Microprobe tips and methods for making
US7273812B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 7, 2005 |
| Grant date | Sep 25, 2007 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 7, 2025 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10T29/49222
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to the formation of microprobe tips elements having a variety of configurations. In some embodiments tips are formed from the same building material as the probes themselves, while in other embodiments the tips may be formed from a different material and/or may include a coating material. In some embodiments, the tips are formed before the main portions of the probes and the tips are formed in proximity to or in contact with a temporary substrate. Probe tip patterning may occur in a variety of different ways, including, for example, via molding in patterned holes that have been isotropically or anisotropically etched silicon, via molding in voids formed in exposed photoresist, via molding in voids in a sacrificial material that have formed as a result of the sacrificial material mushrooming over carefully sized and located regions of dielectric material, via isotropic etching of the tip material around carefully sized and placed etching shields, via hot pressing, and the like.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.