JPH1151971A - Manufacture of probe unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To increase a yield by inspecting the defective portions of wiring sections, and determining unit regions including a part of multiple wiring sections on a wiring pattern while avoiding the defective portions of the wiring sections. SOLUTION: In this manufacturing method for a film-like probe unit 20, a spring layer 28 and an electric insulating layer 30 are stacked to form a base member, a wiring pattern 32 provided with many wiring sections 32a extended in parallel with each other is formed on the face of the electric insulating layer 30 opposite to the spring layer 28, the defective portions of the wiring sections 32a are inspected, and one or more unit regions including a part of multiple wiring sections 32a are determined on the wiring pattern 32 while the defective portions of the wiring sections 32a are avoided. Since the unit regions are determined on the wiring pattern 32 while the defective portions of the wiring sections 32a are avoided, multiple probe units 20 containing no defective portion can be formed on the sheet-like base member constituted of the spring layer 28 and the electric insulating layer 30, and a yield can be improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a film-shaped probe unit used for testing electrical characteristics of a flat test object such as an integrated circuit and a liquid crystal display panel.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An integrated circuit on a semiconductor wafer, an integrated circuit separated from a semiconductor wafer into a chip, and an integrated circuit on which a chip has been mounted are subjected to an energization test to determine whether the circuit operates according to specifications. Is done. This kind of energization test includes a plurality of probe elements that are brought into contact with the electrical connection pads of the integrated circuit, that is, the electrodes, in an energizable state, an inspection head that is called a probe board, a probe card, or the like. The measurement is performed by measuring the electrical characteristics using a test head.

A liquid crystal display panel is also subjected to a power-on test using a similar test head. The energization test of a liquid crystal panel is generally performed by driving a liquid crystal display panel to display a predetermined pattern and inspecting whether the displayed pattern is as specified.

As one of the test heads used in this kind of energization test, there is one using an elastically deformable film-shaped probe unit (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.
No. 363671, U.S. Pat. No. 5,221,897).

[0005] This type of film probe unit is
As shown in FIG. 7, a sheet-like metal spring member (not shown) is laminated on at least a part of one surface of an elastically deformable sheet-like electric insulating member, thereby forming the sheet-like base member 10. The wiring pattern 12 including a large number of wiring portions 12a extending in parallel with each other is formed on the other side of the electrical insulating member by a photolithography technique (etching technique) using a photomask and a wiring technique combining plating with a plating technique after etching. A plurality of finger-like probe regions including one or more wiring portions are formed by forming protrusions (bumps) on each wiring portion 12a and cutting a spring member and an electrical insulating member into a predetermined pattern. Manufactured by separating a plurality of probe unit regions (referred to as “unit regions” in the present invention) 14 from the rest of the base member 10. It is.

In the manufactured probe unit, the wiring portions 12a and the bumps in each probe region function as probe elements. This type of film-shaped probe unit is assembled as a test head by attaching this to a probe mounting body with an adhesive, and then mounting the probe mounting body to a plate-shaped wiring board with an appropriate mounting tool. Is used in a state in which the bump at the tip of the plate is pressed against the flat electrode portion of the flat test object.

According to the above-mentioned film-shaped probe unit, the wiring section and the probe area can be manufactured by the printed wiring technique, so that the cost is lower than a probe unit using a plurality of probes manufactured from thin metal wires.

In the above manufacturing method, the wiring pattern 1
When forming 2 on the electrical insulating member 10, if fine particles such as dust adhere to the electrical insulating member, or if the electrically insulating fine particles are present in the wiring pattern material,
Since it is unavoidable that one of the wiring portions passes through the location where the fine particles are attached, the wiring portion passing through the location where the fine particles are attached is due to the loss or lack of the wiring portion at that location.
Alternatively, defects such as disconnection and poor conduction are caused by the presence of the electrically insulating fine particles.

When the above-described defective portion 16 exists in the probe unit, the probe unit is defective because the electrical conductivity of the defective portion 16, that is, the conductivity is different from that of other portions. Can not do it.

However, in the conventional method of manufacturing a film-shaped probe unit, the photomask used for forming the wiring pattern 12 has a portion corresponding to the wiring pattern for each unit region, and the portion corresponding to the unit region on the photomask is fixed. Therefore, the positions of the wiring pattern 12 and the unit region 14 with respect to the sheet-like base member 10 are fixed, and as a result, it is possible to prevent a wiring portion passing through a portion where fine particles are attached from being included in any one of the unit regions. And yield is low. In FIG. 1, a unit area including the defective portion 16 is indicated by “bad” characters, and a unit area not including the defective portion 16 is indicated by “good” characters.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to increase the yield.

[0012]

A method of manufacturing a film-shaped probe unit according to the present invention comprises forming a base member on which a spring layer and an electric insulating layer are stacked, and forming a wiring pattern having a large number of wiring portions extending in parallel with each other. Formed on the opposite side of the electrical insulation layer from the spring layer, inspects the wiring part for defective parts, and avoids defective parts of the wiring part in one or more unit areas including a part of multiple wiring parts in the wiring pattern. Including deciding.

According to the present invention, since the unit area is determined in the wiring pattern while avoiding a defective portion of the wiring portion, a plurality of probe units which do not include the defective portion are formed of a sheet-like base member made of a spring layer and an electrically insulating layer. And thus the yield is improved.

Further, the method includes forming an auxiliary layer at least in the unit region, forming a plurality of holes penetrating the auxiliary layer to reach the wiring portion, and forming a projection reaching each wiring portion through the hole. it can. Such a hole can be formed by laser processing. Each projection can be used as a bump that comes into contact with the electrode portion of the device under test.

The sheet-like base member comprising the spring layer and the electric insulating layer is finally cut into a predetermined pattern by a suitable cutting machine such as a laser beam machine, so that the unit area is separated from the rest. A slit that separates a plurality of elongated probe regions including one or more wiring portions into a finger shape may be formed in the unit region.

The sheet-like base member may be formed by coating one surface of the sheet-like spring member with an electrical insulating member. Instead of this, the sheet-like base member may be formed by forming a spring layer on one surface of the sheet-like electric insulating member by a vapor phase growth method.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a probe unit 20 has a flat main portion 22 and a main portion 22.
And a plurality of elongate finger-like probe regions 24 extending in parallel and in parallel from the probe region. Adjacent probe area 2
4 are independently deformably separated by a slit 26 formed at one end of the probe unit 20.

Although FIGS. 1 and 2 show only six probe regions 24 for easy understanding, in actuality, as shown in FIG. Is provided.

The probe unit 20 includes a spring layer 28,
A flexible electrical insulation layer 30 overlying the spring layer 28;
It includes a conductive wiring pattern 32 formed on the electrical insulating layer 30 and a conductive protrusion 34 formed at one end of each wiring portion 32 a of the wiring pattern 32. Wiring section 32
a extend parallel to each other.

Each probe region 24 includes a part 28a of the spring layer 28, a part 30a of the sheet layer 30, at least one wiring part 32a of the wiring pattern 32, and the wiring part 3a.
2a. Wiring pattern 32
Each of the wiring portions 32a reaches the tip of the corresponding probe region 24.

Each projection 34 is formed at the tip of the corresponding wiring portion 32a. Each slit 26 penetrates in the thickness direction of the probe unit 20 in the illustrated example,
Therefore, it is formed over the spring layer 28 and the sheet layer 30.

The probe unit 20 as described above is formed of a sheet-shaped circular base member 36 as described below with reference to FIGS.

At the time of manufacture, first, the base member 36 is
8 and the electrical insulating layer 30. As the spring layer 28, a metal film such as stainless steel or beryllium can be used. Electrical insulation layer 30
Can be formed by coating the spring layer 28 with a synthetic resin such as polyimide.

Next, a wiring pattern 32 having a large number of wiring portions 32a is formed on the surface of the electrical insulating layer 30 opposite to the spring layer. The wiring pattern 32 is formed over the entire surface of the electrical insulating layer 30 so that the wiring portions 32a extend in parallel with each other. The wiring pattern 32 is formed, for example, by forming a photosensitive agent layer on an electrically insulating layer, exposing the photosensitive agent layer to a pattern corresponding to the wiring pattern using a photomask, and etching the exposed portion (etching technology).
And a wiring technique combining a plating technique of plating a conductive material after etching. However, the wiring pattern 32 may be formed by a general wiring technique of printing a conductive ink on the electric insulating layer 30.

When the wiring pattern 32 is formed on the electrical insulating layer 30, if fine particles such as dust adhere to the electrical insulating layer 30, or if the electrically insulating fine particles are mixed in the material for the wiring pattern 32, It is unavoidable that the wiring portion 32a passes through the portion where the fine particles adhere.

For this reason, next, an inspection of a defective portion 38 such as a disconnection of the wiring portion 32 a or a connection failure is performed, and then one or more unit regions 40 are determined as the wiring pattern 32.

The inspection of the defective portion 38 can be performed by confirming the presence or absence of the defective portion 38 and its position using an optical microscope. The unit region 40 includes a part of the plurality of wiring portions but does not include the defective portion 38.
The area is determined to include the plurality of wiring portions 32a while avoiding the defective portion 38.

In the example shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of unit areas 40 having the same size are determined. On the other hand, in the example shown in FIG. 4, two types of unit regions 40 having different sizes are determined in plurals.

The defective portion of the wiring pattern 32 may be determined by using a television camera or a scanning electron microscope and a computer for processing the output image. in this case,
The unit area 40 may be determined by the computer.

Next, an electrically insulating auxiliary layer is formed on the wiring pattern 32, and a plurality of holes are formed in the auxiliary layer.
A plurality of holes penetrating the auxiliary layer and reaching the wiring portion are formed,
A projection 34 passing through the hole is formed in each wiring portion 32a.

The auxiliary layer is for forming the projections 34 and can be formed by a coating technique using a resin such as polyimide. The auxiliary layer may be removed at an appropriate time after the formation of the projection, or may be left without being removed.

The holes are used to regulate the size of the projections 34, and can be formed by a laser processing machine controlled by computer control. However, the holes may be formed by a photolithography technique (etching technique).

The projections 34 can be formed by a plating technique using a conductive material such as nickel, copper, and alloys thereof. In this case, the auxiliary layer is a wiring pattern 3
2 is preferably formed on the entire surface. However, the auxiliary layer may be formed at least in the unit region 40.

Next, the base member 36 is cut in accordance with the determined shape of the unit region 40, thereby separating the unit region 40 from the rest. The unit area 40 can be separated from the rest by a laser beam machine. However, the unit area 40 may be separated from the rest by another processing machine such as a dicer.

When the unit region 40 is separated from the rest, a plurality of slits 26 (see FIGS. 1 and 2) for separating the probe region 24 into a finger shape are formed. Each slit 26 passes through the base member 36 in the thickness direction, and thus completely separates the adjacent probe regions 24.

As a result, a plurality of probe units 20 having the shapes shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are formed. FIG.
In the example shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 2, the above-mentioned auxiliary layer is removed.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, an inspection head using the probe unit 20, that is, a test head 50 is, for example, a plurality of (four in the illustrated example) probe units 20 having a main part 22. At a position on the side of the probe region 24, the probe mounting body 52 is mounted on the probe mounting body 52 by an appropriate mounting means such as an adhesive.
Can be assembled by attaching to a wiring board 56 using an electrical insulating plate with an appropriate fixture such as a ring plate 54.

Each wiring portion 32a of the probe unit 20
Before being assembled to the test head 50, a portion to be electrically connected to the wiring portion of the wiring board 56 is exposed. It is electrically coupled to the wiring portion of the wiring board 56 by any suitable method.

During the test, each wiring section 32a is electrically connected to a wiring section (not shown) formed on the wiring board 56 for supplying a test electric signal, and the probe unit 20 and the device under test are relatively positioned. Pressed. As a result, each projection 34 of the probe unit 20 comes into contact with the electrode portion of the device under test, and the probe region 24 warps in an arc shape.

When the probe unit 20 and the device under test are relatively pressed, the adjacent probe regions 24 are separated by the slits 26.
4 does not transmit the deformation to the adjacent probe area 24. Therefore, according to the probe unit 20, each probe region 24 is not affected by the elastic deformation of the adjacent probe region 24.

In the above embodiment, the base member is formed by coating a metal film with an electric insulating material. However, the base member is formed by laminating a metal film and a film made of an electric insulating material. May be formed,
Alternatively, the sheet-like base member may be formed by forming a spring layer on one surface of the sheet-like electric insulating member by a vapor deposition method such as electroforming.

When the vapor phase growth method is used, as the base member, a film layer made of an appropriate material such as a synthetic resin is formed on the flat surface of the flat base material, and at least a part of the main portion and a portion following the main portion are formed. It can be obtained by forming a concave region corresponding to the probe region in the film layer, forming a spring layer in the concave region, and forming an electrical insulating layer in the spring layer and the film layer.

For example, the film layer and the electrically insulating layer can be formed by a coating technique, the recessed area can be formed by an etching technique or a laser processing technique, and the spring layer can be formed by a vapor deposition method. it can. Prior to forming the electrical insulating layer on the spring layer and the film layer, it is preferable to carry out polishing to flatten the spring layer and the film layer.

When the base member formed as described above is used, since there is no spring material corresponding to the slit separating the adjacent probe regions, such a slit is formed in the spring layer when the unit region is cut. The step of performing is unnecessary. The film layer may or may not be finally removed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of a probe unit manufactured according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the probe unit shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a view for explaining a manufacturing process of the probe unit shown in FIG. 1, and is a view showing a wiring pattern, a unit region, and a defective portion.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining another manufacturing process of the probe unit, and is a diagram illustrating a wiring pattern, a unit region, and a defective portion.

FIG. 5 is a bottom view showing one embodiment of a test head using the probe unit shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 6-6 in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a view for explaining a conventional manufacturing process,
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a wiring pattern, a unit region, and a defective portion.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 20 Probe unit 22 Flat main part 24 Probe area 26 Slit 28 Spring layer 30 Electrical insulating layer 32 Wiring pattern 34 Projection 36 Base member 38 Defect location 40 Unit area 32a Wiring section

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A method for manufacturing a probe unit having a plurality of elongated probe regions extending in parallel from a flat main portion, comprising forming a sheet-like base member on which a spring layer and an electrical insulating layer are stacked. Forming a wiring pattern having a large number of wiring portions extending in parallel with each other on a surface of the electrical insulating layer opposite to the spring layer, inspecting a defective portion of the wiring portion, and forming a part of the plurality of wiring portions; A method for manufacturing a probe unit, comprising: determining one or more unit regions including the following in the wiring pattern while avoiding the defective portion. 2. An auxiliary layer is formed at least in the unit region, a plurality of holes penetrating the auxiliary layer and reaching the wiring portion are formed, and projections reaching the wiring portions via the holes are formed. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: 3. The manufacturing method according to claim 2, wherein the holes are formed by laser processing. 4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising separating the unit region from the rest.