KR20080085344A - Method for manufacturing probe card and probe card thereby - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for manufacturing a probe card is provided to reduce a void upon forming of a probe tip unit by manufacturing the probe tip unit and the body unit, separately. A first photoresist layer is patterned to exclude a first bump region, which is communicated with an upper surface terminal(152) of a substrate connected to a wire unit(151) in a substrate(100), and is formed. A second photoresist layer is formed to be patterned so that a body unit region extended in one or more directions from the first bump region is excluded. The second photoresist layer includes the first bump region. A conductive material is gap-filled into the first bump region and the body unit region to form a bump and a body unit of a probe at the same time. A trench is formed on a sacrificial substrate. A conductive material is gap-filled into the trench to form a probe tip unit. The probe tip unit is joined to the probe body unit.

Description

Method for manufacturing probe card and probe card manufactured thereby

1A to 1G sequentially illustrate a method of forming a first bump on a substrate in a method of manufacturing a probe card according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2A through 2B sequentially illustrate a method of forming a second bump on a first bump of a method of manufacturing a probe card according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3A to 3F sequentially illustrate a method of forming a body part of a method of manufacturing a probe card according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4A to 4I sequentially illustrate a method of forming a tip on a sacrificial substrate in a method of manufacturing a probe card according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 shows a method of attaching the tip formed by FIGS. 4A-4I to the body formed by FIGS. 3A through 3F of the method of manufacturing a probe card according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention relates to a probe card manufacturing method and a probe card produced thereby. Specifically, the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a probe card by a novel probe forming method and a probe card manufactured thereby.

The probe card is mounted to a probing apparatus and used to electrically test each individual semiconductor element or liquid crystal display panel formed on the wafer.

In this case, the probe (or electrical contact element) provided in the probe card contacts the metal pad which is the contact portion of each individual semiconductor element formed on the wafer or the contact portion of each pixel of the liquid crystal display panel so that the test can be performed.

Recently, as a method of forming a probe card, a method of forming a plurality of probes at once on a space transformer, which is a type of a circuit board that is in contact with a printed circuit board, using a MEMS process, which is similar to a semiconductor etching technique, has been described. It is being tried. In the method of forming a probe card by the MEMS process, a plurality of probes are simultaneously formed by repeating a photoresist process, an etching process, a metal deposition process, and a fine grinding process, thereby making the horizontal and vertical positions and heights of the plurality of probes uniform. There are advantages to it.

In general, a method of manufacturing a probe card by a MEMS process is to form a bump at a predetermined height on an upper portion of a wiring portion that transmits an electrical signal in a space transformer, and then connect the probe body formed to have a probe tip separately through the junction portion. Is made by attaching to

However, in such a method, a mold for a probe body having a trench for a probe tip is formed through a photoresist process and an etching process to form a probe body having a probe tip, and a plating method is performed on the thus formed mold. The metal is filled to form the probe tip and the probe body at the same time. However, in this method, in order to simultaneously form the probe tip and the probe body, metal plating should be performed for a long time. In this manufacturing process, the plating in the trench may not be performed well, and thus voids may be formed.

In addition, in this long-term metal plating process, the probe body may be formed unevenly, and thus, it is necessary to perform a long-term polishing process for making the formed probe body uniform. However, damage to the connection portion between the probe tip and the probe body often occurs during such a long polishing process, which greatly disadvantages the yield of the probe.

In order to solve the above technical problem, the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a probe card by forming the tip portion and the body portion separately from the probe to suppress the generation of voids when forming the probe tip portion, a long-term polishing process is unnecessary.

In addition, the present invention is to provide a probe card including a probe formed separately from the tip portion and the body portion.

In order to solve the above technical problem, a method of manufacturing a probe card according to an aspect of the present invention is a) patterned to exclude the first bump area in communication with the upper terminal of the substrate connected to the wiring portion in the substrate. Forming a first photoresist layer; b) forming a second photoresist layer including the first bump region and patterned to exclude a body region extending in at least one direction from the first bump region; c) simultaneously filling the first bump area and the body area with a conductive material to form the bump and the body of the probe; d) forming a trench on the sacrificial substrate; e) filling the trench with a conductive material to form a probe tip; And f) bonding the probe tip portion to the probe body portion.

The method of manufacturing the probe card may include forming a third photoresist layer patterned to exclude the second bump area communicating with the upper terminal of the substrate before step a); It may further include.

The method of manufacturing the probe card may further include forming a first bump of the probe by filling a conductive material in the second bump area.

The method of manufacturing the probe card may further include forming a metal plating layer on the lower surface of the substrate with a conductive metal.

Step d) may include forming an oxide film on an upper surface of the sacrificial substrate; Forming a patterned mask layer to exclude trench regions corresponding to the trenches; Etching away the region corresponding to the trench region from the oxide layer using the mask layer; And forming the trench by etching the trench region at least once in the sacrificial substrate using the oxide film as a mask.

The method of manufacturing the probe card may further include forming a conductive metal layer by sputtering the conductive metal into the trench between steps d) and e).

The method of manufacturing the probe card may further include stacking a patterned photoresist layer to exclude the trench on the sacrificial substrate between the steps d) and e) to increase the depth of the trench. .

The method of manufacturing the probe card may include forming a contact layer by plating an upper portion of the probe tip with a conductive metal between steps e) and f); It may further include. The conductive metal may be gold.

The probe tip portion and the probe body portion may be thermally bonded through the contact layer.

Probe card according to another feature of the present invention comprises a substrate having a top terminal; A first bump electrically contacting the upper terminal and formed in a vertical direction from the upper terminal; A body part extending in one direction from the first bump and formed at the same time as the first bump; A tip part formed separately from the first bump and the body part and attached to an end of the body part; And a contact layer contacting the body portion and the tip portion.

A second bump may be separately formed between the substrate and the first bump to electrically connect the substrate and the first bump.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art may easily implement the present invention. As those skilled in the art would realize, the described embodiments may be modified in various different ways, all without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention.

In the method of manufacturing a probe card according to an embodiment of the present invention, a bump and a body portion of a probe (or an electrical contact element) are sequentially formed on a substrate, and a tip portion of the probe is formed on a separate sacrificial substrate, and then And removing the sacrificial substrate after contacting the tip portion of the formed probe with the body portion formed on the substrate.

Hereinafter, a method of manufacturing a probe card according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 to 5.

First, a method of forming a first bump on a substrate in a method of manufacturing a probe card according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1A to 1G.

First, as shown in FIG. 1A, a silicon substrate or a multilayer ceramic substrate is chemically washed with a substrate 100 to be prepared. The substrate 100 is connected to one end of the wiring unit 151 and the wiring unit 151 therein and is connected to the other end of the upper terminal 152 and the wiring unit 151 attached to the upper surface of the substrate 100. There is no particular limitation as long as the lower surface terminal 153 attached to the lower surface of the substrate 100 is formed. Preferably, a space transformer that is made of a ceramic material and is commercially available may be used.

The metal film 101 is formed on the lower portion of the substrate 100 prepared as shown in FIG. 1B. The metal film 101 may be formed by applying a metal such as titanium or copper by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or sputtering, but the formation method is not particularly limited. However, in the present embodiment was formed by sequentially applying titanium and copper by the sputtering method.

 The metal film 101 is used as an electrode in a plating process for bump formation and a body portion (hereinafter, also referred to as a 'beam' portion) process.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 1C, the first photoresist layer 102 is formed by applying a photosensitive liquid to the upper surface of the substrate 100. The first photoresist layer 102 thus formed prevents metal from being plated on the upper surface of the substrate 100 in a later plating process.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1D, the metal film 101 on the lower surface of the substrate 100 is plated with a conductive metal to form a metal plating layer 103. In this case, copper is preferably used as the conductive metal. The metal plating layer 103 is used as an electrode together with the metal film 101 in a plating process for bump formation and a body process later.

Next, the first photoresist layer 102 on the upper surface of the substrate 100 is etched and removed, and a photoresist is applied on the metal plating layer 103 on the lower surface of the substrate 100, as shown in FIG. 1E. 2 photoresist layer 104 is formed. The second photoresist layer 104 protects the metal plating layer 103 in a later process.

In this case, the etching solution used may be an etching solution which is commonly used to etch away the photoresist layer, preferably an alkaline etching solution such as acetone.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1F, a photoresist is applied to the upper surface of the substrate 100, and then patterned to expose the upper terminal 152 of the substrate 100 to form a third photoresist layer 105. The thickness of the third photoresist layer 105 corresponds to the height or length of the first bump to be described later, and may be appropriately set according to the object of the invention.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 1G, the patterned portion of the third photoresist layer 105 is filled with a conductive metal by a plating method using the metal film 101 and the metal plating layer 103 as electrodes. The first bump 106 is formed. After formation of the first bumps 106, the protruding portions may be ground by chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) or the like. At this time, the thickness of the first bump 106 may be adjusted again to a predetermined thickness. The shape of the first bump 106 is not particularly limited.

Next, when the thickness of the first bump 106 is not sufficient, the second bump may be further formed on the first bump.

Hereinafter, a method of forming a second bump on the first bump in the method of manufacturing a probe card according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 2A through 2B.

First, as shown in FIG. 2A, a photoresist is applied to the upper surfaces of the third photoresist layer 105 and the first bump 106 of the substrate 100 and patterned to expose the first metal bump 106. The photoresist layer 107 is formed.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 2B, the patterned portion of the fourth photoresist layer 107 is filled with a conductive metal by a plating method using the metal film 101 and the metal plating layer 103 as electrodes. A second bump 108 is directly formed on the first bump 106.

The first bump 106 and the second bump 108 formed as described above are electrically connected to the upper terminal 152 of the substrate 100 and the wiring unit 151 connected to the upper terminal 152.

In this case, as the conductive metal used to form the first bumps 106 and the second bumps 108, a metal having excellent elasticity and conductivity is used. Preferably, nickel or nickel alloys, specifically nickel cobalt alloys or nickel iron alloys are used. This is preferably used.

Next, a method of forming a body portion of a probe in the method of manufacturing a probe card according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 3A to 3F.

First, as shown in FIG. 3A, the conductive thin film 109 is formed of a conductive metal on the fourth photoresist layer 107 and the second bump 108 on the upper surface of the substrate 100. At this time, titanium or copper is preferably used as the conductive metal. In the present invention, the conductive thin film 109 may be formed by applying a metal such as titanium or copper by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or sputtering, but the formation method is not particularly limited. However, in the present embodiment, titanium and copper were sequentially applied by the sputtering method.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3B, the conductive thin film 109 formed on the second bump 108 is ground by chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) or the like to expose the second bump 108.

Thereafter, as illustrated in FIG. 3C, a rod-shaped region including a photoresist on the conductive thin film 109 and the second bump 108 on the upper surface of the substrate 100 and including the second bump 108 may be formed. The fifth photoresist layer 111 is formed by patterning the semiconductor substrate to be exposed. This rod-shaped area is later used as a mold for the body or beam of the probe. The thickness of the fifth photoresist layer corresponds to the height or length of the body portion of the probe to be described later, and may be appropriately set according to the object of the invention. In the present embodiment, the body portion of the probe has a rod shape, but the shape of the body portion of the probe is not limited thereto.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3D, the metal mold portion patterned in the fifth photoresist layer 111 is filled with a conductive metal by a plating method using the metal film 101 and the metal plating layer 103 as electrodes. The body portion 112 is formed. As the conductive metal, the same metal as the bump is preferably used, and a nickel alloy is used in this embodiment.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 3E, the portion of the conductive metal filled in the mold, which protrudes out of the fifth photoresist layer 111, is ground by chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) or the like to bump the probe on the substrate 100. The body part is formed at the same time. At this time, the thickness of the body portion 112 can be adjusted again to a predetermined thickness.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 3F, the bonding material 113 is applied to an area of the upper portion of the body portion 112 to be joined with the tip portion of the probe later. This bonding material 113 preferably uses Au paste, and the application of the bonding material 113 is performed using a screen printer.

Next, a method of forming a tip on a sacrificial substrate in the method of manufacturing a probe card according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 4A to 4I.

First, as shown in FIG. 4A, the sacrificial substrate 200 is prepared, and an oxide film 221 is formed on the top and bottom surfaces of the prepared sacrificial substrate 200. As the sacrificial substrate 200, a silicon substrate or a laminated ceramic substrate is preferably used.

Next, as can be seen in Figure 4b, by applying a photosensitive liquid on the upper surface of the sacrificial substrate 200 to form a sixth photoresist layer to expose a predetermined area for the tip portion of the probe to the sixth photoresist layer Patterning to form the first mask layer 222.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 4C, the oxide layer 221 corresponding to the predetermined region for the tip portion of the probe is etched away using the first mask layer 222, and at the same time, the sacrificial substrate 200 under the region is removed. ) To a certain depth. In this case, the etching method of the oxide film 221 is not particularly limited as long as it is commonly used, and generally, an etching solution such as a dry etching method such as active ion etching or a buffer oxide etchant may be used. Use the wet etching method used. The hole 223 in the sacrificial substrate 200 etched in this way is used as a mold for forming a pro tip, and in this case, the hole 223 corresponds to the proximal end of the probe tip.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 4D, the hole of the sacrificial substrate 200 is etched away from the first mask layer 222 and the oxide film 221 having a predetermined area for the tip portion of the probe etched away is used as a mask. 223 is further etched to form a trench 224 for the probe tip. The bottom of the trench 224 thus formed corresponds to the top of the probe tip.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 4E, after the oxide film 221 is etched away, the conductive metal is sputtered to form the conductive metal layer 225 on the trench 224 and the sacrificial substrate 200. In an embodiment of the present invention, titanium and copper are sequentially sputtered to form the conductive metal layer 225.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 4F, a photoresist is applied over the conductive metal layer 225 and patterned to expose the trench 224 region to form a seventh photoresist layer 226.

The thickness of the seventh photoresist layer may be used to control the depth of the trench 224. Specifically, as the thickness of the seventh photoresist layer becomes thicker, the depth of the trench 224 increases, and as a result, The length of the probe tip is increased. Thus, the length of the probe tip portion can be adjusted to the thickness of the seventh photoresist layer.

Next, as illustrated in FIG. 4G, the probe tip portion 227 is formed by filling the inner region of the trench 224 with the conductive metal using the plating method using the conductive metal layer 225 as an electrode. As such a conductive metal, a nickel alloy like the probe body 112 is preferably used.

In this case, as shown in Fig. 4H, the protruding portion is ground by chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) or the like.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4I, the upper portion of the probe tip portion 227 is plated with the conductive metal using the conductive metal layer 225 as an electrode to form the contact layer 129. In this case, gold is preferably used as the conductive metal.

Thereafter, the sacrificial plate 200 having the probe tip portion 227 formed therein by FIGS. 4A to 4I is aligned on the substrate 100 on which the probe body portion 112 is formed by FIGS. 3A to 3F. At this time, the position of the sacrificial substrate 200 and the substrate 100 is aligned so that the probe tip portion 227 is located in a corresponding region among the regions of the probe body portion 112.

Then, the sacrificial substrate 200 and the substrate 100 are attached so that the probe tip portion 227 contacts a corresponding region of the probe body portion 112, so that the contact layer 129 and the probe of the probe tip portion 227 are attached. After contacting the areas where the bonding material 113 of the body portion 112 is applied to each other, heat and pressure are applied to the bonding material 113 to thermally bond the probe tip portion 227 and the probe body portion 112 to each other. . The thermal bonding method may use a flip chip bond (FCB) or anion bonding method.

As such, when the probe tip portion 227 and the probe body portion 112 are attached to each other, all of the sacrificial substrate 200, the third photoresist layer 105, the fourth photoresist layer 107, etc. are etched away. A probe card with a probe as shown in FIG. 5 is formed.

As described above, the probe card manufactured by the method of manufacturing the probe card of the present invention includes a plurality of probes simultaneously formed on the substrate 100 through a MEMS process.

Specifically, the probe card according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a bump 108 electrically connected to the substrate 100 and the upper terminal 152 of the substrate 100 and formed in a vertical direction from the upper terminal 152; A body portion 112 extending from the bump 108 in one direction and formed at the same time as the bump 108; A tip portion 227 formed separately from the bump 108 and the body portion 112 and attached to an end portion of the body portion 112; And a contact layer 129 which contacts the body 112 and the tip 227.

As described in detail above, according to the method of manufacturing a probe card of the present invention, bumps and body parts of bumps, body parts, and tips, which are components of the probe, are directly formed on a substrate, but the tip part is formed using a sacrificial substrate. Formed separately, the tip is formed on the body portion to produce a probe card. Therefore, in the method of manufacturing the probe card of the present invention, it is not necessary to simultaneously form the body portion and the tip portion of the probe by the metal plating method as in the conventional method, since the plating process for forming the body portion is not performed for a long time, The uniformity of the formed body portion is excellent. Thus, the polishing process for the body portion does not need to be performed for a long time.

As described above, according to the method of manufacturing a probe card of the present invention, the plating process and the polishing process time are shorter when forming the probe body portion, so that the overall process time is improved, and voids are less generated when forming the probe tip portion, and the probe tip portion is formed by the polishing process. Since there is no breakage of the connection part of the body part, the process yield can be greatly improved.

In addition, according to the manufacturing method of the probe card of the present invention, since the probe tip portion is manufactured separately from the body portion, the void generation when forming the probe tip portion is lower than in the prior art.

In addition, since the probe tip portion is formed separately, an accurate mask may be formed through an exposure process and an etching process for fabricating the probe tip, and thus a plurality of probe tips may be uniformly manufactured in the form of a mask.

In addition, when forming the trench for the probe tip portion by adjusting the process time through the wet etching process can be easily adjusted according to the size and depth of the trench according to the purpose, according to the fine tip can be formed more precisely fine pitch).

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention, and it is obvious that the present invention belongs to the appended claims. Do.

Claims (12)

a) forming a first photoresist layer patterned to exclude a first bump region in communication with a top terminal of the substrate connected to a wiring portion in the substrate; b) forming a second photoresist layer including the first bump region and patterned to exclude a body region extending in at least one direction from the first bump region; c) simultaneously filling the first bump area and the body area with a conductive material to form the bump and the body of the probe; d) forming a trench on the sacrificial substrate; e) filling the trench with a conductive material to form a probe tip; And f) bonding the probe tip to the probe body; Method of manufacturing a probe card comprising a. The method of claim 1, Before step a) Forming a third photoresist layer patterned to exclude second bump regions communicating with upper terminals of the substrate; Method for producing the probe card, characterized in that it further comprises. The method of claim 2, Filling a second bump region with a conductive material to form a second bump of the probe; Method for producing the probe card, characterized in that it further comprises. The method of claim 1, And forming a metal plating layer of a conductive metal on a lower surface of the substrate. The method of claim 1, Step d) above Forming an oxide film on an upper surface of the sacrificial substrate; Forming a patterned mask layer to exclude trench regions corresponding to the trenches; Etching away the region corresponding to the trench region from the oxide layer using the mask layer; And Forming the trench by etching the trench region at least once on the sacrificial substrate using the oxide film as a mask; Method for producing the probe card, characterized in that it comprises a. The method of claim 1, Between step d) and e) Sputtering the conductive metal into the trench to form a conductive metal layer; Method for producing the probe card, characterized in that it further comprises. The method of claim 1, Between step d) and e) Stacking a patterned photoresist layer on the sacrificial substrate to exclude the trench to increase the depth of the trench; Method for producing the probe card, characterized in that it further comprises. The method of claim 1, Between step e) and step f) Plating an upper portion of the probe tip with a conductive metal to form a contact layer; Method for producing the probe card, characterized in that it further comprises. The method of claim 8, Method for producing the probe card, characterized in that the conductive metal is gold. The method of claim 8, And the probe tip portion and the probe body portion are thermally bonded through the contact layer. A substrate having a top terminal; A first bump electrically contacting the upper terminal and formed in a vertical direction from the upper terminal; A body part extending in one direction from the first bump and formed at the same time as the first bump; A tip part formed separately from the first bump and the body part and attached to an end of the body part; And A contact layer contacting the body portion and the tip portion; Probe card comprising a. The method of claim 11, And a second bump formed separately between the substrate and the first bump to electrically connect the substrate and the first bump.

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