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Probe system and probe method

  • US 5,640,101 A
  • Filed: 04/18/1996
  • Issued: 06/17/1997
  • Est. Priority Date: 03/31/1994
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A method of detecting a coordinate point of a chip in a probe system for testing electrical characteristics of a plurality of chips arranged in a matrix on a substrate, said system comprising:

  • a probe card on which a plurality of probes are disposed to be brought into contact with the chips,a tester for exchanging an electrical signal with the chips through said probes,a stage arranged to oppose said probe card and movable in directions of two-dimensional axes,a table which is supported on said stage to be rotatable within a horizontal plane, and adapted to place the substrate thereon,image pickup means, disposed above said table such that a field of view thereof faces downward, for picking up an image of the substrate,a target supported by said stage and having a reference point to be aligned with an optical axis of said image pickup means, anda control and processing section connected to said table, said stage, and said image pickup means, so as to control operations thereof, and to process and store signals therefrom, said control and processing section serving to recognize a position of said stage in the directions of the two-dimensional axes based on a two-dimensional coordinate system defined by operation signals exchanged between said control and processing section and said stage, andsaid method comprising;

    a step of inputting a design map of the matrix of the chips in said control and processing section;

    an aligning step of aligning the optical axis of said image pickup means with said reference point, and storing a position of said stage obtained at this time, as a reference coordinate point of the optical axis of said image pickup means in the two-dimensional coordinate system, in said control and processing section;

    a substrate image pickup step of moving said stage by said control and processing section based on the design map, capturing respective specific portions of first, second and third chips selected from said plurality of chips within the field of view of said image pickup means, setting the specific portions to coincide with the optical axis of said image pickup means, and storing positions of said stage obtained at these time, as first, second and third coordinate points of the respective specific portions of the first, second and third chips in the two-dimensional coordinate system, in said control and processing section, where the first and second chips belong to the same row of the matrix while the first and third chips belong to the same column of the matrix, and the respective specific portions of the first, second and third chips have identical positional relationship with the first, second and third chips; and

    a calculation step of calculating, by said control and processing section, coordinated points of chips located between the first and second chips, and between the first and third chips, in the two-dimensional coordinate system based on the first, second and third coordinate points in accordance with proportional distribution.

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