KR20090030442A

KR20090030442A - Probe card having integral space transformer with pin

Info

Publication number: KR20090030442A
Application number: KR1020070095754A
Authority: KR
Inventors: 김형익
Original assignee: 주식회사 앱스코
Priority date: 2007-09-20
Filing date: 2007-09-20
Publication date: 2009-03-25

Abstract

A probe card having an integral space transformer with a pin is provided to reduce manufacturing cost by simplifying a probe card process for inspecting a semiconductor wafer. A main board(200) is connected to a semiconductor inspection instrument while having a plurality of circuits. The main board is connected with a probe pin on a space transformer. The spacer transformer built with the probe pin one body probes the wafer with a probe pin which is connected with a circuit pattern at lower part of the main boar. The wafer is probed by the probe pin which is at the lower part of the spacer transformer.

Description

Probe Card having integral Space Transformer with pin}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a probe card for semiconductor inspection, and more particularly, to a semiconductor inspection pro which can be applied to inspection of finer patterns of semiconductor chips by simply improving the microminiaturized and thinned needle and the interface configuration to the needle.

It is about the card.

In general, a semiconductor device is manufactured by performing a manufacturing process of forming a pattern on a wafer and an assembly process of assembling the wafer on which the pattern is formed into each chip.

An electronic die sorting (EDS) process is performed between the fabrication process and the assembly process to inspect the electrical characteristics of each chip constituting the wafer.

This EDS process is performed to determine the defective chip among the chips constituting the wafer.

Such inspection mainly uses an inspection apparatus including a probe card having needles for contacting the wafer and applying an electrical signal to inspect the electrical state of the chips constituting the wafer.

The semiconductor device whose result of the test using a probe card is judged good quality is manufactured as a finished product by a post process, such as packaging.

In the electrical property inspection of the semiconductor wafer, the needle of the probe card is usually brought into contact with the electrode pad of the semiconductor wafer, and the electrical property at that time is measured while energizing a specific current through the needle.

Meanwhile, as semiconductor devices are gradually reduced to finer sizes, the degree of integration of circuits is also increased, so that electrode pads of semiconductor devices in contact with the needles of probe cards are becoming more fine.

The conventional probe card used for such semiconductor wafer inspection is as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional probe card includes a main substrate 100 connected to a semiconductor inspection apparatus; The main board is composed of a circuit and is connected to the space transformer 110 component on the lower surface thereof.

In general, a space transformer component may contact a plurality of elastic contact structures (probe pins) 120 with a terminal (ie, a bonding pad on a semiconductor device) 130 of the electronic component at a relatively fine pitch (interval). While allowing to extend from the top face, the connection to the space transformer on its bottom face (ie to the bond pad or generally the elastic contact structure) is effective at a relatively wide pitch.

The space transformer is connected to the probe pin at the bottom and the probe pin 120 is arranged by the guide plate 120.

The probe card uses a space transformer to secure a wide pitch between probe pins. As the pad spacing of the semiconductor wafer to be probed becomes smaller and smaller, the use of the above space transformer becomes essential. In addition, the probe pin connected to the space transformer is gradually miniaturized and thinned, and a guide plate is added to prevent interference between the pins.

In general, the configuration of the probe card is as described above, the production of the probe card with such a configuration there is a problem of rising production cost with the complexity of the process. In addition, space transformers stacked vertically with larger probe cards may cause component warping, which may cause product stability problems.

The probe card with the pin integrated space transformer of the present invention is a semiconductor inspection pro which can be applied to inspection of finer patterns of semiconductor chips by simply improving the miniaturized and thinned probe pins and the interface configuration of the probe pins.

It is about the card. And it is in the manufacture of probe card that dramatically reduces the production cost while simplifying the process.

Accordingly, the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, the main object of the present invention is to integrate the space transformer and the probe pin to simplify the process of the probe card significantly.

While significantly reducing the manufacturing process of the probe card for semiconductor wafer inspection, the horizontal stacking of the space transformer can increase the number of pins more than the conventional probe card, and solve the problems such as the distortion of the space transformer.

In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2, the main board 200 connected to the semiconductor inspection equipment is soldered and connected to the probe pin on the space transformer 210 integrated with the probe pin 220. The probe pins below the connected space transformer probe the pads 230 of the semiconductor wafer 240.

Hereinafter, a probe card having a pin integrated space transformer will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the present invention, the space transformer of FIG. 3 is composed of a plurality of fragment blocks 210a and 210b, and the probe pins 220a are inserted between the fragment blocks to be horizontally laminated.

In general, a space transformer is a component that forms a probe card that contacts the chip pad in a wafer state and transmits an electrical signal between the test equipment and the semiconductor chip to test the performance of the IC chip. It also connects and secures the electrical signal to the inspection equipment. It also consists of a multilayer ceramic process, in which dozens of layers of ceramic sets are spaced at intervals of tens of microns.

The space transformer of ceramic material is a component that is widely used for semiconductor inspection equipment because of its similar thermal expansion coefficient and excellent mechanical strength and chemical resistance.

According to the present invention, the vertical stacking is not a vertical stacking. In the vertical stacking, the component is warped as the size of the probe card increases. However, in the case of horizontal stacking, there is no distortion of whether the probe card is enlarged, and the process is dramatically simplified by inserting more pins in the middle.

1 is a block diagram of a conventional probe card

2 is a configuration diagram of the probe card of the present invention

Fig. 3 Pin configuration cross-sectional view of the space transformer

Claims

A main board connected to the semiconductor test equipment and printed with a plurality of circuits;

A probe pin at an upper end portion of the multilayer substrate soldered to be connected to a circuit pattern on a bottom surface of the main substrate; Probe card with pin-integrated space transformer configured to probe the wafer by probe pins at the bottom of the multilayer substrate

The method of claim 1,

The multi-layer substrate is a probe card having a pin-integrated space transformer for fastening while inserting the probe pins between the substrate blocks and stacked horizontally