JPS63110649A - Prober - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allow a mount occupy but a small space of movement during a measuring period and thereby construct a small-size unit by a method wherein a driving means for a measuring probe to scan a specimen and a drive controlling means to control the driving means are provided. CONSTITUTION:A prove card X-Y driving mechanism 12 causes a probe card 5 to travel for a measuring probe 1 to reach a point p1 over the first chip to be subjected to measurement. When the X-Y movement is completed, a mount Z-direction driving mechanism 11 causes a wafer mount 4 to rise for the establishment of contact between the measuring prove 1 and an electrode on the chip for measurement. When the measurement is completed of the first chip, the wafer mount 4 descends, the prove cards 5 travels, and the measuring probe 1 reaches a point just over a chip to be subjected to measurement next. Similar processes are repeated until the measuring probe 1 arrives at a position p2 over the last chip to be subjected to measurement. With all the scanning movement of the measuring prove 1 being undertaken by the prove card X-Y driving mechanism 12, the wafer mount 4 needs but a small distance 4c to cover during the alignment process. This contributes to the realization of a small-size unit.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a probe device, and particularly to a probe device that performs measurements by moving a measuring stylus.

(Prior art) Conventionally, when testing the electrical characteristics of semiconductor elements (hereinafter referred to as chips) formed in large numbers on the surface of a semiconductor wafer in the semiconductor wafer manufacturing process, it is necessary to determine whether the chips are good or defective. A probe device is used that marks the product as defective.

In this probe device, a semiconductor wafer is placed on a wafer mounting table provided on a movable table, for example, an X-Y table.
Measurement and inspection are carried out by sequentially contacting the electrodes of the chip with measuring probes that are arranged opposite to the semiconductor wafer and have the same position and arrangement as the electrodes of the chip. At this time, chips determined to be defective are marked with ink or the like.

In measurement using such a probe device, the wafer mounting table is moved based on the measurement parameters of the semiconductor wafer to be measured that have been entered in advance, such as the diameter of the semiconductor wafer, the arrangement pattern of the chips, the shape, etc. After the wafer is transported under the stylus, the wafer mounting table is raised to bring the electrodes of the chip into contact with the measurement stylus to perform measurements.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in conventional probe devices, since the probe card is fixed, the X of the semiconductor wafer during measurement is
Movement in the −Y direction must be performed by moving the wafer mounting table, which poses a problem in that the movement space for the wafer mounting table becomes large.

For example, as shown in FIG. 4, if measurement is started with the initial position of the measuring stylus 1 on the chip at the center of the semiconductor wafer 2, as indicated by point p in the figure, the measuring probe 1 will be located at the top of the semiconductor wafer 2. To measure the chip 3, move the wafer mounting table 4 to the position 4a in the Y-axis direction so that the chip 3a is under the measuring probe located at point p, and also move the wafer mounting table 4 to the position 4a in the Y-axis direction, and When measuring , the wafer mounting table 4 is moved in the opposite direction of the movement described above to the position 4b. Therefore, if the diameter of the semiconductor wafer 2 is L, approximately 2L of wafer mounting table movement space is required in the Y-axis direction.
The same applies to the X-axis direction, so if the shape and area of the wafer mounting table 4 are approximately equal to the semiconductor wafer 2, a space for moving the wafer mounting table that is approximately four times the area of the wafer mounting table is required. This has been a major obstacle in reducing the size of the device.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a probe device that can be downsized by reducing the movement space of a mounting table during measurement.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) The probe device of the present invention moves a measurement probe and an object having a large number of semiconductor elements formed on its surface relative to each other to detect each semiconductor element. The measuring probe device is characterized in that it comprises a driving means for causing the measuring stylus to scan over the object to be measured, and a driving control means for controlling the driving means.

(Function) By moving the measurement stylus to scan the object to be measured, the amount of movement of the object to be measured is reduced, and the space for measurement can be significantly reduced.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a probe device (hereinafter referred to as a prober) according to an embodiment. A semiconductor wafer 2 taken out from a wafer cassette (not shown) is placed on a wafer mounting table 4. As shown in FIG. In order to move this wafer mounting table 4 in three-dimensional directions, a mounting table X-Y drive mechanism 10 and a mounting table Z are used.
A directional drive mechanism 11 is provided.

On the upper surface of the wafer mounting table 4, a probe card 5 with a measuring probe 1, which serves as a measuring electrode, attached to the semiconductor wafer 2 side is arranged facing the probe card 5, and the probe card 5 has a measuring probe 1 attached to the surface of the semiconductor wafer. A probe card X-Y drive for moving the probe card over the chip is attached to the structure 2.

The probe card X-Y drive mechanism 12, the mounting table X-Y driving mechanism 10, and the mounting table Z-direction driving mechanism 11 are controlled by a drive control mechanism 14 in the prober CPU 13, and the control is performed in advance by the measurement parameter input mechanism 15. The measurement is performed based on the measurement parameters of the semiconductor wafer to be measured stored in the measurement parameter storage @16, such as the wafer diameter, chip arrangement pattern, and measurement order.

The measurement stylus 1 is connected to a measurement circuit 18 in a tester 17, and the measurement results measured here are sent to the prober CPU 13 via a tester interface 19.

In the measurement operation of the prober having such a configuration, after the semiconductor wafer 2 is placed on the wafer mounting table 4, the wafer mounting table 4 is moved by the mounting table X-Y drive mechanism 10 to perform positioning. Probe card X-Y as shown in Figure 2
The probe card 5 is moved by the drive mechanism 12, and the measurement stylus 1 is moved to the top p1 of the chip to be measured first. X-
When the movement in the Y direction is completed, the wafer mounting table 4 is raised by the mounting table Z direction drive mechanism 11 to bring the measurement stylus 1 into contact with the electrodes on the chip to perform measurement. When the measurement of the first chip is completed, the wafer mounting table 4 is lowered, the probe card 5 is moved, and the measuring probe 1 is moved onto the next chip to be measured. By repeating these operations, the position of the measuring chip after R is p2.
The measuring melt layer 1 moves up to .

In this way, the movement of the wafer mounting table 4 in the X-Y direction is only for positioning before starting measurement, and during the measurement, the movement of the wafer mounting table 4 is limited only to the Z direction. In other words, all scanning of the measuring probe 1 is performed by the probe card X-Y drive mechanism 1.
2, the movement of the wafer mounting table 4 is only a small amount during alignment, as shown by 4C in the figure, and compared to a prober that performs the scanning operation on the wafer mounting table 4 side like the conventional device, the wafer mounting table 4 is moved by a small amount as shown by 4C in the figure. The moving area of the table 4 is approximately 1/4.

By the way, by using the @ structure for scanning the probe card, it is naturally necessary to secure a movement space on the upper surface of the prober, but this is not a problem because the space of the probe device is conventionally a dead space.

As another embodiment of the present invention, a structure may be adopted in which scanning is performed by both the wafer mounting table and the probe card. For example, the third
As shown in the figure, when trying to measure the chip 3a located at the topmost point p4 of the semiconductor wafer 2, the wafer mounting table 4 and the measuring probe 1 located at the center point p of the semiconductor wafer 2 are used. are moved to the position of the intermediate point p3 between the points p and p4, respectively. Similarly, the chips 3b at the bottom of the semiconductor wafer and the chips in the lateral direction are measured. By doing this, the amount of movement of the wafer mounting table 4 is approximately 1.5L, where L is the diameter of the semiconductor wafer, and compared to the first embodiment described above, the movement space of the wafer mounting table 4 is larger. This embodiment is suitable when the space for moving the probe card is small and there is little dead space on the upper surface of the blower.

By the way, in each of the above-mentioned embodiments, the contact between the measuring probe 1 and the electrode of the chip during measurement was carried out by raising and lowering the wafer mounting table 4, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the probe card 5 Alternatively, if the probe card X-Y drive mechanism 12 performs the positioning operation before starting measurement, the wafer mounting table can be fixed, and the measurement area can be further expanded. Can be made smaller.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the probe device of the present invention, the movement space of the object to be measured table is significantly reduced, so that the probe device can be downsized.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the amount of movement of the wafer mounting table in the embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the amount of movement of the wafer mounting table in another embodiment. , FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the amount of movement of the wafer mounting table of the conventional apparatus. 1... Measuring stylus, 2... Semiconductor wafer, 3... Depth, 4... Wafer mounting stand, 5... Probe Card, 12...
Probe card X-Y drive groove, 14... Drive control mechanism. Applicant Tokyo Electron Ltd. Agent Patent Attorney Suyama Sa - D 3rd]

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A probe device that measures each semiconductor element by moving a measurement stylus relative to an object to be measured having a large number of semiconductor elements formed on its surface, comprising: What is claimed is: 1. A probe device comprising: a drive means for scanning above the probe; and a control means for controlling the drive means.