Wafer holder, heater unit used for wafer prober and having wafer holder, and wafer prober

• US 20080211526A1
• Filed: 07/25/2006
• Published: 09/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sumitomo Electric Industries Limited (Sumitomo Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sumitomo Electric Industries Limited (Sumitomo Corporation)
• Inventors: Nakata, Hirohiko, Awazu, Tomoyuki, Shinma, Kenji, Itakura, Katsuhiro
• Application Number:
  US11/492,225
• Publication Number:
  US 20080211526A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 324/760
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/2865 Holding devices, e.g. chucks; Handlers or transport devices having contacts G01R31/2863
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/2875 related to heating
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67109 mainly by convection
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/68757 characterised by a coating or a hardness or a material
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 279/17 Socket type

Abstract

By wafer holder including a chuck top for mounting a wafer and a supporter supporting the chuck top and having flatness of at most 0.1 mm, a heater unit for a wafer prober and the wafer prober using the wafer holder, a wafer holder and a wafer prober apparatus hardly deformable even under high load and capable of effectively preventing contact failure, and capable of preventing temperature increase in a driving system when a semiconductor wafer having semiconductor chips with minute circuitry that requires high accuracy is heated can be provided. In the wafer holder of the present invention, the flatness of the supporter is preferably at most 0.05 mm, and more preferably at most 0.01 mm.

Claims

1. A wafer holder, comprising:

a chuck top for mounting a semiconductor wafer; and

a supporter supporting the chuck top, and having flatness of at most 0.1 mm.

2. The wafer holder according to claim 1, wherein

flatness of said supporter is at most 0.05 mm.

3. The wafer holder according to claim 1, wherein

flatness of said supporter is at most 0.01 mm.

4. The wafer holder according to claim 1, wherein

Young'"'"'s modulus of said supporter is at least 200 GPa.

5. The wafer holder according to claim 1, wherein

said supporter includes a circular tube portion.

6. The wafer holder according to claim 1, wherein

said supporter includes a plurality of pillars.

7. The wafer holder according to claim 1, wherein

thermal conductivity of said supporter is at most 40 W/mK.

8. The wafer holder according to claim 1, wherein

main component of a material forming said supporter is any of mullite, alumina and a mullite-alumina composite.

9. A heater unit for a wafer prober comprising the wafer holder in accordance with claim 1.

10. A wafer prober comprising the heater unit in accordance with claim 9.