Tokyo Electron Limited

Tetsuji Watanabe

Hiroshi Yamada

Takeshi Kawaji

Masaru Suzuki

Toshihiko Iijima

Kazunari Ishii

Hideo Sakagawa

Shinji Niwa

Hiroshi Suzuki

Shinya Koizumi

Koichi Matsuzaki

Kazuo Mitsui

Toshihiro Hosoda

Tetsuo Sato

Hirofumi Katagiri

In a method for thermal stabilization of a probe card, a probe card is adjusted to a prescribed temperature in a short time by making a heat source directly contact the probe card and is accurately determined whether the probe card is thermally stable. A heat transfer substrate is mounted on a mounting table. The temperature of the heat transfer substrate is adjusted through the mounting table. The mounting table is raised, and a plurality of probes is brought into contact with the heat transfer substrate at a prescribed target load. The contact load between the heat transfer substrate and the probes, which changes according to the thermal changes in the probe card, is detected. The mounting table is controlled vertically through a vertical drive mechanism such that the contact load becomes the target load until the probe card is thermally stable.

Method for thermal stabilization of probe card and inspection apparatus

A needle trace transfer member to which needle traces of probes are transferred is installed at a movable mounting table to align the probes before electrical characteristics of a target object on the mounting table are inspected by bringing the probes into electrical contact with the target object. The needle trace transfer member is made of a shape memory polymer transformed reversibly and rapidly between a glass state with a high modulus elasticity and a rubber state with a low modulus of elasticity near its glass transition temperature. The glass transition temperature is set to a temperature close to a set temperature of the mounting table. The shape memory polymer is mainly made of polyurethane-based resin.

Needle trace transfer member and probe apparatus

An inclination adjusting method adjusts an inclination of a probe card installed at a probe apparatus to make the probe card be in parallel with a mounting surface of a movable mounting table for mounting thereon an object to be inspected. The method includes: detecting an average tip height of multiple probes disposed at each of plural locations of the probe card by using a tip position detecting device; obtaining an inclination of the probe card with respect to the mounting table based on differences in the average tip heights detected from the plural locations of the probe card; and adjusting the inclination of the probe card based on the obtained inclination.

Probe card inclination adjusting method, inclination detecting method and storage medium storing a program for performing the inclination detecting method

An alignment method is used in implementation of electric characteristic inspection of an object to be inspected via electric contact between the object disposed on a movable mounting table and probes. The alignment method includes detecting tip positions of the probes by using the tip position detecting device, detecting the tip positions of the probes, previously detected by the tip position detecting device, by using the second imaging unit, transferring needle marks of the probes onto a soft member provided at the tip position detecting device by allowing the probes to come into contact with the soft member, detecting the needle marks of the probes formed on the soft member by using the first imaging unit, and detecting inspection electrodes of the object corresponding to the probes by using the first imaging unit.

Alignment method, tip position detecting device and probe apparatus

A probe device having a loader unit and two measuring units is disclosed. Each of the loader and measuring units is an independent unit supported by an independent casing. Each of the loader and measuring units has its exclusive slave CPU and integrated circuit members are under the control of this slave CPU to manage operations of members at the unit. The slave CPUs are connected to a master CPU, which controls the slave CPUs and which is also an independent unit, and they are connected to one another only through the master CPU. Program language is common to the master and slave CPUs and the units can be electrically connected to form an integral control system in which signals are exchanged among the units.

Probe device and method of controlling the same

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Nirasaki, Japan

Tetsuji Watanabe