Needle load measuring method, needle load setting method and needle load detecting mechanism
AssigneeTokyo Electron Limited
InventorKiyoshi Takekoshi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed is a method of inspecting the electrical characteristics of a to-be-inspected object formed on a wafer under the state that the wafer chuck having the wafer placed thereon is overdriven by a lift mechanism, wherein measured is the sinking amount of the wafer chuck caused by the needle load applied from a plurality of probes of a probe card to the wafer chuck. Also disclosed are a needle load measuring method for measuring the applied needle load from the sinking amount, a needle load setting method, and a needle load detecting mechanism.
Claims9
A probe apparatus for inspecting the electrical characteristics of a to-be-inspected object, comprising:
- a wafer chuck which places a to-be-inspected object thereon;
- a lift mechanism which vertically moves the wafer chuck;
- a plurality of probes provided above the wafer chuck and brought into electrical contact with a plurality of electrodes of the to-be-inspected object;
- a memory section storing previously obtained data representing a relationship between a needle load applied to the wafer chuck and a sinking amount of the wafer chuck caused by the needle load;
- a measuring mechanism which measures the sinking amount of the wafer chuck caused by the needle load applied by said plurality of probes, when the wafer chuck having the to-be-inspected object placed thereon is overdriven with respect to said plurality of probes by the lift mechanism;
- and
- an arithmetic processing section which obtains the needle load of said plurality of probes corresponding to the measured sinking amount based on the data representing the relationship between the needle load and the sinking amount, and the measured sinking amount.
A method of measuring a needle load applied to a wafer chuck, in a probe apparatus comprising the wafer chuck which places a to-be-inspected object thereon and a plurality of probes provided above the wafer chuck and brought into electrical contact with a plurality of electrodes of the to-be-inspected object, when the wafer chuck is overdriven with respect to said plurality of probes, the method comprising:
- storing previously obtained data representing a relationship between a needle load applied to the wafer chuck and a sinking amount of the wafer chuck caused by the needle load;
- measuring the sinking amount of the wafer chuck caused by the needle load applied by said plurality of probes, when the wafer chuck having the to-be-inspected object placed thereon is overdriven with respect to said plurality of probes;
- and
- obtaining the needle load of said plurality of probes corresponding to the measured sinking amount based on the data representing the relationship between the needle load and the sinking amount, and the measured sinking amount.
A method of inspecting electric characteristics of a to-be-inspected object by overdriving a wafer chuck with respect to a plurality of probes, in a probe apparatus comprising the wafer chuck which places a to-be-inspected object thereon and the plurality of probes provided above the wafer chuck and brought into electrical contact with a plurality of electrodes of the to-be-inspected object, the method comprising:
- storing previously obtained data representing a relationship between a needle load applied to the wafer chuck and a sinking amount of the wafer chuck caused by the needle load;
- presetting a value of a needle load to be applied to the to-be-inspected object by overdriving;
- measuring the sinking amount of the wafer chuck caused by the needle load applied by said plurality of probes, when the wafer chuck having the to-be-inspected object placed thereon is overdriven with respect to said plurality of probes;
- obtaining the needle load of said plurality of probes corresponding to the measured sinking amount based on the data representing the relationship between the needle load and the sinking amount, and the measured sinking amount;
- and
- adjusting an overdriving amount such that the obtained needle load falls within a permissible range of the preset value of the needle load obtained when the electric characteristics of the to-be-inspected object are inspected.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.