic test of the bare chip T is performed. Since the conductive tubular elastic member 5 is interposed therebetween, the support structure of the probe terminal 4 is simple, and the height difference of the solder bump B can be absorbed and the solder bump B can be reliably contacted. Further, according to the present embodiment, since the probe terminals 4 are connected to the ceramic substrate 1 without interposing the wiring structure, the electric resistance is small, the high frequency characteristics are excellent, and the high-speed inspection can be reliably performed. Further, since the probe terminals 4 are formed in a bump shape, the probe terminals 4 can cope with a bare chip T having a narrow pitch without any problem. Can be arranged, and the degree of freedom of the arrangement can be increased. In addition, since the probe terminal 4 is formed as a truncated quadrangular pyramid-shaped bump, a shear force is applied to the solder bump B from the edge around the flat surface at the tip to securely bite into the solder bump B, and Can be further improved.

In particular, when dealing with bare chips T,
KGD needs to be put on the market, and may be put on the market with solder bumps B provided on the electrode pads in preparation for flip chip mounting. In such a case, if the contactor 1 of the present embodiment is used, the contact between the solder bumps B and the probe terminals 4 is good, and the solder bumps B are not damaged, so that they can be suitably used as a contactor for KGD. In addition, when supplying KGD in a wafer state, it is easy to make a contactor for simultaneously inspecting a plurality of chips in a wafer state.

In the above embodiment, the case where the probe terminals 4 are brought into contact with the solder bumps B for inspection is described. However, the case where the probe terminals 4 are brought into contact with electrode pads made of aluminum or the like can be inspected in the same manner. Also,

[0017]

According to the first to third aspects of the present invention, there is provided a contactor which has a simple structure for supporting a probe terminal and is excellent in contact property which can absorb a difference in height between electrodes. Can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an enlarged perspective view showing a main part of a contactor of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a part of the contactor shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an operation explanatory view of a probe terminal of the contactor shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a main part of a conventional vertical needle type probe card.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 contactor 2 ceramic substrate 3 pattern electrode 4 probe terminal 5 tubular elastic member T bare chip B solder bump

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A contactor, comprising: a pattern electrode formed on a surface of a substrate; and a bump-shaped probe terminal provided on the surface of the pattern electrode. A contactor, wherein a conductive tubular elastic member is interposed between the probe terminal and the pattern electrode. 2. The probe terminal according to claim 1, wherein the probe terminal has a flat contact surface at a distal end, and is formed as a bump that gradually narrows from a base end to a distal end. The contactor described. 3. The contactor according to claim 1, wherein said substrate is formed of ceramics.