KR20070005786A - Inspection equipment with a device to cool the probe card holder - Google Patents

Abstract

An inspection instrument with a device for cooling a probe card holder is presented. According to the present invention, a hot chuck that supports and heats a wafer to be subjected to electrical inspection, a probe card having needles to contact the wafer, and is held in contact with one side of the probe card The inspection includes a probe card holder, a head plate opposed to the head plate, and a refrigerant flow path configured to circulate refrigerant inside the probe card holder, and a refrigerant inflow flow path and a refrigerant discharge flow path extending through the head plate to be connected thereto. Present the equipment. In this case, a sealing member may be further introduced to prevent the leakage of the refrigerant circulated between the head plate and the probe card holder.

Description

Test equipment having cooling unit for cooling probe card holder

1 is a schematic cross-sectional view for explaining a typical semiconductor inspection equipment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view for explaining a method of cooling a probe card needle in a typical semiconductor inspection equipment.

FIG. 3 is a plan view schematically illustrating a semiconductor inspection apparatus having a device for cooling a probe card holder according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a plan view schematically illustrating a probe card holder having a cooling channel according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to semiconductor inspection equipment and, more particularly, to inspection equipment having a device for cooling a probe card holder to prevent the influence of probe card needles due to high temperatures. .

In manufacturing a semiconductor device, a process of inspecting electrical characteristics of the manufactured device has been introduced. For example, inspections for electrical die sorting (EDS) of semiconductor devices are being performed, and equipment for such inspections has been developed in various forms.

1 is a schematic cross-sectional view for explaining a typical semiconductor inspection equipment. FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view for explaining a method of cooling a probe card needle in a typical semiconductor inspection equipment.

Referring to FIG. 1, an apparatus for inspecting electrical characteristics of a semiconductor device, for example, an EDS inspection apparatus, is composed of various components, but a portion for performing electrical inspection is a tester head 10 and a pogo. The probe card 30 and the probe card holder 45 including the pogo block 20 including the pins 21 and the head plate 41 and the needle 35 are removed. A chuck 50 is introduced at a position corresponding to a portion for performing such inspection, and a wafer 60 to be inspected is introduced on the chuck 50.

At this time, the chuck 50 is composed of a hot chuck. In this case, the heat emitted from the chuck 50 not only heats the wafer 60 on the chuck 50, but also the probe card holder 45, the probe card 30, the needle 35, and the like introduced thereon. This heat can diffuse and heat them.

When the probe card holder 45, the probe card 30, the needle 35, and the like are heated by such hot diffusion, the probe card holder 45, the probe card 30, the needle 35, and the like are minutely heated by such heating. Deformation may occur. The positions of the probe card holder 45, the probe card 30 and the needle 35, etc., are in a very finely controlled state because the needle 35 contacts the contact pads of the chip on the wafer 60. .

However, when minute deformation occurs in the probe card holder 45, the probe card 30, the needle 35, or the like by heating, the position of the needle 35 with respect to the chip pads of the wafer 60 is changed. Will be. When the position of the needle 35 is changed, the contact point of the needle 35 in contact with the chip pad is changed, so that the contact marks of the wafer, which are marks imprinted by the needle on the pad, are not uniform. Changing defects are generated. Such defects in contact marks may act as a factor in generating defects when forming external connection terminals such as solder or bumps on the pad.

Referring to FIG. 2, in order to prevent deformation of the probe card needle 35, a method of cooling the needle 35 by blowing air to the needle 35 may be considered. For this purpose, an air path 70 may be introduced near the needle 35 as shown in FIG. 2. The air flow supplied to the needle 35 through the air flow path 70 is air in to the air flow path 70 to pass through the needle 35 and air out behind it. The effect of cooling the needle 35 is realized.

However, the air flow affects not only the needle 35 but also the wafer 60 lying on the high temperature chuck 50, so that the temperature of the wafer 60 changes. As a result, the reliability test of the wafer 60 may not be accurately performed.

Accordingly, development of a method capable of lowering the temperature of the needle 35 without affecting the wafer 60 mounted on the chuck 50 is required.

The technical problem to be achieved by the present invention, an electrical inspection of the wafer mounted on the hot chuck prevents the deformation of the needle by the heat emitted from the hot chuck and inspection with a cooling device that can exclude the temperature change of the wafer To present the equipment.

One aspect of the present invention for achieving the above technical problem is a probe card having a wafer to be subjected to electrical inspection, a hot chuck for supporting the wafer but heating, and a needle to contact the wafer ( probe card, a probe card holder having an opening to allow the needle to contact the wafer, the probe card holder holding and holding in contact with one surface of the probe card, and a refrigerant circulated inside the probe card holder, A semiconductor inspection apparatus including a refrigerant passage for cooling the needle through cooling of the probe card holder through circulation of a refrigerant is provided.

The semiconductor inspection equipment includes a pogo block having pogo pins to contact the probe card, a test head introduced on the pogo block, and a probe card holder on the probe card. It may further comprise a head plate introduced at a location.

In this case, the refrigerant passage further includes an introduction passage and an extraction passage extending through the head plate and are introduced between the head plate and the probe card holder to connect the refrigerant passage with the introduction passage and the extraction passage. It may further include a sealing member to prevent the leakage of the refrigerant.

The refrigerant passage may be branched into a plurality of passages in the probe card holder and include a plurality of inlets and outlets.

The refrigerant may be a flow of air or a liquid refrigerant.

According to the present invention, the refrigerant can be circulated inside the probe card holder of the semiconductor inspection equipment, thereby providing a way to cool the probe card holder. The coolant merely circulates inside the probe card holder and does not touch the wafer mounted on the hot chuck, thus preventing deformation of the probe card needle and effectively preventing temperature changes to the wafer.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, embodiments of the present invention may be modified in many different forms, and the scope of the present invention should not be construed as being limited by the embodiments described below. Embodiments of the invention are preferably to be interpreted as being provided to those skilled in the art to more fully describe the invention.

In an embodiment of the present invention, in order to prevent deformation of the probe card needle due to heat radiated from the high temperature chuck when the wafer mounted on the high temperature chuck is electrically inspected, the refrigerant is circulated in the probe card holder to allow the refrigerant to circulate. Gives the way to cool. At this time, the refrigerant merely circulates inside the probe card holder and does not touch the wafer mounted on the high temperature chuck, thereby effectively preventing the temperature change to the wafer.

The temperature of the probe card holder, the probe card and the needle may be lowered by absorbing and exiting the heat transferred from the high temperature chuck while the refrigerant or cooling air flow circulates inside the probe card holder. Since the temperature of the probe card holder, the probe card and the needle can be maintained at an appropriate temperature, for example, room temperature, no deformation due to heat can occur so that a constant uniform contact mark is formed on the pad of the chip.

FIG. 3 is a plan view schematically illustrating a semiconductor inspection apparatus having a device for cooling a probe card holder according to an embodiment of the present invention. 4 is a plan view schematically illustrating a probe card holder having a cooling channel according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, an apparatus for inspecting an electrical characteristic of a semiconductor device, for example, an EDS inspection apparatus, is composed of various components, but a portion for performing electrical inspection is a tester head, a pogo block 200, a head. The plate 410, the probe card 300, and the probe card holder 450 are configured to be included. The chuck 500 is introduced at a position corresponding to the portion for performing such inspection, and the wafer 600 to be inspected is introduced on the chuck 500.

The tester head transmits an inspected signal to a controller (not shown), and performs an operation such as turning or moving the probe card 300 under the control of the controller. The head plate 410 serves to control and hold the position of the probe card holder 450 introduced thereunder, and the probe card 300 is introduced in a supported and held state by the probe card holder 450.

The probe card holder 450 is in contact with and supports a portion of the probe card 300 and is configured to have a central opening to allow the probe card needle 305 to contact on the wafer 600. This probe card holder 450 may be introduced under the head plate 410 by an arm (not shown). The head plate 410 may also be understood as a part constituting an upper end of a housing in which the chuck 500 or the like is installed.

The needle 305, which is in contact with the pad window of the chip, which is configured to transmit and receive an electrical signal to the chip of the wafer 600, faces the wafer 600 introduced under the probe card 300. The pogo pin 210 of the pogo block 200 is used as a passage for reading the signal sensed by the needle 305 in contact with the probe card 300. The read signal is transmitted to a control unit (not shown) of the inspection equipment.

By the way, when inspecting the chips on the wafer 600 using such inspection equipment, it is necessary to keep the temperature state of the wafer 600 at a considerably high temperature state. To this end, the chuck 500 is configured as a hot chuck. In this case, the heat emitted from the chuck 500 not only heats the wafer 600 on the chuck 500, but also the probe card holder 450, the probe card 300, the needle 305, and the like introduced thereon. This heat can diffuse and heat them.

In order to absorb the diffused heat and prevent deformation of the needle 305, the refrigerant flow path that absorbs the heat by cooling the probe card holder 450 and preferably prevents deformation of the probe card needle 305 ( 700 is introduced to circulate inside the probe card holder 450.

3 and 4 together, the refrigerant flow path 700 is used as a passage for introducing and exiting the refrigerant in the refrigerant circulation path 705 and the refrigerant circulation path 705 formed to circulate the refrigerant inside the probe card holder 450. It may be configured to include a refrigerant inlet flow path 701 and the refrigerant withdrawal flow path 707.

In this case, the refrigerant circulation path 705 is formed inside the probe card holder 450 as shown in FIG. 4, so that the entire area of the probe card holder 450 may be uniformly cooled. It is formed over the whole area. Therefore, the refrigerant circulation path 705 may include a plurality of concentric circular flow paths formed in a circular shape on a plurality of concentric circles as shown in FIG. 4, and include connection flow paths connecting the concentric circular flow paths so that refrigerant flows in and out between them. Can be configured.

That is, the refrigerant circulation path 705 may be branched into a plurality of sub-channels in the probe card holder 450 to extend to the entire area of the probe card holder 450. To this end, the inlet 703 or the outlet 709 for introducing the refrigerant into the refrigerant circulation path 705 is formed as shown in FIG. 4, respectively, and a plurality of refrigerant circulation paths 705 branched thereto may be connected, A plurality of outlets 709 and inlets 705 may be spaced apart from each other for uniform cooling efficiency. In addition, the size and pattern shape of the refrigerant circulation path 705 or the size pattern shape of the outlet 709 and the inlet 703 may be changed in various forms.

Referring again to FIG. 3, inlet, as shown in FIG. 4, is supplied to a refrigerant circulation path 705 to supply and circulate a refrigerant, for example, a gaseous cooling medium such as air or a liquid cooling medium such as liquid helium. A coolant inflow channel 701 connected to 703 may be introduced, and a coolant inflow channel 707 connected to the outlet 709 may be introduced.

At this time, the probe card holder 450 is moved when the probe card 300 is replaced or reinstalled, so that the refrigerant inlet / outflow passages 701 and 707 are directly attached to the probe card holder 450 in a fixed form. Is somewhat difficult.

In order to overcome this, in the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3, refrigerant inlet / outflow paths 701 and 707 are formed through the head plate 410 correspondingly positioned on the probe card holder 450, respectively. Thus, a seal for connecting each of the refrigerant inlet / outflow passages 701 and 707 between the head plate 410 and the probe card holder 450 to an inlet 703 and an outlet 709 formed in the probe card holder 450 ( sealing) member 750 may be introduced.

Refrigerant inlet and outlet flow paths 701 and 707 are each probe card holder 450 when the probe card holder 450 is introduced below the head plate 410 and its position is controlled depending on the head plate 410. The inlet 703 of, is formed at a position that can be aligned with the outlet 709. In addition, the sealing member 750 may be manufactured and introduced in a shape such as an O-ring, between the inlet 703 and the coolant inlet flow path 701, and between the outlet 709 and the coolant outlet flow path 705. It connects and maintains the coolant flow path to the coolant and prevents the coolant from flowing out.

Accordingly, the flow of the refrigerant, for example, air, introduced into the refrigerant inlet flow path 701 circulates along the refrigerant circulation path 705, absorbs the heat that is incident on the probe card holder 450, and then coolant outflow path 707. Will be discharged to outside. The circulation of this refrigerant can be controlled by a temperature control device (not shown).

As shown in FIG. 3, the lower surface of the probe card holder 450 is introduced to face a large area to the high temperature chuck 500 supporting the wafer 600. Accordingly, by cooling the probe card holder 450, it is possible to effectively absorb the heat emitted from the high temperature chuck 500 to the probe card 300 or / and the needle 305. Accordingly, the effect of indirectly cooling the needle 305 may be implemented. At this time, the needle 305 may be controlled such as the flow rate of the refrigerant to be maintained at room temperature.

When the probe card holder 450, the probe card 300, the needle 305, and the like are heated by the hot air diffusion emitted from the high temperature chuck 500, the probe card holder 450 and the probe card 300 are heated by such heating. ) And the needle 305 may be a minute deformation. However, since the heat can be absorbed by the cooling of the probe card holder 450, the probe card 300, the needle 305, and the like can be effectively prevented from being deformed by the heat.

Therefore, the contact point of the needle in contact with the chip pad is changed so that the defects in which the contact marks of the wafer, which are marks imprinted by the needle on the pad, are not uniform and can be effectively prevented from being changed. Accordingly, it is possible to effectively prevent the defects generated when forming external connection terminals such as solder or bumps on the pads caused by the defects of the contact marks.

At this time, the refrigerant circulates inside the probe card holder 450 but does not directly contact the wafer 600. Therefore, the phenomenon in which the wafer 600 is directly cooled by the circulation of the refrigerant is prevented. Therefore, the temperature of the wafer 600 can be maintained uniform by the high temperature chuck 500. Thus, it is possible to ensure the inspection reliability to the wafer 600 while preventing the positional deformation of the needle 305.

According to the present invention described above, it is possible to substantially cool the probe card and the probe card needle by allowing the refrigerant to circulate inside the probe card holder of the semiconductor inspection equipment to cool the probe card holder. At this time, the coolant merely circulates inside the probe card holder and does not substantially reach the wafer mounted on the hot chuck so that it does not affect it. Therefore, while preventing deformation of the probe card needle, it is possible to effectively prevent the temperature change to the wafer, thereby increasing the inspection reliability.

As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated in detail through the specific Example, this invention is not limited to this, It is clear that the deformation | transformation and improvement are possible by the person of ordinary skill in the art within the technical idea of this invention.

Claims (4)

A wafer to be subjected to electrical inspection; A hot chuck supporting the wafer but heating the wafer; A probe card having a needle to contact on the wafer; A probe card holder having an opening to allow the needle to contact the wafer, the probe card holder holding and holding in contact with one surface of the probe card; And And a coolant flow path configured to circulate a coolant inside the probe card holder to cool the needle through cooling of the probe card holder through circulation of the coolant. The method of claim 1, A pogo block having pogo pins to contact the probe card; A test head introduced on the pogo block; And A head plate introduced on the probe card at a position opposite to the probe card holder, The refrigerant passage further includes an introduction passage and an extraction passage extending through the head plate, And a sealing member introduced between the head plate and the probe card holder to prevent leakage of the refrigerant to connect the refrigerant passage with the inflow passage and the extraction passage. The method of claim 1, The coolant flow path is branched into a plurality of flow paths in the probe card holder, the semiconductor inspection equipment comprising a plurality of inlets and outlets. The method of claim 1, The refrigerant is a semiconductor inspection equipment, characterized in that using the flow of air or liquid refrigerant.

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