METHOD FOR PRODUCING A PROBE CARD

Abstract

A method for producing a probe card comprises the steps of: providing a carrier board, wherein a surface of the carrier board has at least one probe guiding portion; and generating a probe on the probe guiding portion by performing additive manufacturing with a conductive material directly on the at least one probe guiding portion to generate the probe, wherein the additive manufacturing comprises directly layering the conductive material on the probe guiding portion.

Claims

1. A method for producing a probe card, the method comprising the steps of: providing a carrier board, wherein a surface of the carrier board has at least one probe guiding portion; and generating a probe on the probe guiding portion by performing additive manufacturing with a conductive material directly on the at least one probe guiding portion to generate the probe, wherein additive manufacturing comprises directly layering the conductive material on the probe guiding portion.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the additive manufacturing is micro electroforming printing.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the probe comprises a needle body and a needle tip and wherein the step of generating the probe by additive manufacturing includes the following steps: a. generating the needle body on the probe guide portion by layering, wherein the needle body includes at least one section that is not arranged perpendicular to the carrier board; and b. generating the needle tip onto the needle body by additive manufacturing.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the needle body and the needle tip are respectively made of conductive materials with different hardness.

5. The method according to claim 3, which further includes the step of: electroplating to generate a surface layer, wherein in particular electroplating is performed on the surface of the probe to generate the surface layer on the surface of the probe.

6. The method according to claim 3, which further includes forming a surface layer or a layer stack by evaporation, sputtering, and/or atomic layer deposition.

7. The method according to claim 3, wherein the needle body and optionally the needle tip comprises a helical structure.

8. The method according to claim 3, wherein the needle body comprises multiple legs.

9. The method according to claim 3, wherein the at least one section that is not arranged perpendicular to the carrier board is elastic.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein direct layering the conductive material on the probe guiding portion is repeated multiple times at different locations on the probe guiding portion or on multiple different probe guiding portions of the carrier board to generate multiple probes.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the distance between two directly adjacent probes, in particular between their respective needle tips, is 10 ?m to 1000 ?m.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the generated probe is coated with one or more coating material, wherein the coating material is different from the conductive material from which the probe is generated.

13. A probe card manufactured by a method according to claim 1, the probe card comprising a carrier board with at least one probe guide portion and a probe made from a conductive material by additive manufacturing, wherein the probe and the probe guide portion are directly materially bonded to each other.

14. The probe card according to claim 13, wherein the probe comprises a needle body and a needle tip, wherein the needle body includes at least one section that is not arranged perpendicular to the carrier board.

15. The probe card according to claim 14, wherein the at least one section of the needle body that is not arranged perpendicular to the carrier board is elastic.

16. The probe card according to claim 14, wherein the needle body and optionally the needle tip comprises a helical structure.

17. The probe card according to claim 14, wherein the needle body comprises multiple legs.

18. The probe card according to claim 13, wherein the carrier board comprises multiple probe guide portions and multiple probes, wherein each of the multiple probes is directly materially bonded to one of the guide portions.

19. The probe card according to claim 18, wherein the distance between two directly adjacent probes, in particular between their respective needle tips, is 10 ?m to 1000 ?m.

20. The probe card according to claim 13, wherein the probe comprises a coating of one or more coating material being different from the conductive material.

21. The probe card according to claim 13, wherein the probe card is used for wafer testing.

22. The method according to claim 4, wherein the hardness of the needle tip is greater than that of the needle body.

23. The method according to claim 8, wherein the needle body comprises three legs.

24. The method according to claim 11, wherein the distance between two directly adjacent probes, in particular between their respective needle tips, is between 10 ?m to 60 ?m.

25. The probe card according to claim 17, wherein the needle body comprises three legs.

26. The probe card according to claim 19, wherein the distance between two directly adjacent probes, in particular between their respective needle tips, is between 10 ?m to 60 ?m.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0035] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a conventional probe card.

[0036] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the probe manufacturing method according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

[0037] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the steps of building a probe in the first embodiment of the present invention.

[0038] FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the probe of the first embodiment of the present invention.

[0039] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the probe array according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

[0040] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the first embodiment of the present invention applied to a probe card.

[0041] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram (1) of the probe shape change of the first embodiment of the present invention.

[0042] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram (2) of the probe shape change in the first embodiment of the present invention.

[0043] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of the steps of building a probe in the second embodiment of the present invention.

[0044] FIG. 10 is a side view of the probe of the second embodiment of the present invention.

[0045] FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the probe of the second embodiment of the present invention.

[0046] FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram (1) of the probe shape change in the second embodiment of the present invention.

[0047] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram (2) of the probe shape change of the second embodiment of the present invention.

[0048] FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of the multi-probe implementation of the third embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0049] Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, the probe manufacturing method shown in an embodiment includes the following steps: [0050] Step S1: Provide a carrier board or substrate 10, the surface of the carrier board or substrate 10 has at least one probe guide portion 11; [0051] Step S2: Generating a probe, i.e. a conductive needle, on the probe guiding portion by performing additive manufacturing with a conductive material directly on the at least one probe guiding portion to generate the probe, wherein additive manufacturing comprises directly layering the conductive material on the probe guiding portion; and [0052] Step S3: electroplating to generate a surface layer 30, i.e. a conductive surface layer, electroplating is performed on the surface of the probe 20, so that a surface layer 30 is formed on the surface of the probe 20.

[0053] Step S2 shown an embodiment as follows: the step of generating the probe by additive manufacturing includes the following steps: [0054] Step S21: Generating a needle body 21a on the probe guide portion by layering, wherein the needle body includes at least one section 21a that is not arranged perpendicular to the carrier board; and [0055] Step S22: Generating a needle tip 22 onto the needle body 21 by additive manufacturing.

[0056] As shown in the FIG. 4, the main function of the carrier board or substrate 10 is to convert the space transformer with connecting the electricity paths by the adapter circuits so that the probe 20 can be indirectly connected to the test system. The carrier board or substrate 10 can be implemented in the form of a wafer or other materials in addition to a printed circuit board (PCB), such as a multilayer organic carrier (MLO) and a multilayer ceramic carrier. (MLC), glass carrier (GLASS) or silicon interposer (Silicon interposer). The probe 20 is provided to generate the required probe guiding portion 11, and the probe 20 can in general be indirectly connected with the test system through the internal conversion adapter circuit. Since the probe 20 is a direct three-dimensional printing layer generated on the probe guide portion 11, there will be sufficient contact with the probe guide portion 11, and there will be no problems of poor contact or insufficient contact area. Three-dimensional printing can use micro-electroforming printing to build up the probe 20 in layers.

[0057] Since the technology of 3D printing can reach a thickness of 1000 ?m or less, even down to a thickness of 0.2 um, when the probe 20 is generated directly through 3D printing, it will have the advantage of high precision with low variance. In addition, in response to the problem of impedance mismatch in semiconductor high-speed testing, the implementation of the present invention can provide a probe 20 with a controlled shorter distance, and a more stable structure than the prior art. The enhancement of present invention is applied to various semiconductor industries that require high-speed testing.

[0058] In implementation, the needle body 21 and the needle tip 22 can be three-dimensionally printed with conductor materials with different hardness, so that the hardness of the needle tip 22 is for example greater than that of the needle body. The purpose is to provide a more resilient needle body 21. The elastic force provides better abrasion resistance and deformation resistance of the needle tip 22. Secondly, the aforementioned step S3 is used for electroplating to form the material of the surface layer 30, which is better than the conductor material used in step S2 to build up a probe 20. For example, the probe 2 can be made of copper, nickel or nickel alloy, the difference between the needle body 21 and the tip 22 can be adjusted by the nickel content or the mixed type of nickel alloy or an entirely different material, and the surface layer 30 can be gold, platinum, palladium, rhodium, graphene or made of other good conductors and other materials. (The surface layer 30 is located on the surface of the probe 20. The following description will omit the labeling of the surface layer 30 to avoid misunderstanding of the symbols of various components.)

[0059] In the following, reference is made to FIGS. 5 and 6. Because 3D printing has the advantages of high precision and direct molding, it is very suitable for miniaturization, high density, and large number of repeated build-up processing. Easily complete the generation of the plurality of probes 20 and is directly arrange them into the required array form to correspond to the semiconductor terminals 41 of the semiconductor device 40 to be tested. As the plurality of probes 20 is directly arranged on the probe guiding portions 11 of the carrier board 10, an additional step of attaching probes 20 on the carrier board 10 is dispensed with, thereby providing a more efficient production process and reducing the production cost.

[0060] Probe 20 shown in FIG. 7 has a different shape than the probe shown in FIG. 4. The needle body 21 is arranged on probe guide portion 11 by additive manufacturing, and the bottom end of the needle body 21 has a base 21b. An elastic section 21a extends vertically and diagonally above the base 21b, onto which tip 22 is printed. It is generated at the end of the elastic section 21a, so as to generate a better connection area between the base 21b and the probe guiding portion 11.

[0061] FIG. 8 shows another probe 20 produced according to an embodiment of the method according to the invention. The probe 20 shown in the FIG. 8 has a different shape than the probe shown in FIG. 4. Needle body 21 is generated by additive manufacturing on probe guide portion 11, the elastic section 21a has a helical structure and covers essentially the entire needle body 21. Needle tip 22 is generated by additive manufacturing on the end of the needle body 21, to produce a better elastic effect through helical elastic section 21a.

[0062] FIGS. 9 to 11 are schematic diagrams of the steps of building a probe according to another embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment also includes step S1, Step S2 and Step S3. However, the embodiment is different from the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 in that the step of generating a probe layer by layer includes the following steps: [0063] Step S23: A plurality of needle bodies 21 are generated by direct additive manufacturing on the probe guide portion 11, and each needle body 21 of the plurality of needle bodies 21 includes at least one elastic section 21a that is not perpendicular to the carrier board 10; and [0064] Step 24: Generating a needle tip 22 by additive manufacturing onto the plurality of needle bodies 21 to generate the corresponding needle tips 22.

[0065] A plurality of needle bodies 21 generated such that an S-shaped shaped elastic section 21a of the needle body is provided. A plurality of joint regions can be formed between the probe guide portion 11 and the structure stress can be enhanced. To improve the overall conductive effect, a needle tip 22 is formed on the plural needle bodies 21 so that the plural needle bodies 21 can be fixed thereto. When the needle tip 22 subjected to force, the pressure can be evenly distributed to the needle bodies 21, and each needle body 21 can provide elastic deformation thereby entailing retraction of the needle tip 22. This makes the probe 20 more robust and durable, and also has a good detection effect. Such a structure and function of probe 20 cannot be manufactured by traditional methods. This embodiment can further prove that the present invention directly uses a conductive material on the probe connecting portion 11 to generate a probe by three-dimensional printing layer. The technology of 20 can provide a probe 20 with a more complicated structure change and a more delicate design.

[0066] FIG. 12, which is the probe 20 produced according to the method shown in the second embodiment, the probe 20 shown in FIG. 12 comprises a needle body 21 including three legs. Section 21a further comprises a helical structure and covers the entire needle body 21.

[0067] Probe 20 shown in FIG. 13 has needle body 21 similar to the probe shown in FIG. 12, which also comprises three legs. Section 21a comprises a helical structure and covers essentially the entire needle body 21. The main difference lies in the length of the needle body 21 and the helical shape of elastic section 21a. The position of the needle tip 22 at the end of the plural needle bodies 21 is changed, the overall length of the probe 20 and the inclination angle of section 21a is different, which will profoundly influence the resilient behavior of the needle.

[0068] FIG. 14 shows probes 20 of various lengths, spacing, sizes or shapes directly manufactured on the same carrier board 10. Compared with the general implementation of FIG. 1 in which a plurality of probes 20 of a single length, a single size, or a single shape are combined in an array, this embodiment can overcome problems of the prior art occurring when the semiconductor terminals 41 on the surface of the semiconductor object 40 to be tested are arranged with different heights or with different pitches. A probe card according to the invention may comprise probes 20 of various lengths, spacing, sizes or shapes on the same carrier 10 directly by additive manufacturing, so that there are two or more types on the same carrier 10. Additionally, or alternatively, by providing elastic or resilient probes, height differences can be accommodated for.

[0069] The above are only examples to illustrate the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of implementation. All simple replacements and equivalent changes made in accordance with the scope of the patent application of the present invention and the contents of the patent specification. All belong to the scope of patent application of the present invention.

SYMBOL DESCRIPTION

[0070] 10 . . . carrier board [0071] 11 . . . probe guiding portion [0072] 20 . . . probe [0073] 21 . . . needle body [0074] 21a . . . section of the needle body [0075] 21b . . . base of the needle body [0076] 22 . . . needle tip [0077] 30 . . . surface [0078] 90 . . . carrier board [0079] 91 . . . probe assembly [0080] 92 . . . guide plate [0081] 93 . . . probe [0082] 931 . . . connecting End [0083] 932 . . . test side [0084] 933 . . . bending section [0085] 94 . . . probe connector [0086] 95 . . . space adaptation circuit [0087] 96 . . . circuit board [0088] 97 . . . semiconductor device under test [0089] 971 . . . semiconductor terminal