JP2000329788A - Probe card and testing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a probe card and a testing device capable of easily coming into contact with electric terminals of an electric component. SOLUTION: A probe part 20 or a testing device is used for testing the characteristics of an electric component and is provided with a plurality of contacts 38 to be in contact with electric terminals, a contact substrate 36 to join the contacts 38, a signal transmitting part to transmit an electric signal to the contact substrate 36, and an automatic leveling mechanism 44 to rotate the contact substrate 36 with the vicinity of the center of gravity of the contact substrate 36 as a fulcrum.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a probe card and a test apparatus used for testing characteristics of an electric component. In particular, the present invention relates to a probe card and a test apparatus that can easily contact an electric terminal of an electric component.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a conventional probe card. A conventional probe card is a printed wiring board 3
0, interposer 31, contact base 36, contact 3
8 and a leveling mechanism 34. The printed wiring board 30 transmits an electric signal from the tester main body to the interposer 31. The interposer 31 transmits an electric signal to the contact board 36. The contact base 36 transmits an electric signal to the plurality of contacts 38. The contact 38 contacts an electric terminal of the electric component and exchanges an electric signal. The leveling mechanism 34 manually adjusts the distance and parallelism between the printed wiring board 30 and the contact board 36.

In the conventional probe card, a leveling process for adjusting the distance and the parallelism between the printed wiring board 30 and the contact base 36 is manually performed, which requires time and labor. Further, since the interposer 31 is a non-transmission line, it is not suitable for a high-speed test.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a probe card and a test apparatus which can solve the above-mentioned problems. This object is achieved by a combination of features described in the independent claims. The dependent claims define further advantageous embodiments of the present invention.

[0005]

That is, a probe card according to a first embodiment of the present invention is a probe card used to test the characteristics of an electric component by contacting an electric terminal of the electric component, A plurality of contacts for contacting the electrical terminals; a contact base for joining the contacts; a signal transmission unit for transmitting an electric signal to the contact base; and And an automatic leveling mechanism for rotating.

An automatic leveling mechanism may rotate the contact base about two substantially perpendicular axes. The probe card may further include a printed wiring board for transmitting an electric signal from the tester main body to the signal transmission unit. The impedance of the signal transmission unit may be matched to the impedance of the line on the printed wiring board. The contact base may further include a contact portion that contacts the electric component. The distance between the point where the contact portion contacts the electric component and the contact base may be shorter than the distance between the tip of the contact and the contact base.

[0007] The test apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention comprises:
A test device for testing characteristics of an electric component, the signal generating unit generating an electric signal for testing the electric component, and transmitting the electric signal generated by the signal generating unit to the electric component, from the electric component A probe card for receiving a response signal, and a logical comparison unit for comparing the expected value signal generated by the signal generation unit and the response signal received by the probe card,
The probe card includes a plurality of contacts for contacting the electric terminals of the electric component, a contact base for joining the contacts, a signal transmission unit for transmitting a signal to the contact base, and a vicinity of the center of gravity of the contact base. And an automatic leveling mechanism for rotating the contact base as a fulcrum.

[0008] An automatic leveling mechanism may rotate the contact base about two substantially perpendicular axes. The probe card may further include a printed wiring board that transmits the electric signal to the signal transmission unit. The impedance of the signal transmission unit may be matched to the impedance of the line on the printed wiring board.

The above summary of the invention does not enumerate all of the necessary features of the present invention, and sub-combinations of these features may also constitute the invention.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described through embodiments of the present invention. However, the following embodiments do not limit the claimed invention and have the features described in the embodiments. Not all combinations are essential to the solution of the invention.

FIG. 2 shows a basic configuration of a test apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. Test apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment
Includes a signal generation unit 10, a logic comparison unit 18, a probe card 20, and a control unit 50.

The signal generator 10 includes a timing generator 1
2, a pattern generator 14 and a waveform shaping circuit 16 are provided. The timing generator 12 transmits a clock signal for setting a test timing to the waveform shaping circuit 16 and the logic comparing unit 18. The pattern generator 14 generates an input signal for the test and transmits it to the waveform shaping circuit 16. Further, the pattern generator 14 transmits an expected value signal expected that the wafer under test 22 responds to the input signal to the logical comparison unit 18. The waveform shaping circuit 16 converts the input signal transmitted from the pattern generator 14 into the timing generator 1
2 is formed based on the clock signal transmitted from 2 and transmitted to the probe card 20.

The probe card 20 includes a wafer under test 22.
And a response signal to the input signal is received from the wafer under test 22. The control unit 50 controls the position and the like of the probe card 20 with respect to the wafer under test 22. The logic comparing unit 18 compares the expected value signal transmitted from the pattern generator 14 with the response signal transmitted from the probe card 20 while taking timing based on the clock signal transmitted from the timing generator 12. Based on the determination result output from the logical comparison unit 18, it can be determined whether or not the electrical characteristics of the wafer under test 22 match the expected characteristics.

FIG. 3 shows a detailed configuration of the probe card 20. The probe card 20 is connected to the printed wiring board 3
0, a flexible printed circuit board 32 as an example of a signal transmission unit, a contact base 36, a contact 38, a contact unit 40, and an automatic leveling mechanism 44.

The printed circuit board 30 is provided with the waveform shaping circuit 1.
The input signal transmitted from 6 is transmitted to the flexible printed board 32. The flexible printed board 32 transmits an input signal transmitted from the printed wiring board 30 to the contact board 36. The flexible printed board 32
It has elasticity, and even if the distance between the printed wiring board 30 and the contact board 36 changes, it maintains its contact by being deformed. The impedance of the flexible wiring board 32 may be matched to the impedance of the line in the printed wiring board 30. According to this, the length of the non-transmission line is reduced, and the test can be performed at higher speed. The contact board 36 transmits an input signal to the plurality of contacts 38. The contact 38 contacts an electric terminal of the wafer under test 22 and exchanges an electric signal.

The contact portion 40 contacts the wafer under test 22. The controller 50 sets the probe card 20 to the wafer under test 2.
When approaching to 2, the probe card 20 stops when the contact portion 40 contacts the wafer under test 22. According to this, when the contact 38 comes into contact with the electric terminal of the wafer under test 22, it is possible to prevent the contact 38 and the electric terminal from being subjected to an excessive load. The contact portion 40 may have elasticity. Alternatively, the distance between the point at which the contact portion 40 contacts the wafer under test 22 and the contact base 36 may be shorter than the distance between the tip of the contact 38 and the contact base 36. According to this, the contact 38 can reliably contact the electrical terminals of the wafer under test 22. Contact part 40
Is preferably in contact with the inter-chip space of the wafer under test 22. According to this, it is possible to prevent the electric circuit of the wafer under test 22 from being damaged.

The automatic leveling mechanism 44 includes a contact base 3
The contact base 36 is rotated with the vicinity of the center of gravity of 6 as a fulcrum. The automatic leveling mechanism 44 according to the present embodiment rotates the contact base 36 about two substantially perpendicular shafts 45a and 45b. Here, "substantially perpendicular" means that the two axes 45a, 4a
5b is not limited to being on the same plane.
a, 45b are in the twisted position and the two shafts 45a,
45b includes a case where the direction vector is substantially vertical. In the automatic leveling mechanism 44 according to the present embodiment, two shafts 45a and 45b are fulcrums.

FIG. 4 is a view for explaining the principle of the automatic leveling mechanism 44. When the control unit 50 moves the probe card 20 closer to the wafer under test 22, the contact portion 40 and the contact 38 closest to the wafer under test 22 first contact the wafer under test 22. When the probe card 20 is further moved closer to the wafer under test 22, the contacted portion receives a rotational moment 80 due to the reaction force of the load on the wafer under test 22. The automatic leveling mechanism 44 rotates the contact base 36 by the rotation moment 80. Eventually, the automatic leveling mechanism 44 causes the rotational moment 70 of its own weight of the contact base 36 and the contact 38
The contact base 36 is rotated so that the rotation of the contact base 36 balances with the rotational moment 80 due to the reaction force of the load applied to the electric terminals of the wafer 22 under test. According to this, the angle between the contact base 36 and the wafer under test 22 is automatically adjusted so that the contact 38 reliably contacts the electrical terminals of the wafer under test 22 and does not apply an excessive load. Can be adjusted. The same effect can be obtained even in a configuration in which the contact portion 40 is omitted.

The technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the scope described in the above embodiment. It is apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes or improvements can be added to the above embodiment. It is apparent from the description of the appended claims that embodiments with such changes or improvements can be included in the technical scope of the present invention.

[0020]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a probe card and a test apparatus which can easily contact the electric terminals of the electric parts.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional probe card.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a test apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the probe card according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of an automatic leveling mechanism of the probe card of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Test apparatus 10 Signal generation part 12 Timing generator 14 Pattern generator 16 Waveform shaper 18 Logical comparison part 20 Probe card 22 Wafer under test 30 Printed wiring board 31 Interposer 32 Flexible printed board 34 Leveling mechanism 36 Contact base 38 Contact Reference Signs List 40 Contact part 44 Automatic leveling mechanism 45a, 45b Shaft 50 Control part 60 Support point 70 Rotational moment due to dead weight of contact base 80 Rotational moment due to reaction force of contact load

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A probe card for contacting an electric terminal of an electric component and used for testing characteristics of the electric component, comprising: a plurality of contacts for contacting the electric terminal; A contact base to be joined; a signal transmission unit for transmitting an electric signal to the contact base; and an automatic leveling mechanism for rotating the contact base with a fulcrum near a center of gravity of the contact base. Probe card. 2. An automatic leveling mechanism comprising:
The probe card according to claim 1, wherein the contact base is rotated with respect to one axis. 3. The probe card according to claim 1, wherein the probe card further includes a printed wiring board that transmits an electric signal from a tester main body to the signal transmission unit. 4. The probe card according to claim 3, wherein the impedance of the signal transmission unit is matched with the impedance of a line on the printed wiring board. 5. The probe card according to claim 1, wherein the contact base further includes a contact portion that contacts the electric component. 6. A distance between a point where the contact portion contacts the electric component and the contact base is shorter than a distance between a tip of the contact and the contact base. 6. The probe card according to 5. 7. A test device for testing characteristics of an electric component, comprising: a signal generation unit for generating an electric signal for testing the electric component; and an electric signal generated by the signal generation unit for the electric device. A probe card that transmits to a component and receives a response signal from the electrical component, and a logical comparison unit that compares the expected value signal generated by the signal generation unit with the response signal received by the probe card, wherein the probe card is A plurality of contacts for contacting the electrical terminals of the electrical component; a contact base for joining the contacts; a signal transmission unit for transmitting a signal to the contact base; and a vicinity of a center of gravity of the contact base. And an automatic leveling mechanism for rotating the contact base with a fulcrum as a fulcrum. 8. The automatic leveling mechanism according to claim 1, wherein
The test apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the contact base is rotated with respect to one axis. 9. The test apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the probe card further includes a printed wiring board that transmits an electric signal to the signal transmission unit. 10. The impedance of the signal transmission unit is:
The test apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the impedance is matched to the impedance of the line on the printed wiring board.