International Business Machines Corporation

Agilent Technologies, Inc.

William T Sprague

Carl Robert Mendel

Russell Todd Berman

Kenneth Dean Karklin

Nasser Ali Jafari

A planarization gauge assures probe card-to-wafer parallelism in semiconductor automatic test equipment (ATE) used for wafer test, and provides a standard system reference plane during the building and testing of ATE components. The planarization gauge has two planar and parallel surfaces that may serve as a system reference plane. The planarization gauge has at least one access hole for a depth gauge, and at least one optical target recognizable by a prober's upward looking camera. The planarization gauge is mechanically interchangeable with a probe card; thus, it is compatible with different planarization methods and platforms used in building and testing ATE components. The planarization gauge is manufactured and inspected in a manner as to assure traceability to established standards such as NIST. When used by all ATE vendors, the planarization gauge ensures correlation between the vendors' various planarization methods.

Unified apparatus and method to assure probe card-to-wafer parallelism in semiconductor automatic wafer test, probe card measurement systems, and probe card manufacturing

An end effector has a base on one end for mounting to an end of a robot. A mount plate is fastened to the base. The end effector also has a cylindrical body to which is mounted a mating plate. Each of these components have axial holes which align with one another. The mount plate has a pair of precision-ground bumps which mate with a pair of dimples in the mating plate. One matched bump and dimple pair is smaller in diameter than the other pair to facilitate alignment between the base and the body. The end effector also has a retaining extension spring which extends between the base and the body in tension. During routine operation, the robot moves the end effector and a tool fixture at its distal end to assemble components such as in a pick-and-place tasks. In the event that the end effector crashes into an object, the body will rotate away from the base and the bumps slide out of the dimples. The spring keeps the parts together as the base remains rigidly mounted to the robot arm and the body deflect away. After the collision, the end effector is reset by reseating the bumps in the dimples.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

William T Sprague