Probe apparatus for correcting the probe card posture before testing
US5642056A · kind A · utility
Assignees
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Dec 22, 1994 |
| Grant date | Jun 24, 1997 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 22, 2014 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01R1/07342
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A probe apparatus including a table on which a semiconductor wafer is mounted, for a wafer having a circuit connected to a plurality of pads. A probe card assembly is positioned relative to a reference plane, and has a card body and groups of probes held by a card holder. A drive system moves the table up and down to cause the pads to contact probe tips, and a test head sends test signals to the circuit through the probes and pads, which contact one another, to test the electric property of the circuit. In addition, a sensor detects the probe tip profile or levels at plural points of the probe card assembly, and a controller calculates the tilting degree and direction of probe tip profile of probe groups on the basis of the results thus detected to thereby send correction commands. A tilt correction unit supports the card holder and adjusts a level of the card holder at the plural points, in response to the command applied from the controller, to thereby make the probe tip profile or each probe group parallel to the reference plane.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.