Probing system uses a probe device including probe tips on a surface of a semiconductor die
AssigneeNovellus Development Company, LLC
InventorMark L. DiOrio
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A probing system for electrical testing of a semiconductor device uses a probe device including probe tips on a surface of a semiconductor die. The probe tips can be fabricated as metal bumps on contact pads having a pattern that is the same as the pattern of contact pads on the semiconductor device. The semiconductor die can provide the probe device with substantially the same thermal properties as the semiconductor device, so that the same probe can be used for testing over a broad temperature range. Further, the probe device can be fabricated using semiconductor device fabrication techniques, so that probe designs can scale down as device fabrication techniques move to smaller dimensions.
Claims14
A probing system for testing a device comprising:
- a probe comprising a semiconductor die and probe tips rigidly attached to the semiconductor die, wherein the probe tips comprise bumps that are arranged in a pattern that matches a pattern of terminals on the device and that directly contact the terminals during testing of the device, the probe tips being affixed to the semiconductor die so that the pattern of the probe tips expands/contracts with thermal expansion/contraction of the semiconductor die;
- a substrate on which the semiconductor die is mounted, wherein the substrate is substantially identical to an interconnect substrate used in a flip-chip package for the device;
- a probe card including a receptacle sized to hold the substrate, wherein the substrate is detachably mounted in the receptacle;
- and
- a tester electrically connected to the probe tips.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.