Probe card with coplanar daughter card
AssigneeFormFactor, Inc.
InventorsAlistair Nicholas Sporck, Makarand S. Shinde
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Abstract
A probe card assembly includes a printed circuit board with tester contacts for making electrical connections to a semiconductor tester. The probe card assembly also includes a probe head assembly with probes for contacting a semiconductor device under test. One or more daughter cards is mounted to the printed circuit board such that they are substantially coplanar with the printed circuit board. The daughter cards may contain a circuit for processing test data, including test signals to be input into the semiconductor and/or response signals generated by the semiconductor device in response to the test signals.
Claims26
A method of testing a semiconductor device, said method comprising:
- receiving at a substrate test signals from a semiconductor tester apparatus;
- enhancing said test signals using an electric circuit that is disposed at least in part on a daughter card attached to a first side of said substrate;
- and
- outputting said enhanced test signals to said semiconductor device through probes that are disposed to a second side of said substrate, wherein said second side of said substrate is opposite said first side.
A method for electrically communicating test data between a semiconductor test apparatus and a semiconductor device under test, said method comprising:
- configuring a printed circuit board to make electrical connections with said semiconductor tester apparatus,
- configuring a plurality of probes to make electrical connections with said semiconductor device,
- providing a daughter card on said printed circuit board, and
- configuring an electric circuit to receive as input test data received at said probe card assembly from one of said tester apparatus or said semiconductor device under test, enhance said test data, and output enhanced test data, at least a portion of said electric circuit being disposed on said daughter card.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.