JPH0758168A - Probing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To increase the mounting quantity of the circuits of various electronic parts to be mounted on a relaying board of a probing device, without any alteration of the size of the relaying board. CONSTITUTION:In a probing device 1, a test head 10 having measuring circuits for inspecting the electric characteristics of various circuits, a probe card 40 having probing needles 41 contacted with the electrode pads present on a wafer W, and a linear mother board 20 for connecting electrically the test head 10 with the probe needles 41 are provided respectively. In the probing device 1, no substantial opening hole is provided in the linear mother board 20. Thereby, the mounting area on the board is increased by the section wherein any opening hole is not present, and the quantity of the circuits of various electronic parts to be mounted on the board can be increased.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a probe device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A semiconductor wafer will be described as an example. Conventionally, in a manufacturing process of a linear semiconductor device, a wafer process is completed and an IC chip is formed on a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter referred to as "wafer"). After that, in order to check the output characteristics of each of these chips, the short circuit, the open of the electrode pattern, etc., an electrical characteristic test called a probe test is conducted, but an inspection device called a probe device is used for such a probe test. It is used.

A conventional probe device of this kind has a test head having a measuring circuit such as a sample power source applied to an IC chip on a wafer and an input unit for taking an output from the IC chip into a measuring unit, A probe card having a contactor composed of probe needles and the like, and a relay board such as a linear motherboard or performance board electrically connecting the test head and the contactor of the probe card, and the contactor of the probe card. Is brought into contact with a predetermined electrode pad on the IC chip, and the circuit of this IC chip is inspected by the test head.

In the conventional probe device, in order to position the contactor of the probe card on a predetermined electrode pad with high accuracy, for example, a contact portion between the contactor and the electrode pad is imaged from directly above by a microscope. There is. Therefore, in the conventional probe device, a visual opening hole is provided at the center of each of the test head, the relay substrate, and the probe card to secure the visual field of such a microscope. The diameter of the aperture is usually 20 although it is related to the focal length and field of view of the microscope used.
It is about mm to 150 mm.

[0005]

By the way, in recent years, IC chips have become highly integrated. Therefore, in order to perform a probe test on these highly integrated inspected objects, a corresponding number of contactors are required. The number of various electronic component circuits mounted on the relay board also increases. For example, in the case of a device used for a video system such as a video device, many electronic component circuits such as a matrix relay and a driver must be mounted on the linear motherboard.

However, in the above-mentioned conventional probe device, since the relay board is provided with the opening hole for inserting the microscope, the mounting area on this board is reduced accordingly, and as a result, the various electronic component circuits are provided. There is a problem that the number of pogo pins for electrically connecting with the contactor cannot be increased.

Further, if such an opening hole is located at the center of the relay board, the wiring from the contactor must bypass the opening hole and be connected on the relay board.
Wiring distance becomes long. Then, for example, during high frequency measurement, it is easily affected by noise and crosstalk, making it difficult to carry out an accurate probe test.

In addition, if the above-mentioned relatively large opening is provided in the relay board, the strength of the relay board itself is reduced,
In addition, bending tends to occur. As a result, contact of the contactor may be hindered, and an accurate probe test may not be performed.

The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and eliminates the visual opening hole of the microscope or the like which has been conventionally provided in the relay board, and reduces the mounting area of the relay board. It is an object of the present invention to solve the above problems by providing a probe device in which the degree of freedom of wiring and the strength of the substrate itself are increased.

[0010]

To achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a test head having a measuring circuit for inspecting electrical characteristics of various circuits, a probe card having a contactor, and the test head are provided. And a relay board for electrically connecting the contactor of the probe card, the contactor of the probe card is brought into contact with a predetermined electrode pad on the object to be inspected mounted on the mounting table,
In a probe device configured to inspect the circuit formed on the object to be inspected by the test head,
A probe device is provided, wherein the relay substrate is not provided with a substantial opening hole.

The term "substantially opening hole" as used herein means a relatively large diameter such as an opening hole for insertion of a microscope as described in the section of the prior art, for example, a diameter of 10 mm or more. It means a through-type "hole" having a hole, and does not include a fixing screw hole that is closed during operation or use.

[0012]

The relay board of the probe device according to the present invention includes:
Since the conventional opening hole is not provided, the mounting area of various electronic circuit components and pogo pins on the relay board is correspondingly increased. Further, since the degree of freedom of the layout is improved, it is possible to shorten the connection distance between the probe card and the contactor. Moreover, since the substrate itself has no opening, the strength itself is larger than that of the conventional one.

Regarding the alignment between the contactor and the electrode pad, instead of the conventional method of lowering the microscope from directly above the object to be inspected, for example, to the side of the mounting table on which the object to be processed is placed. The distance between the tip and the contactor in the horizontal direction is detected by the optical system detecting means such as a target or a camera provided in the. Further, the distance between the tip and the contactor in the vertical direction is detected by the capacitance sensor, and these are detected. Based on the signal, the mounting table on which the object to be inspected is mounted may be appropriately controlled to perform the alignment between the contactor and the electrode pad.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 schematically shows a side end face of a probe apparatus to which the present embodiment is applied. Reference numeral 1 denotes a test head 10 that can be moved up and down by an appropriate lifting mechanism (not shown), and the test head 1
The linear mother board 20 electrically connected to 0 and the probe card 40 electrically connected to the linear mother board 20 by the pogo pin ring 30.

Unlike the conventional test head of this type, the test head 10 has such a shape that it does not have a visual hole such as a microscope in its central portion.
The pin electronics 11 including various measuring circuits is built in the inside. Then, various electronic component circuits on the linear motherboard 20 described below are electrically connected to the pin electronics 11.

On the other hand, the linear motherboard 20 is shown in FIG.
In the substantially central portion of the substrate 21 made of epoxy, which is flat as a whole, a predetermined number of, for example, 120 terminals 22 for pogo pin contacts are provided.
A plurality of concentric circles are arranged so as to penetrate the front and back surfaces of the substrate. Further, these terminals 2 are provided on the substrate 21.
Various measuring circuits, such as a matrix relay and a driver circuit, and other electronic component circuits for measuring a video semiconductor device, which are electrically connected to 2, are formed.

The aforementioned pogo pin ring 30 is supported by an appropriate insert ring 31, and the pogo pin contact terminal 22 of the linear mother board 20.
120 pogo pins 32 for contact with the upper surface of the pogo pin 32, and a lower surface of the pogo pin 33 for contacting the terminal 42 which is conductive with the pogo pin 32 and the probe needle 41 which is the contactor of the probe card 40. Have. Each of these pogo pins 32 and 33 is slidable in the vertical direction with respect to the pogo pin ring 30,
Further, they are urged outward by appropriate elastic members.

As described above, the probe card 40 has the so-called lateral needle type probe needle 41 on the lower surface thereof, and the pogo pin contact which is electrically connected to each of the probe needles 41 on the upper surface thereof. Terminals 42 are formed. The probe card 40 is supported separately from the insert ring 31 by an appropriate holding member such as a card holder or a card clamp, and can be vertically moved independently by an elevating mechanism (not shown) such as an air cylinder. Is configured.

The semiconductor device, which is an object to be inspected by the probe apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, is a video device such as a video circuit or an audio circuit, and these video devices are substantially disc-shaped. Is formed on the wafer W which is placed and held on the wafer chuck 51.

The wafer chuck 51 includes a stage 52.
It is provided above and is configured to be rotatable in the θ direction and to be driven and controlled also in the Z direction which is the vertical direction. The stage 52 is driven by an appropriate driving mechanism (not shown), such as a pulse motor, in the horizontal X direction and in the Y direction.
It is configured to be driven and controlled in the direction. An appropriate target plate 5 is provided on the side surface of the wafer chuck 51.
3, and an optical image pickup device 54 such as a camera, which is vertically movable by an elevating mechanism provided on the stage 52, is provided in the vicinity thereof.

On the other hand, on the side of the stage 52, an appropriate alignment bridge 55 provided integrally with a holding member of the probe card 40 is arranged, and on the alignment bridge 55, a wafer W is formed. An optical image pickup device 56 such as a camera for detecting the position of the formed chip and a capacitance sensor 57 for detecting the height of the surface of the wafer W are provided.

The target plate 53, the optical image pickup devices 54 and 56, the data from the electrostatic capacity sensor 57, and the like are arithmetically processed, and the semiconductor device which is the object to be inspected on the wafer W and the above-mentioned probe card. The positional relationship between the probe chuck 41 and the probe needle 41 is detected, and the wafer chuck 51
By the drive control of the stage 52, the alignment between the electrode pad on the semiconductor device and the probe tip of the probe needle 41 is performed based on the drive control.

The present embodiment is configured as described above,
When the probe test is performed on the semiconductor device on the wafer W, first, on the wafer W, based on the data from the target plates 53, the optical image pickup devices 54 and 56, the capacitance sensor 57 and the like. Alignment of the semiconductor device that is the object to be inspected and the probe needle 41 described above is performed.

After this alignment is completed, the test head 10 descends, and the linear mother board 20,
The pin electronics 11 in the test head 10 is electrically connected to the probe needle 41 via the pogo pin ring 30, and then the wafer chuck 51 is raised to move the wafer W.
Predetermined electrode pads of the upper semiconductor device are brought into contact with the needle tips of the probe needles 41, and further predetermined overdrive is applied to these electrode pads and the probe needles 4.
Conduction with 1 is ensured.

Thereafter, a predetermined signal is input to the semiconductor device which is the object to be inspected via the test head 10, the linear motherboard 20, and the probe needle 10, and the output from the semiconductor device is the linear motherboard 20. The test head 10 is mounted through various measuring circuits, such as a matrix relay circuit and a driver circuit, mounted on the test head 10.
Is output to a linear semiconductor device, and various electrical characteristics of AC and DC are tested.

The linear mother board 20 includes
Since there is no conventional hole for insertion, it is possible to mount various electronic component circuits even in the center part, and more electronic component circuits are mounted than that of conventional linear motherboards of this type. It is possible to do. Therefore, an appropriate probe test can be carried out even if the device under test is a video semiconductor device.

Moreover, as described above, the fact that the linear mother board 20 itself does not have an opening means that the strength of the linear mother board 20 itself is so large that the substrate itself may be bent or distorted. , Much lower than before.

Further, since the central portion of the linear motherboard 20 can be utilized as described above, it is possible to provide a terminal for pogo pin contact in the central portion, and as a result, more probe needles can be provided in the probe card than in the conventional case. It can be provided and electrically connected to these. Therefore, it is possible to perform the probe test even on a highly integrated semiconductor device.

Further, since various measuring circuits can be mounted in the central portion of the linear motherboard 20, the distance between the measuring device and the semiconductor device, which is an object to be inspected, on the wafer W directly below the central portion can be minimized. Can be
It becomes possible to carry out an extremely accurate probe test, and it is possible to obtain highly reliable data even for high-frequency measurement in which, for example, noise and the like are easily mixed.

The pogo pin ring 30 used in the above embodiment is of a conventional type having an opening hole for a microscope in the center thereof. According to the present invention, the opening is formed in the linear motherboard 20 itself. Even if only the holes are not provided, the above-mentioned various effects such as an increase in the number of electronic circuits of the mounted electronic parts can be realized, and the effect of not hindering the use of the conventional pogo pin ring 30 can be obtained. . Of course, the probe card and the test head itself may be of a conventional type having an opening hole for a microscope in the center thereof.

Moreover, even if the pogo pin ring or the probe card of the conventional type is used, the following effects can be obtained. That is, as shown in FIG.
The pogo pin ring 30 is a conventional type having an opening hole 34 in the center, which is the same as that in the above-described embodiment, and the probe card 60 itself is also a conventional type having an opening hole 61 for inserting a microscope in the center. However, even in such a case, such an opening hole is not provided in the center of the linear motherboard 20 itself, so that the inner and outer sides of the pogo pin contact terminals 22 that are normally arranged in a ring are centered on the inner and outer sides thereof. It is possible to mount various electronic component circuits A and B which are electrically connected to the terminals 22 at the distance positions.

By arranging the electronic component circuits A and B equidistantly from the terminal 22 as described above, the distances from the probe needle 62 of the probe card 60 to the electronic component circuits A and B can be made equal to each other. Yes, as a result, the probe needle 6
2 and the electronic component circuits A and B can have exactly the same impedance, and an extremely accurate probe test can be performed. Therefore, according to the present invention, even if a device having a conventional opening hole is used for other devices other than the linear mother board which is the relay substrate, such as a test head, a pogo pin ring, and a probe card, there is no conventional method. A new effect can be obtained.

Of course, if the test head, the pogo pin ring, and the probe card are configured so as not to have the opening holes, as in the linear motherboard, the number of probe needles and the number of built-in pin electronics are further increased. It is also possible to obtain the effect that the test head can be linearly connected in the shortest distance.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the linear motherboard is used as the relay board, but the present invention can be applied to a performance board which is another relay board. The same effect as the embodiment can be obtained.

[0035]

According to the present invention, since the mounting area is larger than that of the relay board having the same size as the conventional one having the opening hole, more various electronic circuit parts and measuring circuits are mounted than the conventional one. It is also possible to increase the number of pins for connection with the contactor of the probe card. Moreover, since the degree of freedom of arrangement on the substrate is also improved, the connection wiring with this contactor can be shortened, so that accurate inspection can be performed even in high frequency measurement. In addition, since the strength of the substrate itself has also been improved compared to the past, distortion and bending can be greatly suppressed compared to the past,
The probability of contact failure is extremely low, and the probe device has high reliability.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing a state of a side end face of an example.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a linear motherboard according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a side view illustrating a relationship between an electronic component circuit mounted on a linear motherboard and a probe needle according to an embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Probe Device 10 Test Head 11 Pin Electronics 20 Linear Motherboard 30 Pogo Pin Ring 32, 33 Pogo Pin 40 Probe Card 41 Probe Needle 51 Wafer Chuck W Wafer

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A test head having a measuring circuit for inspecting electrical characteristics of various circuits, a probe card having a contactor, and a relay board electrically connecting the test head and the contactor of the probe card. The contactor of the probe card is brought into contact with a predetermined electrode pad on an object to be inspected mounted on a mounting table, and the circuit formed on the object to be inspected is inspected by the test head. In the probe device, the relay substrate is not provided with a substantial opening hole.