JPS60198838A - Probe card - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To relieve an impact to be applied to an electrode, and to obtain low contact resistance of a probe card by a method wherein when the probe card to be used for the electric characteristic inspection of a semiconductor wafer is to be manufactured, a metallic protrusion is provided on an insulating substrate interposing a silicon resin film or a polyimide resin film between them. CONSTITUTION:An elastic film 12 having an insulating property such as a silicone rubber film or a polyimide resin film, etc. is stuck on the back of an insulating substrate 11 consisting of glass or glass.epoxy, etc., and a recess part is formed at the central part. Then an extended electrode 13 of Cr, Ag, Au, etc. is adhered on the surface of the film 12 excluding the recess part, and a metallic protrusion 14 formed according to plating consisting of Au, Ag, etc. is formed on the protruded part in the periphery of the recess part. When a probe card is manufactured in such a way, the card comes in contact with an electrode provided to a wafer with low contact resistance, and contact pressure is equalized. Moreover application of damage to the electrode is avoided, and peeling off of the protrusion 14 is not also generated at repeatedly using time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a probe card used for testing electrical characteristics of semiconductor wafers.

In the manufacturing process of a semiconductor device, a large number of semiconductor device elements are usually formed on a single semiconductor crystal substrate (wafer) using a photo-etching technique.

When these devices are completed on the wafer, the electrical characteristics of the devices are tested, which is called a wafer test or a blobbing test.

Thereafter, these substrates are cut and divided into individual elements and mounted in a container. Here, during the above-mentioned wafer inspection, it is necessary to electrically connect the semiconductor device and the electrical property inspection device.

Conventionally, the above-mentioned electrical connection has been made by using a so-called globe card and connecting a metal probe to a predetermined electrode of the semiconductor device.

The above-mentioned probe card has a plurality of metal needle-like probes fixed on an insulating substrate almost parallel to each other, and the tips of the probes are bent in a direction almost perpendicular to the substrate surface. It is a trap that makes contact with the electrode.

In the structure of the probe card as described above, poor contact is likely to occur due to variations in the height of the tip portions of the many probes and misalignment with the electrodes of the elements. Furthermore, manufacturing a probe card with a large number of needle-shaped probes requires advanced technology for controlling the position and height of the probe tip, making it difficult to automate the production and mass-produce the card. Therefore, the glove card was very expensive, and it took nine months of effort and time to create it.

In recent years, the degree of integration of semiconductor devices has been rapidly increasing.
Along with this, the electrode area and electrode spacing are becoming smaller. However, since the probe card is manufactured manually, the spacing between the probes is naturally limited, which hinders the increase in the degree of integration of the semiconductor device.

In order to improve the above-mentioned drawbacks of conventional probe cards, a probe card having protrusions of conductive material on an insulating substrate was devised. The contents are, for example,
7644, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 51-121267, Patent Application No. 53-5
No. 7807, etc.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an example glove card according to the prior art.

This probe card has a structure in which an extended electrode 2 for transmitting signals is provided on the main surface of an insulating substrate 1, and a protrusion 3 made of a conductive material is provided on the main surface of the extended electrode 2.

Here, as the conductive substance, conductive rubber or metal such as gold or silver is used. Furthermore, the protrusions 3 made of conductive material are set at positions corresponding to predetermined electrode positions of the semiconductor device.

Now, when performing a wafer inspection using a probe card having the above-mentioned protrusions, the above-mentioned protrusions must satisfy the following requirements.

(1): In order to have low contact resistance between each protrusion and the electrode of the semiconductor device, equal contact pressure should be applied to each protrusion or electrode.

(2): It must be able to sufficiently absorb the impact when the protrusion and the electrode come into contact, so as not to damage the electrode part.

(3): In order to accurately perform wafer inspection, the electrical resistance of the protrusion itself must be low.

(Excellent: Even if you repeat contact and non-contact many times, the above (1)
.

In addition to satisfying the requirements (2) and (3), each protrusion must not peel off from the insulating substrate.

By the way, the protrusions according to the prior art are as described in (1) and (2).
) # It was not possible to satisfy all of the requirements in (3) and (4). When conductive rubber is used for the tabs and protrusions, the resistance of the protrusions themselves is high, reducing the yield in inspection. Furthermore, the tips of the protrusions were severely degraded by oxidation due to heat generated by the current during wafer inspection, and the life of the glove card was extremely short.

In addition, if metal such as gold or silver is used as the protrusion,
The elasticity was weak and the impact when the protrusions and electrodes came into contact could not be fully absorbed. As a result, there were many accidents in which the electrode part was damaged.

As described above, the glove cards according to the prior art have many problems in use and are not suitable for practical use.

The present invention aims to improve the drawbacks of the glove card according to the prior art and provide a glove card that causes no practical problems.

In the present invention, an insulating elastic film having a predetermined shape is provided on the entire surface of an insulating substrate, an extended electrode is provided on the main surface of the elastic film, and a metallic film is further provided on the main surface of the extended electrode. The probe card is characterized by having a structure in which a protrusion is provided.

The present invention will be explained by way of examples.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a probe card showing one embodiment of the present invention. A 100 μm thick film obtained by applying silicone rubber, polyimide, etc. on the main surface of an insulating substrate 11 made of glass or glass epoxy 7, etc., and then photoetching it.
An insulating elastic film 12 made of silicone rubber, polyimide, or the like is provided to a certain thickness. Further, an extended electrode 13 is provided on the main surface of the elastic film by sputtering Or, Ag, Au, etc., and then photoetching. Two layers of Au, Ag, etc. are placed on the main surface of the extended electrode.
It is formed by plating to a thickness of 0 .mu.m to 50 .mu.m and is provided with a metal projection 14.

The glove card according to the present invention can satisfy all of the requirements (1), (2), and (3L (4)) required for the projections. Furthermore, the height of the metal protrusions can be easily controlled. Therefore, the height of each protrusion can be made approximately equal, and each protrusion can be in contact with the electrode with equal contact pressure.Next, silicone rubber or An insulating elastic film such as polyimide can sufficiently absorb the impact when the protrusion and the electrode come into contact, and will not damage the electrode part.Furthermore, the electrical resistance of the metal protrusion itself is extremely low, making it difficult to inspect the wafer. can be carried out accurately.At the same time, the elastic membrane and the metal protrusion have sufficient strength against thermal stress or mechanical stress.The contact between the protrusion and the electrode,
Even if you repeat non-contact many times, (1), (2),
The requirement (3) can be fully satisfied.

For the above reasons, the glove card according to the present invention poses no practical problems in wafer inspection.

Furthermore, since the glove card according to the present invention can be manufactured using the photo-etching technique, which has made significant progress in recent years, it is possible to fully automate the manufacturing process. For the sake of
No advanced technology is required to manufacture the probe card.

As described above, the present invention makes it possible to solve all the conventional problems with probe cards having multimetallic protrusions, and to put it into practical use.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an example of a glove card according to the prior art, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1.11...Insulating substrate, 2゜13...Extended electrode, 3.14...Protrusion, 12...Insulating elastic It is a membrane.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A probe card having a metallic protrusion on one main surface of an insulating substrate, characterized in that the metallic protrusion is installed via an insulating elastic membrane having a predetermined shape. probe card. (2) The glove card according to claim (1), characterized in that the elastic film is made of a resin whose main raw material is silicon or polyimide.