Wafer prober
First Claim
1. A wafer prober, comprising:
- a wafer holder for holding a wafer;
a stage operable to move said wafer holder substantially in an X-axis direction and a Y-axis direction as well as substantially in a Z-axis direction which is perpendicular to each of the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction;
a card holder for holding a probe card having a probe needle which is contactable to a bonding pad of the wafer when it is held by said wafer holder; and
detecting means operable to detect the position, with respect to the Z-axis direction, of the probe needle of the probe card as it is held by said card holder, said detecting means including a plate-like deformable member movable with said wafer holder, wherein the position of the probe needle is detected on the basic of deformation of said plate-like member by press-contact of the probe needle to said plate-like member.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Wafer prober usable for examining, in a predetermined sequence, integrated microcircuits formed on a semiconductor wafer, is disclosed. The prober includes a contact plate which is movable in a Z-axis direction (the direction of height). The contact of the contact plate to a probe needle group is detected by detecting deformation of the contact plate. From the position of the contact plate at the time of deformation, the position of the needle tips of the probe needle group in the Z-axis direction is detected automatically. In another aspect, a laser beam source and a photosensor are provided as a unit with a wafer stage which is movable in each of an X-axis direction, a Y-axis direction and a θ (rotational) direction while carrying thereon a semiconductor wafer. With the aid of the movement of the wafer stage, the laser beam emitted from the laser beam source toward the photosensor is crossed by the probe needle group. On the basis of an output of the photosensor and the position of the wafer stage, at the time of the crossing, the position of the probe needle group with respect to each of the X-axis direction, the Y-axis direction and the θ direction is detected automatically. In a further aspect, automatization of the positioning of a probe card occurs when it is introduced into a wafer prober.
155 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A wafer prober, comprising:
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a wafer holder for holding a wafer; a stage operable to move said wafer holder substantially in an X-axis direction and a Y-axis direction as well as substantially in a Z-axis direction which is perpendicular to each of the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction; a card holder for holding a probe card having a probe needle which is contactable to a bonding pad of the wafer when it is held by said wafer holder; and detecting means operable to detect the position, with respect to the Z-axis direction, of the probe needle of the probe card as it is held by said card holder, said detecting means including a plate-like deformable member movable with said wafer holder, wherein the position of the probe needle is detected on the basic of deformation of said plate-like member by press-contact of the probe needle to said plate-like member. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A wafer prober, comprising:
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a wafer holder for holding a wafer; a stage operable to move said wafer holder substantially along an X axis and a Y axis; a card holder for holding a probe card having a probe needle which is contactable to a bonding pad of the wafer as it is held by said wafer holder; and detecting means operable to detect the position, with respect to the directions along the X and Y axes, of the probe needle of the probe card as it is held by said card holder, said detecting means including a needle sensing unit which is movable as a unit with said wafer holder, said needle sensing unit having a source of a laser beam, a photodetector and a detecting optical system which is operable to direct the laser beam from said source in a direction substantially parallel to a plane defined by the X and Y axes and to direct the laser beam to said photodetector. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A wafer prober, comprising:
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a wafer holder for holding a wafer; a stage operable to move said wafer holder substantially in each of the directions of X and Y axes and in the direction of a Z axis which is perpendicular to the X and Y axes; a card holder for holding a probe card having a probe needle which is contactable to a bonding pad of the wafer as it is held by said wafer holder; and detecting means operable to detect the position, with respect to each of the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction, of the probe needle of the probe card as it is held by said card holder, said detecting means including a needle sensing member which is resiliently supported by a spring member movable in the Z-axis direction as a unit with said wafer holder and which is contactable to the probe needle of the probe card as it is held by said card holder, wherein the position of the probe needle is detected on the basis of inclination of said needle sensing member by contact to the probe needle. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
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14. A wafer prober, comprising:
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a wafer holder for holding a wafer; a stage operable to move said wafer holder substantially in the direction of X and Y axes and in the direction of a Z axis which is perpendicular to the X and Y axes; a card holder for holding a probe card having a probe needle which is contactable to a bonding pad of the wafer as it is held by said wafer holder; and detecting means operable to detect the position of the probe needle of the probe card as it is held by said card holder, said detecting means including a needle sensing unit movable as a unit with said wafer holder at least in each of the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction, said needle sensing unit having a source of a laser beam, a photodetector and a detecting optical system effective to direct the laser beam from said source substantially in parallel to a plane defined by the X and Y axes and to direct the laser beam to said photodetector, said detecting means further including a deformable plate movable with said wafer holder in the Z-axis direction, wherein the position of the probe needle in the Z-axis direction is detected on the basis of deformation of said plate by contact of the probe needle to said plate. - View Dependent Claims (15)
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Specification