The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 09, 1997
Filed:
Oct. 23, 1996
Applicant:
Inventors:
David A Abercrombie, Cedar Park, TX (US);
Whitson G Waldo, Hutto, TX (US);
Assignee:
Motorola, Inc., Schaumburg, IL (US);
Attorneys:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01R / ; G01R / ; H01R / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
324754 ; 29885 ; 430313 ;
Abstract
An apparatus and method for laser ablating residue off of probe tips. In one embodiment, the probe tips of the probe needles (16) contact the test pads of an integrated circuit on a wafer (18). The probe tips build up a residue over time. This residue is due to the probe tips coming into contact with integrated circuit wafer layers such as layers (114), (120), (122), (124), and (126). This residue can be vaporized from the surface of the probe needles via exposure to a laser light. The probe needles (16) are exposed to a laser light created by a laser source (28) and ported to the probe tips by a fiber optic cable (26).