Nhk Spring Co., Ltd.

Mitsuhiro Nagaya

Hiroshi Nakayama

Yoshio Yamada

Tsuyoshi Inuma

Takashi Akao

Toshio Kazama

Shunsuke Sasaki

Shogo Imuta

Hiroyasu Sotoma

A probe card is provided that is capable of accurately ensuring the flatness and the parallelism with respect to a predetermined reference surface. A point (Q) of application of force applied from a leaf spring () that presses a portion near an edge portion of a surface of a probe head () from which a plurality of probes projects over an entire circumference in a direction of a substrate to the probe head () is positioned inside of an outer edge of the probe head (), and a point (P) of application of force applied from the retainer () that presses a portion near an edge portion of a space transformer () over an entire circumference in the direction of the substrate to the space transformer () is positioned inside of an outer edge of the space transformer ().

Probe card for a semiconductor wafer

A probe card includes probes that come into contact with a semiconductor wafer to receive or output an electric signal; a probe head that holds the probes; a substrate that has a wiring pattern corresponding to a circuit structure for generating a signal for a test; a reinforcing member that reinforces the substrate; an interposer that is stacked on the substrate and includes a housing having connection terminals resilient in an axial direction thereof and hole portions each housing one of the connection terminals; and a space transformer that is stacked between the interposer and the probe head and transforms intervals among the wires.

Probe card

A parallelism adjusting mechanism of a probe card is provided. The parallelism adjusting mechanism can bring probes held by a probe card into uniform contact with a wafer even if a parallelism between a mounting reference surface for the probe card and the wafer as a test object is lost. To achieve this purpose, specifically, to adjust a parallelism of a probe card () that holds a plurality of probes () for electrically connecting a wafer () as a test object and a circuitry for generating a signal for a test with respect to the wafer (), adjusting screws () as at least part of an inclination changing unit are provided. The inclination changing unit changes a degree of inclination of the probe card () with respect to a mounting reference surface (S) of a prober () for mounting the probe card () thereon.

Parallelism adjusting mechanism of probe card

A probe card includes probes that are made of a conductive material and come into contact with a semiconductor wafer to receive or output an electric signal; a probe head that holds the probes; a substrate that has a wiring pattern corresponding to a circuit structure for generating a signal for a test; a reinforcing member that reinforces the substrate; an interposer that is stacked on the substrate for connection of wires of the substrate; a space transformer that is stacked between the interposer and the probe head and transforms intervals among the wires; and a plurality of first post members that have a height greater than the thickness of the substrate, and are embedded in a portion of the substrate on which the interposer is stacked.

A probe card includes a flat wiring board having a wiring pattern corresponding to a circuit structure for generating a signal for a test, an interposer that is stacked on the wiring board and relays wirings of the wiring board, a space transformer that is stacked on the interposer and fastened thereto by an adhesive, transforms a space between the wirings relayed by the interposer, and leads the wirings out to a surface opposite a surface facing the interposer, and a probe head that is stacked on the space transformer and houses and holds a plurality of probes.

Provided is a probe card capable of surely bringing probes into contact with a contact object regardless of a temperature environment of a test. To achieve the object, the probe card includes a plurality of probes that are made of a conductive material and come into contact with electrode pads of a semiconductor wafer to input or output an electric signal; a probe head that houses and holds the probes; a substrate that has a wiring pattern corresponding to the circuitry; and a space transformer that is stacked on the probe head, changes a space of the wiring pattern of the substrate and thus relays wires, and has electrode pads provided on a surface on a side opposed to the probe head in association with the relayed wires. Both ends of the probes come into contact with portions near the centers of the electrodes pads of the semiconductor wafer and the space transformer under an environment having an average temperature of a lowest temperature and a highest temperature in testing the semiconductor wafer.

A conductive contact holder and a conductive contact unit with improved corrosion resistance and with excellent durability are provided. To this end, there is provided: a holder substrate having a first opening that accepts a signaling conductive contact that inputs and outputs a signal to and from a circuitry, and a second opening that accepts a grounding conductive contact for supplying a ground potential to the circuitry; a first holding member that is inserted into the first opening to hold the signaling conductive contact; and an insulating coat that is made of an insulating material, and covers at least one surface of the holder substrate.

Conductive contact holder and conductive contact unit

A holder supported by an arm comprises a metallic reinforcing member and a plastic holder hole forming member filled in an opening formed in the reinforcing member. Holder holes are formed in the holder hole forming member, and a coil spring and electroconductive needle members are installed in each holder hole to thereby provide a contact probe having two moveable ends. Because the holder is essentially made of the metallic member, the mechanical strength of the holder can be improved over that formed strictly from plastic material. Therefore, the contact probe holder would not suffer from dimensional changes of the holder owing to aging compounded by temperature changes for testing (tests under high temperature conditions) and residual stress so that the change in the pitch of the holder holes can be avoided, and a high level of precision can be ensured. Therefore, the contact probe allows tests to be conducted in a stable manner over an extended period of time.

Growing community of inventors

Nagano, Japan

Mitsuhiro Nagaya