KR100812169B1 - Apparatus for cleaning needle of wafer prober - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus for cleaning a needle of a wafer prober is provided to remove foreign substances from the needle by maintaining the exact levelness of surfaces of a base plate and a cleaning pad. A cleaning pad(200) cleans a needle of a wafer prober card. A base plate(210) fixes and mounts the cleaning pad on an upper surface thereof. A moving member is mounted on a lower surface of the base plate to move the base plate upwardly and downwardly. First stoppers(230) are respectively fixed on both sides of the moving member. Second stoppers(240) are respectively fixed on both sides of the base plate. The second stopper is engaged with the first stopper when the base plate is placed at a predetermined height. The moving member is a pneumatic cylinder(221). A pneumatic speed controller(224) controls the speed of the pneumatic cylinder. Position sensors(222,223) are prepared. The moving speed of the moving member in upward and downward directions is controlled according to heights measured from the position sensors.

Description

Needle clean device of wafer prober {Apparatus for cleaning needle of wafer prober}

1 is a front view showing a general wafer prober as a whole.

2 is a front view illustrating a needle clean apparatus of a wafer prober according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 (a) is a photograph of the front of the needle clean device manufactured according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, Figure 3 (b) to (c) is a cleaning pad of the needle clean device, the second stopper is Photos of attached base plate and pneumatic cylinder part.

4 is a front view illustrating a state where the first stopper and the second stopper are engaged when the base plate is moved downward in the needle cleaner of the wafer prober according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

20: needle clean device

200: cleaning pad

210: base plate

220: moving member

221; Pneumatic cylinder

222, 223: position sensor

224: Cylinder Speed Controller

225: Cylinder Stopper

230: first stopper

231: first fixing part

232: second fixing part

233: adjusting screw

240: second stopper

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a needle clean device mounted on a wafer prober. More particularly, the present invention relates to a needle clean device that improves performance by always maintaining horizontality and preventing distortion by always maintaining flatness initially set. will be.

In general, a semiconductor wafer prober applies an inspection probe to a pad in a semiconductor wafer to electrically test whether the chips in the wafer state operate normally before packaging the semiconductor chip made on the semiconductor wafer. This equipment is tested by contacting and applying electrical signals.

1 is a front view of the wafer prober as a whole. Referring to FIG. 1, a wafer prober is a wafer loader that transfers a semiconductor wafer to a position or a chuck where it can be tested in a FOUP or a cassette, and precisely transfers the wafer to test the wafer. A stage in contact with the probe card and a tester for inspecting a wafer placed on a chuck on the stage. A probe card is mounted on a header of the tester, and an electrical signal is applied to a chip on a wafer using the probe card and the result is measured to check whether there is an abnormality or a defect of each chip. do.

As the wafer prober is inspected several times using the wafer prober, foreign matter is generated on the needle of the prober card mounted on the header of the wafer prober, and the device for removing the foreign material is a needle clean device. to be. For the needle clean, the header equipped with the prober card is fixed while the needle clean device moves up and down to the prober card to remove foreign substances attached to the needle of the prober card. However, when the surface of the needle clean device is not generally flat, foreign matters attached to all the needles of the prober card may not be removed properly, and the needle may be damaged.

Therefore, the needle clean device must initially perform a flatness setting process to keep the entire surface horizontal. The needle clean device according to the prior art uses a pneumatic cylinder to clean the needle while moving up and down the base plate to which the cleaning pad is attached. This conventional needle clean device is designed to maintain the flatness by measuring the flatness of the surface of the cleaning pad fixedly mounted on the base plate, and then adding or subtracting a member having a proper thickness according to the measured flatness. However, even if the initial level is maintained in this manner, as the base plate of the needle clean device is moved up and down several times, a problem occurs that the whole surface is distorted and the level is not aligned. This causes a difference in the amount of air depending on the position of the cylinder in accordance with the frequency of use of the pneumatic cylinder, as a result of which the height and horizontality of each area of the base plate of the needle clean device is changed. As such, when the base plate of the needle clean device is not level or distorted, a setting operation for maintaining the level with respect to the surface of the base plate must be performed again.

Since the pneumatic cylinder for moving the needle clean device is not finely adjusted, the needle clean device according to the related art has a problem in that it takes a lot of time to maintain flatness, thereby reducing productivity and efficiency.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention for solving the above problems is to provide a needle clean device that can maintain the initially set flatness to maintain an accurate level and prevent distortion.

A feature of the present invention for achieving the above technical problem relates to a needle clean device of a wafer prober, the needle clean device is

A cleaning pad for cleaning the needle of the wafer prober card,

A base plate for fixing the cleaning pad to an upper surface thereof;

A moving member mounted to a lower surface of the base plate to move the base plate in a vertical direction;

First stoppers having a predetermined shape fixed to both side surfaces of the movable member,

The second stopper is fixed to both side surfaces of the base plate, and is formed to engage with the first stopper when the base plate is positioned at a predetermined height.

The moving member of the needle clean device having the above-mentioned features is a pneumatic cylinder, and the needle clean device further comprises a pneumatic speed controller and at least one position sensor for controlling the speed of the pneumatic cylinder, measured from the position sensor. It is preferable to control the moving speed of the moving member in the vertical direction in accordance with the height.

The first stopper of the needle clean device having the above-mentioned features is formed in a "" "shape with a protruding region at the top, and the second stopper is formed in a" "" shape with a protruding region at the bottom, and the first It is preferable that the protruding region of the stopper and the protruding region of the second stopper are in the shape of engaging with each other. More preferably, the first stopper includes a first fixing portion having a “″” shape having a protruding region thereon, a second fixing portion movably connected to the first fixing portion, and the first fixing portion and the second fixing portion. It is made of adjusting screw to adjust the gap.

Hereinafter, a needle clean apparatus of a wafer prober according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 is a front view showing a needle clean device 20 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 2 shows a state in which the base plate of the needle clean device 20 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention is moved downward. Referring to FIG. 2, the needle clean device 20 includes a cleaning pad 200, a base plate 210, a moving member 220, a first stopper 230, and a second stopper 240.

The cleaning pad 200 is made of a ceramic material and removes foreign substances, etc. attached to the surface of the needle as the needle (needle) of the wafer prober card is in contact. Cleaning pads made of ceramic material are also called ceramic pads. The present invention does not limit the material of the cleaning pad 200 to ceramics, and the cleaning pad may be used as long as the material can remove foreign substances adhering to the surface of the needle. Figure 3 (a) is a photograph actually produced an embodiment of the needle clean device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, (b) and (c) is a cleaning pad and a second stopper attached to the base plate fixed, Picture of pneumatic cylinder part.

The cleaning pad 200 is fixedly mounted on an upper surface of the base plate 210, and a moving member 220 for moving the base plate 210 in a vertical direction is mounted on a lower surface of the base plate 210. At this time, the cleaning pad 200 is fixedly mounted on the upper surface of the base plate using a plurality of brackets. Accordingly, the surface of the needle may be cleaned by driving the moving member 220 in the vertical direction so that the cleaning pad mounted on the upper surface of the base plate 210 and the needle of the prober card are correctly matched.

The moving member 220 is mounted on the lower surface of the base plate to move the base plate in the vertical direction. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, a pneumatic cylinder 221 is used. Accordingly, the needle clean device according to the present embodiment may adjust the moving speed of the cylinder, the pneumatic cylinder 221, the first and second position sensors 222 and 223 for measuring the upper and lower positions of the pneumatic cylinder, respectively. It further includes a cylinder speed controller 224 and a cylinder stopper 225 for correcting the play between the first stopper and the cylinder.

The first stopper 230 is fixedly mounted to both side surfaces of the movable member 220, and the first stopper 230 is the second stopper when the base plate moves downward and is positioned at a predetermined height. As shown in FIG. 2, it is possible to maintain a horizontal level with respect to the entire surface of the base plate and the cleaning pad. The first stopper 230 may include a first fixing part 231 having a protruding region thereon, a second fixing part 232 movably connected to the first fixing part, and a first fixing part 232. It consists of an adjustment screw 233 that can adjust the interval between the fixing portion and the second fixing portion.

Hereinafter, a process of attaching the first stopper 230 to the needle clean device will be described. First, when the initial flatness of the base plate is set, the second fixing part 232 connected to the first fixing part is stably fixed to the side of the moving member. Next, as shown in FIG. 4, after driving the movable member to move the base plate to the height at the time of operation of the needle clean device, the adjusting screw is finely adjusted so that the first fixing part 231 The protruding areas are arranged in a position to precisely engage with the protruding areas of the second stopper. Next, the first fixing part 231 disposed at the position engaged with the second stopper is stably fixed to the side surface of the movable member using a predetermined fixing member such as a bolt. After fixing the first fixing part to the moving member through the above-described process, the adjusting screw is separated from the first stopper and removed. As such, the first fixing portions of the first stopper are fixed to both side surfaces of the moving member.

Therefore, when the needle cleaning device is driven to drive the needle clean device, when the moving member is driven to move the base plate downward, as shown in FIG. 4, the protrusion of the first stopper and the protrusion of the second stopper are protruded. The base plate is moved to the point where the areas are engaged with each other. In this case, both sides of the base plate are uniformly received by the first stopper and the second stopper to maintain a horizontal level, and the warpage does not occur.

The second stopper 240 is formed in a "" "shape having a protruding region at the bottom thereof, and is fixed to both side surfaces of the base plate, and the protruding regions at the lower portion of the second stopper are first fixing portions of the first stopper. It is made of a shape that can be engaged with the protruding region of the top of the. Therefore, when the base plate moves upward by the driving of the movable member, the movable member stops the operation at the position where the second stopper engages with the first stopper. In particular, the second stoppers respectively mounted on both sides of the base plate are subjected to uniform force by the first stoppers respectively mounted on both sides of the moving member, so that the base plate can maintain the flatness initially set at the entire surface.

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, this is merely an example and is not intended to limit the present invention, and those skilled in the art do not depart from the essential characteristics of the present invention. It will be appreciated that various modifications and applications which are not illustrated above in the scope are possible. And differences relating to such modifications and applications should be construed as being included in the scope of the invention defined in the appended claims.

According to the present invention, even if the needle clean device is moved up and down several times by the driving of the pneumatic cylinder, it is possible to maintain the initially set flatness as it is. Therefore, the needle clean device according to the related art needs to measure the flatness of the needle clean device every time the foreign matter of the needle is removed, but the needle clean device according to the present invention only needs to measure and set the flatness only at the initial stage. As a result, the needle clean device according to the present invention reduces the flatness setting time and improves productivity and efficiency.

In addition, the needle clean device according to the present invention is able to always receive a uniform force on both sides of the base plate, it is possible to maintain a precise level even if the needle of the prober card. As described above, according to the present invention, the surfaces of the base plate and the cleaning pad can be kept exactly horizontal, and thus foreign substances adhering to the needles can be removed.

Claims (6)

In the needle clean device of the wafer prober, A cleaning pad for cleaning the needle of the wafer prober card; A base plate for fixing the cleaning pad to an upper surface; A moving member mounted to a lower surface of the base plate to move the base plate in a vertical direction; First stoppers having a predetermined shape fixed to both side surfaces of the movable member; Second stoppers respectively fixed to both side surfaces of the base plate and configured to engage with the first stopper when the base plate is positioned at a predetermined height; Needle cleaner device of the wafer prober having a. The method of claim 1, wherein the moving member is a pneumatic cylinder, the needle clean device further comprises a pneumatic speed controller and at least one position sensor for controlling the speed of the pneumatic cylinder, And a moving speed of the moving member in the up and down direction according to the height measured from the position sensor. The stopper of claim 1, wherein the first stopper is formed in a "" shape having a protruding region at an upper portion thereof, and the second stopper is formed in a "" "shape having a protruding region at a lower portion thereof, protruding from the first stopper. And a protruding region of the second stopper is formed in engagement with each other. The first stopper of claim 1, wherein the first stopper includes a first fixing part having a protruding region thereon, a second fixing part movably connected from the first fixing part, and the first fixing part and the second fixing part. A needle cleaner device for a wafer prober, characterized in that it comprises an adjusting screw that can adjust the spacing of the fixing part. The method of claim 4, wherein the fixing of the first stopper to the side of the moving member comprises: fixing the second fixing part to the side of the moving member, and then placing the base plate at the first height by the moving member. When the position of the first fixing part is adjusted using the adjusting screw, the protruding area of the first fixing part is placed in a position where the protruding area of the first fixing part engages with the protruding area of the second stopper. 1, a fixing part is fixed to a side of the moving member, and the fixing screw is removed from the first stopper after fixing the first fixing part, and the needle cleaner of the wafer prober of claim 1, wherein the fixing member is removed. The needle cleaner of claim 1, wherein the cleaning pad is made of a ceramic material.

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