Locking ring member

Abstract

To provide a locking ring member in which durability of an adhesive between ceramics and a metal is improved even in a high temperature environment.SOLUTION: According to the present invention, there is provided a plate-shaped locking ring member for attaching a probe substrate to a top plate of a prober provided in an inspection device used for inspecting an object to be inspected, the locking ring member including a ring-shaped portion and a protrusion-shaped portion that forms a protruding shape in an outward direction from a peripheral edge portion of the ring-shaped portion and is disposed to be spaced apart along the peripheral edge portion, the ring-shaped portion of the locking ring member has one surface facing the probe base plate and the other surface opposite to the one surface, the ring-shaped portion of the locking ring member is bonded to the one surface of the probe base plate by an adhesive arranged at a plurality of positions apart from each other on the surface side of the ring-shaped portion facing the probe base plate, and recessed portions are provided at the plurality of positions where the adhesive of the locking ring member is arranged.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a locking ring member, and can be applied to a locking ring member for installing a probe substrate in an electrical connection device used for electrical testing such as electrical testing of semiconductor integrated circuits formed on a semiconductor wafer, for example. [Background technology]

[0002] For example, when a plurality of semiconductor integrated circuits are formed on a semiconductor wafer, electrical testing of each semiconductor integrated circuit is required to confirm whether the electrical characteristics of each semiconductor integrated circuit are as specified.

[0003] For electrical testing, a probe card having multiple probes is attached to the test head of the testing equipment, and the electrode terminals of each semiconductor integrated circuit are electrically connected to the corresponding probes. The testing equipment then supplies test signals to the electrode terminals of the semiconductor integrated circuit via the probes, and the semiconductor integrated circuit outputs electrical signals in response to the test signals, which are then supplied to the testing equipment via the probes. In this way, the testing equipment can test whether the electrical characteristics of the semiconductor integrated circuit meet specifications based on the electrical signals received from the semiconductor integrated circuit in response to the test signals.

[0004] For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a method for assembling a probe card. Here, a method for attaching an attachment member to a probe will be briefly described with reference to Patent Document 1. Conventionally, in order to fix a support member for attaching a probe substrate to a card holder, a general-purpose adhesive is applied to the upper surface of the edge of the ceramic probe substrate, and a locking ring member is attached. After that, the general-purpose adhesive is left to dry and harden, and then a bolt is screwed into the female threaded hole of the attached locking ring member to fix it, and then the probe substrate with the attached locking ring member is placed in the opening of the card holder. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2014-89121 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] Incidentally, depending on the application of semiconductor integrated circuits, they may be used in high-temperature environments exceeding 125° C., and the probe card is also required to be durable in the same high-temperature environment.

[0007] Here, the general-purpose adhesives (elastic adhesives) that have been used conventionally do not have sufficient durability in high-temperature environments, and the adhesive can break or the adhesive surface between the support member and the probe substrate can peel off.

[0008] As a countermeasure against the above, it is conceivable to use a high-temperature strength reinforced adhesive instead of the elastic adhesive.

[0009] However, when a high-temperature strength adhesive is applied between the upper edge surface of the ceramic probe base plate and the locking ring member (around the entire circumference of the ring) to bond the ceramic base plate and the locking ring member, and the probe base plate is placed in a high-temperature environment, cracks may occur in the probe base plate because the thermal expansion coefficients of the material of the probe base plate and the material (metal) of the locking ring member are different.

[0010] Although the example given here is of fixing a ceramic probe substrate, similar issues arise in other electronic components that connect one component of an electrical connection device, such as a probe card, to another component.

[0011] In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention aims to provide a locking ring member for installing a probe substrate that suppresses damage caused by the difference in thermal expansion between the ceramic member and the metal member, even in high-temperature environments. [Means for solving the problem]

[0012] In order to solve the above problems, the locking ring member for installing a probe substrate of the present invention is a plate-shaped locking ring member for attaching a probe substrate to a card holder attached to a top plate of a prober provided in an inspection device used to inspect a test subject, and is characterized in that (1) the locking ring member is composed of a ring-shaped portion of approximately the same size as the surface of the probe substrate, and a plurality of protrusion-shaped portions that are convex outward from the periphery of the ring-shaped portion and are arranged at intervals along the periphery, the locking ring member has one surface facing the probe substrate and another surface opposite to the one surface, and the surface of the ring-shaped portion of the locking ring member that faces the probe substrate is adhered to one surface of the probe substrate by adhesive that is arranged at intervals in a plurality of locations on the side of the ring-shaped portion of the locking ring member that faces the probe substrate, and (2) recessed portions are provided in the plurality of locations where the adhesive is arranged on the ring-shaped portion of the locking ring member. [Effects of the Invention]

[0013] According to the present invention, even in a high temperature environment, damage to the ceramic probe base plate and the metallic locking ring member can be prevented. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0014] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a side view of an inspection device according to an embodiment. [Figure 2] 10A and 10B are diagrams illustrating a locking ring member according to an embodiment. [Figure 3] 10 is a flowchart illustrating a method for attaching a locking ring member to a probe substrate according to an embodiment. [Figure 4] 10A and 10B are diagrams illustrating the probe substrate before and after attachment of a locking ring member according to the embodiment. [Figure 5] 10A and 10B are diagrams showing a cross section of the adhesive surface between the locking ring member and the probe substrate member according to the embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0015] (A) Main embodiment DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of a locking ring member for installing a probe substrate according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0016] This embodiment illustrates the application of the locking ring member of the present invention to a probe substrate that electrically connects a test device to a test object by bringing probes (electrical contacts) into contact with each of the multiple electrode terminals of the test object.

[0017] (A-1) Inspection equipment The components of the inspection device 10 will be described with reference to Figure 1. The inspection device 10 includes a prober 12, a test head 14, and a device under test transport mechanism. The prober 12 includes an inspection stage 18 as a "stage" on which the device under test is placed, a chuck top 20, and a probe substrate 32.

[0018] A probe board 32 is attached above the mounting surface 24 of the chuck top 20 via a card holder 28 disposed on the top plate of the prober 12. Furthermore, above the probe board 32, a test head 14 electrically connected to the probe board 32 is disposed.

[0019] The inspection device 10 brings the chuck top 20 close to the probes 30 arranged on the probe substrate 32, and performs inspection by passing electricity through the object to be inspected 26 while the probes 30 arranged on the probe substrate 32 are in contact with the electrodes of the object to be inspected 26 placed on the mounting surface 24.

[0020] Next, the configuration between the probe board and the test head will be described in detail with reference to Fig. 1. Between the probe board and the test head, a probe board 32, an interposer 34, a printed circuit board 58, and a connection cable 60 are provided.

[0021] In this embodiment, the probe substrate 32 is formed in a disk shape (circular) and is configured as a multilayer wiring substrate including a ceramic substrate and a thin-film wiring layer. The probe substrate 32 has a plurality of probes 30 on a surface (one surface) facing the mounting surface 24 of the chuck top 20. The probe substrate 32 also has a plurality of anchors 38 as "first reference bodies" on a surface (the other surface) facing the interposer 34. The anchors 38 are formed in a columnar shape.

[0022] Although not shown, the probe substrate 32 has a plurality of wiring paths inside. One end of the wiring paths is connected to each probe 30, and the other end is connected to connection lands (not shown) arranged on the surface (other surface) facing the interposer 34 so as to correspond to the arrangement of the contact terminals 40 of the interposer 34 in the XY plane.

[0023] Furthermore, a plate-shaped locking ring member 80, which will be described later, is provided on the outer periphery of the probe board 32. The locking ring member 80 is a member for locking with the card holder .

[0024] (A-2) Locking ring member Next, the locking ring member 80 attached to the probe substrate 32 (for example, the substrate member 321 made of ceramics) will be described.

[0025] 2A and 2B are plan views of an example of a locking ring member, in which FIG. 2A shows the first surface (upper surface) and FIG. 2B shows the second surface (lower surface).

[0026] When installing the probe substrate 32 on the prober 12, a locking ring member 80 is attached to the upper edge surface of the probe substrate 32 (substrate member 321), and the probe substrate 32 with the locking ring member 80 attached is fixed to the card holder 28 installed on the prober 12.

[0027] Here, the locking ring member 80 is a mounting part for mounting the probe substrate 32 to the card holder 28 of the prober 12, and is an annular member formed of stainless steel, which is an alloy containing iron, chromium, etc.

[0028] The locking ring member 80 is composed of a ring-shaped portion 85 and protruding portions that are convex outward from the periphery of the ring-shaped portion 85 and are spaced apart along the periphery, and the ring-shaped portion 85 has a plurality of spaced-apart placement locations for applying adhesive for bonding to the base member 321, and has ring flanges 81 as protruding portions. In addition, the second surface (lower surface) of the locking ring member 80, where each ring flange 81 is located, has a plurality (two in this embodiment) of adhesive spot facing portions 82 as recessed portions where adhesive 90 ( FIG. 5 ) is placed, and a plurality (two in this embodiment) of flow-stopping recessed portions for stopping (retaining) the adhesive 90 that has flowed (leaked) from the adhesive spot facing portions 82.

[0029] As shown in Fig. 5, the second surface (lower surface) of the locking ring member 80 and the base member 321 (first surface) are bonded together with an adhesive 90. Fig. 5 also shows how the adhesive 90 that has flowed out from the adhesive counterbore portion 82 flows into the flow-stop counterbore portion 83 and is stopped by the flow-stop counterbore portion 83.

[0030] In Figure 5, in order to clearly show how the adhesive 90 flows out into the anti-flow counterbore portion 83, a gap is visible between the locking ring member 80 and the base member 321, but in reality, the locking ring member 80 and the base member 321 are bonded by the adhesive 90 with almost no gap between them.

[0031] In this embodiment, the adhesive 90 has a low elastic modulus (for example, several MPa to several thousand MPa) and a high bonding strength (for example, several tens of N / mm 2Therefore, even in a high temperature environment of, for example, 125°C or higher, or even when the temperature changes within a range of, for example, a low temperature of -20°C to a high temperature of 150°C, the adhesive 90 will not peel off, and the substrate member 321 and the locking ring member 80 can be kept in a state of adhesion.

[0032] However, since the adhesive 90 has a lower elastic modulus than conventional adhesives, the thermal expansion coefficients of the substrate member 321 (ceramics) and the locking ring member 80 (metal) are different, which causes differences in thermal expansion due to temperature changes, resulting in large stress acting on the ceramic substrate member 321.

[0033] Therefore, in this embodiment, taking into consideration that the amount of expansion and contraction of an object increases in proportion to its external shape, the problem of the adhesive 90 having a low elastic modulus is solved by bonding (partially bonding) a part of the locking ring member 80 (each of the anti-flow counterbore portions 83) to the base member 321.

[0034] (A-3) Method of attaching a locking ring member to a probe board Fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for attaching a locking ring member 80 to a probe substrate 32 according to an embodiment. Fig. 4(A) is a front view and a side view showing the configuration of the probe substrate 32 before the ring member is attached, and Fig. 4(B) is a front view and a side view of the probe substrate 32 after the ring member is attached. As shown in Fig. 4(A), a first surface (e.g., an upper surface) of a substrate member 321 of the probe substrate 32 is formed of ceramics, and a plurality of anchors 38 are provided to support a spacing member for maintaining a spacing between the wired circuit board 58 and the probe substrate 32.

[0035] Hereinafter, a method for attaching the locking ring member 80 to the base plate member 321 of the probe base plate will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0036] In FIG. 3, first, the substrate member 321, which is a ceramic substrate, is received (step S101), and then the locking ring member 80 is received (step S102), and the substrate member 321 and the locking ring member 80 are set.

[0037] The mounting jig for mounting the locking ring member 80 is cleaned (step S103). Also, the first surface (for example, the upper surface) of the substrate member 321, which is a ceramic substrate, is cleaned (step S104).

[0038] Then, in order to attach the locking ring member 80 to the edge portion 3211 of the base member 321, adhesive 90 is applied to the edge portion 3211 (six adhesive points 3212) on the first surface (upper surface) of the probe base plate corresponding to the adhesive counterbore portion 82 on the second surface (lower surface) of the locking ring member 80 (step S105), and the locking ring member 80 is attached to the edge portion 3211 of the base member 321 (step S106).

[0039] Here, in order to ensure the bonding between the substrate member 321 made of ceramic and the locking ring member 80 made of stainless steel, preparations are made for hardening of the adhesive 90 (step S107).

[0040] Furthermore, the state of the base member 321 and the locking ring member 80 before the adhesive 90 hardens is visually confirmed (step S108). Thereafter, the adhesive 90 is heated and hardened in a state in which the locking ring member 80 is attached to the edge portion 3211 of the base member 321 (step S109).

[0041] After hardening, the states of the probe substrate 32 and the locking ring member 80 are visually inspected (step S110), and if there are no problems, the locking ring member 80 is fixed (step S111), and the locking ring member can be attached to the probe substrate 32. In addition to fixing with the adhesive 90, the locking ring member 80 and the substrate member 321 may be fixed at several points with fasteners such as screws or bolts.

[0042] (A-4) Effects of the embodiment As described above, this embodiment provides the following advantages.

[0043] When attaching the locking ring member 80 to the probe substrate 32, the high-strength adhesive (adhesive 90) that can withstand high temperatures is not applied to the entire circumference of the ring-shaped portion 85 of the locking ring member 80, but is applied only to the plurality of spaced apart counterbore portions 82 for adhesive, thereby partially bonding the substrate member 321 (ceramics) and the locking ring member 80. This reduces the area affected by the difference in thermal expansion, suppressing the generated stress and making it possible to prevent damage to the substrate member 321.

[0044] As a result, the durability of the adhesive portion between the probe base plate 32 and the locking ring member 80 can be improved in a high temperature environment, and the life span can be extended.

[0045] (B) Other embodiments Although modified embodiments of the present invention have been mentioned in the above-described embodiment, the present invention can also be applied to the following embodiments.

[0046] (B-1) In the above-described embodiment, an example was shown in which the adhesive spot facing portions 82 are provided at two locations within the range in which each ring flange 81 is disposed on the underside of the ring-shaped portion 85 of the locking ring member 80, but the number of adhesive spot facing portions 82 is not particularly limited. That is, the number of adhesive spot facing portions 82 may be one, or three or more.

[0047] (B-2) The shape of the adhesive spot facing portion 82 (including the groove cutting method, area, etc.) is not particularly limited. For example, the shape of the adhesive spot facing portion 82 may be square, round, triangular, circular (including oval, etc.), etc. Furthermore, these shapes may be dot-shaped in consideration of the purpose of adhering in small pieces.

[0048] (B-3) In the above-described embodiment, an example was shown in which adhesive spot facing portions 82 (concave and convex) were provided at two locations within the range in which each ring flange 81 of the ring-shaped portion 85 of the locking ring member 80 is disposed, but the concave and convex portions (processing) for applying adhesive may be provided on the base member 321, or on both the ring-shaped portion 85 of the locking ring member 80 and the base member 321. Note that no adhesive is placed on the underside of the ring flange 81, as this is the surface that contacts and is attached to the card holder 28.

[0049] (B-4) In the above-described embodiment, an example is shown in which anti-flow counterbore portions 83 are provided on both sides of the adhesive counterbore portion 82 provided on the ring-shaped portion 85 of the locking ring member 80, but as a modified example, the anti-flow counterbore portions 83 may not be provided.

[0050] (B-5) In the above-described embodiment, only one type of adhesive (high-strength adhesive that can withstand high temperatures) is used to bond the locking ring member 80 and the base member 321, but two or more types of adhesive may be used. For example, a conventional adhesive (high-elastic adhesive) may be used in areas other than the area where each ring flange 81 of the locking ring member 80 is disposed. [Explanation of symbols]

[0051] 10...inspection device, 12...prober, 14...test head, 18...inspection stage, 20...chuck top, 24...mounting surface, 26...object under test, 28...card holder, 30...probe, 32...probe board, 34...interposer, 38...anchor, 40...contact terminal, 58...wiring circuit board, 60...connection cable, 80...retaining ring member, 81...ring flange, 82...counterbore portion for adhesive, 83...counterbore portion for preventing flow, 85...ring-shaped portion, 90...adhesive, 321...board member, 3211...edge portion, 3212...adhesion point

Claims

1. A plate-shaped locking ring member for attaching a probe substrate to a top plate of a prober provided in an inspection device used to inspect a device under test, The locking ring member has a ring-shaped portion and the ring-shaped portion of the locking ring member has one surface facing the probe substrate and another surface opposite the one surface, and the surface of the ring-shaped portion of the locking ring member facing the probe substrate is bonded to one surface of the probe substrate by adhesive disposed at a plurality of locations at intervals, The ring-shaped portion of the locking ring member has recessed portions at a plurality of locations where the adhesive is applied. A locking ring member characterized by:

2. The ring-shaped portion of the locking ring member has one or more recessed portions in which the adhesive is disposed in a region where a plurality of protruding portions extending outward from a periphery thereof are provided.

2. The locking ring member according to claim 1.

3. 3. The locking ring member according to claim 2, wherein the ring-shaped portion of the locking ring member has one or more flow-stop recesses for stopping the adhesive that has flowed out of the recesses.

4. A locking ring member according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the probe substrate is made of a ceramic material, the locking ring member is made of a metal material, and the adhesive has high adhesive strength in an environment of 125°C or higher.

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