Fine pitch probe array from bulk material

Abstract

Fine pitch probe array from bulk material. In accordance with a first method embodiment, an article of manufacture includes an array of probes. Each probe includes a probe tip, suitable for contacting an integrated circuit test point. Each probe tip is mounted on a probe finger structure. All of the probe finger structures of the array have the same material grain structure. The probe fingers may have a non-linear profile and / or be configured to act as a spring.

Description

[0001] related application [0002] This application claims priority to Namburi's U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61 / 607,893, filed March 7, 2012, entitled "Method of Fabricating Fine Pitch Detector Arrays Using Silicon," the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference here. technical field [0003] Embodiments of the invention relate to the fields of integrated circuit design, fabrication and testing. More specifically, embodiments of the invention relate to systems and methods for fine pitch detector arrays formed from a substrate material. Background technique [0004] Integrated circuit testing typically uses fine probes to make contact with test points of the integrated circuit in order to inject electrical signals and / or measure electrical parameters of the integrated circuit. Conventional circuit probes are individually produced and manually assembled in arrays corresponding to some or all of the test points on the integrated circuit. [0005] U...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0005] Unfortunately, conventional integrated circuit detector arrays typically cannot achieve pitches (e.g., detector-to-detector spacing) smaller than about 50 μm due to limitations in producing the detectors individually and assembling them into arrays.

Additionally, traditional detectors often have undesirably high inductance, which limits the frequency of the test signal

Further, conventional integrated circuit detector arrays typically cannot achieve the necessary alignment accuracy in all three dimensions

Further, such alignment and coplanarity deficiencies of conventional detectors disadvantageously limit the number of detectors and the total area of ​​the detector array, and thus the total area of ​​integrated circuits that can be tested in a single pass

For example, a single conventional integrated circuit probe array assembled at fine pitch may not be able to access all test points of a large integrated circuit (e.g., an advanced microprocessor)

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