# US 12,222,369 B2 · MEMS probe card

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- Number: US 12,222,369 B2
- Document ID: US12222369B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 18/021,244
- Filed: 2021-07-27
- Published: 2023-10-12
- Granted: 2025-02-11
- Earliest claimed: 2020-08-14
- Assignees: Maxone Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
- Applicants: Maxone Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
- Inventors: Liangyu Zhao; Ailin Wang
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12222369B2

## CPC

- G01R 1/07314: {the body of the probe being perpendicular to test object, e.g. bed of nails or probe with bump contacts on a rigid support (on an elastic support, e.g. a film, G01R1/0735)}
- G01R 1/07342: {the body of the probe being at an angle other than perpendicular to test object, e.g. probe card}
- G01R 3/00: Apparatus or processes specially adapted for the manufacture {or maintenance} of measuring instruments {, e.g. of probe tips}
- G01R 31/2886: {Features relating to contacting the IC under test, e.g. probe heads; chucks (G01R31/2865 takes precedence, test connections, e.g. test sockets, or probes per se, G01R1/04 or G01R1/06)}
- G01R: MEASURING ELECTRIC VARIABLES; MEASURING MAGNETIC VARIABLES (indicating correct tuning of resonant circuits H03J3/12)

## Abstract

The MEMS probe card of the invention belongs to the technical field of IC manufacturing industry, and specifically relates to the manufacturing of micro-electromechanical systems, testing of semiconductor bare chip and related key technologies; From top to bottom, the probe card comprises a stiffener, a PCB board, an adapter layer, a guide plate and a MEMS probe; the invention not only discloses a MEMS probe card, but also discloses a new manufacturing process of a MEMS probe card, including the structure of MEMS probe card, the etching equipment and method of guide plate-MEMS probe structure template, the probe positioning method of etching the guide plate-MEMS probe structure template, the manufacturing method of the guide plate-MEMS probe structure and the docking device and method of the guide plate-MEMS probe structure and the adapter layer to finally realize the manufacturing of a submicron-sized MEMS probe card.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A MEMS probe card comprises a stiffener (1), a PCB board (2), an adapter layer (3), a guide plate (4) and a MEMS probe (5) from top to bottom; the stiffener (1) is used to increase the strength of MEMS probe card; the PCB board (2) is used to connect a testing machine and signal line; the adapter layer (3) is a medium between a PCB board and the MEMS probe for realizing a fixed adaptation of signals; the guide plate (4) is used to accommodate the MEMS probe (5); and the MEMS probe (5) is used to connect a tested wafer to realize testing of electrical properties of the tested wafer;
wherein:
the guide plate (4) and the MEMS probe (5) jointly constitute a guide plate-MEMS probe structure, and the guide plate-MEMS probe structure is made from a guide plate-MEMS probe structure template; the guide plate-MEMS probe structure template can be dissolved in the solution where the guide plate (4) and the MEMS probe (5) cannot be dissolved, and the guide plate-MEMS probe structure template is provided with a marker position, and the guide plate (4) is provided with a coating convex;
the guide plate-MEMS probe structure template are made by a guide board-MEMS probe structure template etching equipment, and the guide plate-MEMS probe structure template etching equipment is successively provided with a light source (7-1), a pinhole (7-2), a collimating lens (7-3), an x-direction slit expansion plate (7-4), a y-direction slit expansion plate (7-5), a first prism (7-6), a plane mirror (7-7), a second prism (7-8), a first image sensor (7-9), a controller (7-10), and a laser array (7-11) along a direction of light propagation; and
the light beam emitted by the light source (7-1) passes through pinhole (7-2) to form a point light source, and the pinhole (7-2) is located at the focus of the collimating lens (7-3); the point light source passes through the collimating lens (7-3) to form parallel light, and the parallel light passes through the x-direction slit expansion plate (7-4) to form an x-direction stripe array, and the x-direction stripe array passes through the y-direction slit expansion plate (7-5) to form a point array, and the point array is transmitted through the first prism (7-6), reflected by the plane mirror (7-7), reflected by the first prism (7-6), transmitted by the second prism (7-8), and incident to the first image sensor (7-9) respectively; the first image sensor (7-9) is electrically connected with the controller (7-10) and the controller (7-10) controls the laser array (7-11) to send out a laser beam, and the laser beam is reflected by the second prism (7-8) and the first prism (7-6) respectively and incident to the guide plate-MEMS probe structure template (6) without the plane mirror (7-7).