Probe control method for leveling probe pins for a probe test sequence
AssigneeSamsung Electronis Co., Ltd.
InventorsSi-Hyoung Lee, Seung-Hwan Park, Kyoung-Ho Yang, Gun-Won Lee
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A probe control method of a probe station which levels the probe pins before testing a large area substrate such as a thin film transistor circuit substrate using a probe station, which includes the steps of connecting a pin of a probe station to a resistance material; measuring and reading the resistance between adjacent pins using a resistance measuring device; and leveling the probe pins using a pin control device at the probe station.
Claims4
A method for leveling probe pins of a probe assembly, comprising:
- (a) placing the probe pin assembly in contact with a resistance material;
- (b) measuring, for each pair of adjacent probe pins, a resistance of a conductive path including a first probe pin of each pair, a second probe pin of each pair, and the resistance material between the first and second probe pins of each pair, using a resistance measuring device to obtain a resistance value for each pair of adjacent probe pins;
- (c) comparing the resistance values of each pair of adjacent probe pins;
- (d) determining the probe pin assembly to be acceptable when all of the resistance values for each pair of adjacent probe pins are substantially equal;
- (e) adjusting the position of one or more of the plurality of probe pins using a pin controller when all of the resistance values for each pair of adjacent probe pins are not substantially equal;
- and
- (f) repeating (a) through (e) until all of the resistance values for each pair of adjacent probe pins in the probe assembly are substantially equal.
A method for leveling a plurality of probe blocks of a probe assembly, each probe block including a plurality of probe pins, comprising:
- (a) placing a first probe block of the probe pin assembly in contact with a resistance material;
- (b) measuring, for each pair of adjacent probe pins of the first probe block, a resistance of a conductive path including a first probe pin of each pair, a second probe pin of each pair, and the resistance material between the first and second probe pins of each pair, using a resistance measuring device to obtain a resistance value for each pair of adjacent probe pins;
- (c) comparing the resistance values of each pair of adjacent probe pins;
- (d) determining the first probe block to be acceptable when all of the resistance values for each pair of adjacent probe pins are substantially equal;
- (e) adjusting the position of one or more of the plurality of probe pins of the first probe block using a pin controller when all of the resistance values for each pair of adjacent probe pins are not substantially equal;
- (f) repeating (a) through (e) until all of the resistance values for each pair of adjacent probe pins in the first probe block are substantially equal, to obtain a resistance value for the first probe block;
- (g) repeating (a) through (e) for each of the remaining probe blocks to obtain respective resistance values for each of the remaining probe blocks;
- and
- (h) comparing the respective resistance values for the plurality of probe blocks, and in the case where the resistance values are not substantially equal, adjusting a level of at least one of the probe blocks until the respective resistance values of the plurality of probe blocks are substantially equal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.