Electrode structure for forming pin by using plating deviation

Abstract

The present invention relates to an electrode structure and, more specifically, to an electrode structure for forming a pin by using a plating deviation. The provided electrode structure according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises: a first elastic layer; an electrode unit formed on the first elastic layer; and a protective layer plated to encompass the electrode unit, wherein the protective layer includes a first pin portion perforated to expose a pin growth portion of the electrode unit, and is made of a material having a plating speed slower than that of the electrode unit. According to the present invention, a fine probe pin can be formed, and plating in an undesired place and growing of a probe pin can be prevented.

Description

Electrode structure forming pins using plating deviation

[0001] The present invention relates to an electrode structure, and more particularly, to an electrode structure that forms a pin by utilizing plating deviation.

[0002] After an electrical device is manufactured, there is a need to connect testing equipment to the device to inspect its electrical characteristics. While inspection can be accomplished simply by connecting the equipment to the device's electrodes, manual inspection during the production of multiple products is time-consuming and costly. Therefore, probe heads that mechanically contact the device to provide electrical connection have been developed and are being used.

[0003] Meanwhile, with the advancement of technology, the integration of electric circuits is increasing and the size of electric devices is shrinking day by day, and as the size and spacing of electrodes are also reduced to units of sub-micrometers, the corresponding probe heads and probe pins included in the probe heads also need to be reduced to minute sizes. Accordingly, a plating method can be utilized to form minute probe pins, but there is a problem that plating is applied to undesired locations. In order to solve this problem, the present invention provides an electrode structure that forms pins by utilizing plating deviation.

[0004] (Patent Document 1) Prior Document 1: Republic of Korea Patent No. 10-0878346 (Registered on January 6, 2009)

[0005] (Patent Document 2) Prior Document 2: Republic of Korea Patent No. 10-1177878 (Registered on August 22, 2012)

[0006] The technical task of the present invention is to form a fine probe pin.

[0007] Another technical challenge of the present invention is to prevent plating in undesired locations when forming fine probe pins.

[0008] In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present invention provides an electrode structure including a first elastic layer, an electrode portion formed on an upper surface of the first elastic layer, and a protective layer plated to surround the electrode portion, wherein the protective layer includes a first pin portion that is opened to expose a pin growth portion of the electrode portion, and is formed of a material having a slower plating speed than the electrode portion.

[0009] In addition, an electrode structure is provided characterized by further including a second elastic layer that surrounds the protective layer and has a second pin portion that is formed to correspond to the first pin portion.

[0010] In addition, an electrode structure is provided characterized in that the probe pin is grown by a plating method in the pin growth portion of the electrode portion so that the probe pin passes through the first pin portion.

[0011] In addition, an electrode structure characterized in that the probe pin is grown by a plating method in the pin growth portion of the electrode portion so that the probe pin passes through the first pin portion and the second pin portion.

[0012] In addition, the electrode structure is characterized in that the electrode portion is made of copper (Cu) and the protective layer is made of nickel (Ni) so that when growing a probe pin in the pin growth portion, the probe pin is not formed in other portions and only grows in the pin growth portion.

[0013] According to the present invention, a fine probe pin can be formed.

[0014] Additionally, it can prevent the probe pin from growing by being plated in an unwanted location.

[0015] FIG. 1 is a drawing showing a state in which a probe pin is formed using an electrode structure according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0016] FIG. 2 is a drawing showing that a first pin photoresist is formed to form a first pin portion in a protective layer according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0017] FIG. 3 is a drawing showing that a protective layer is formed on a first pin photoresist according to one embodiment of the present invention, and that the first pin photoresist is removed to form a first pin.

[0018] Figure 4 is a drawing showing that a protective layer including a first pin portion and a second elastic layer including a second pin portion are formed.

[0019] FIG. 5 is a drawing showing that when growing a probe pin using an electrode structure according to one embodiment of the present invention, the pin does not grow in a portion other than the pin growth portion.

[0020] It includes a first elastic layer, an electrode part formed on the upper surface of the first elastic layer, and a protective layer plated to surround the electrode part.

[0021] An electrode structure characterized in that the protective layer includes a first pin portion that is perforated to expose a pin growth portion of the electrode portion, and is formed of a material having a slower plating speed than the electrode portion.

[0022] The purpose and effects of the present invention will become clearer through the detailed description below, but the purpose and effects of the present invention are not limited to the following description alone. Furthermore, in describing the present invention, if a detailed description of known technologies related to the present invention is deemed to unnecessarily obscure the gist of the invention, such detailed description will be omitted.

[0023] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily implement the present invention. However, the present invention may be implemented in various different forms and is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below. Furthermore, in order to clearly describe the present invention in the drawings, parts unrelated to the present invention have been omitted, and identical or similar symbols in the drawings represent identical or similar components.

[0024] Referring to FIGS. 1 to 5, an electrode structure according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a first elastic layer (100), an electrode portion (200) formed on an upper surface of the first elastic layer (100) and including a pin growth portion (20) which is a location for growing a probe pin (10), and a protective layer (300) plated to surround the electrode portion (200), and the protective layer (300) includes a first pin portion (310) which is opened to expose the pin growth portion (20), and the protective layer (300) is characterized in that it is formed of a material having a slower plating speed than the electrode portion (200).

[0025] Referring to Fig. 1, the first elastic layer (100) is configured to have an electrode portion (200) formed thereon, and serves as a supporting base so that the electrode portion (200) can be formed. In addition, since the first elastic layer (100) has elasticity, when a probe pin (10) formed over the electrode portion (200) receives pressure, the pressure can be distributed to alleviate the impact received by the electrode and the probe pin (10).

[0026] When the first elastic layer (100) is formed in this way, the electrode part (200) can be formed on the first elastic layer (100) and supported so as to be fixed, and also, the shock received by the electrode and probe pin (10) can be alleviated through the elastic layer having elasticity.

[0027] Referring to FIG. 1, the electrode portion (200) is formed on the upper surface of the first elastic layer (100) and includes a pin growth portion (20) that is a location for growing a probe pin (10). The electrode portion (200) may be formed of various materials capable of conducting electricity, such as copper (Cu), gold (Au), and silver (Ag) metal materials. In one embodiment of the present invention, the electrode portion (200) is described as being formed of a copper (Cu) material.

[0028] Meanwhile, the electrode part (200) includes a pin growth part (20), which is a location for growing a probe pin (10). This is provided at a predetermined location on the upper surface of the electrode part (200) where the pin is to be grown, and can be provided in various ways depending on the number of probe pins (10).

[0029] In this way, if the electrode portion (200) includes a pin growth portion (20), which is a location for growing a probe pin (10), the location for growing the probe pin (10) can be specified, and the first pin portion (310) of the protective layer (300) and the second pin portion (410) of the second elastic layer (400), which will be described later, can be formed to grow the pin at that location.

[0030] Referring to FIG. 3, the protective layer (300) is a structure plated to surround the electrode portion (200). At this time, the protective layer (300) may be formed of various materials capable of surrounding and protecting the electrode portion (200), and in one embodiment of the present invention, the protective layer is described based on being formed of Cu. In addition, the protective layer (300) prevents the electrode from external impact and contamination, and enables the electrode to conduct electricity.

[0031] By providing a protective layer (300) in this way, the impact received by the electrode from the outside can be mitigated and contamination of the electrode, etc. can be prevented.

[0032] Meanwhile, referring to FIG. 3, the protective layer (300) may include a first pin portion (310) that is perforated to expose the pin growth portion (20). The first pin portion (310) is formed to correspond to the position of the pin growth portion (20) of the electrode portion (200) by being perforated in a hollow shape in the protective layer (300), so that when a pin grows in the pin growth portion (20), the pin can grow and pass through the perforated space of the protective layer (300).

[0033] When the protective layer (300) is formed to include the first pin portion (310) in this way, the pin can grow from the pin growth portion (20) into the open first pin portion (310) space of the protective layer (300) and protrude outward.

[0034] In addition, FIG. 2 is a drawing showing that a first pin part photoresist (210) is formed on an electrode part (200) to form a first pin part (310) on a protective layer (300). In this way, after forming the first pin part photoresist (210) in the shape of the first pin part (310) at a position for forming the first pin part (310), a protective layer (300) is formed thereon, and the first pin part photoresist (210) is removed so that the corresponding position can be formed as a first pin part (310) having a hollow shape. Meanwhile, a second elastic layer (400) including a second pin part (410) to be described later can also be formed in the above-described manner.

[0035] Referring to FIG. 4, the second elastic layer (400) is configured to surround the protective layer (300) and include a second pin portion (410) that is perforated to correspond to the first pin portion (310). That is, the second elastic layer (400) is formed to surround the protective layer (300) and includes a second pin portion (410) that is perforated in a hollow shape on the upper portion of the first pin portion (310) to correspond to the first pin portion (310). Therefore, when a pin grows in the pin growth portion (20) of the electrode portion (200), it can grow to pass through the perforated first pin portion (310) of the protective layer (300) and the second pin portion (410) of the second elastic layer (400).

[0036] When the second elastic layer (400) and the second pin portion (410) are provided in this way, the probe pin (10) can grow and protrude to the outside through the second pin portion (410).

[0037] Meanwhile, after the probe pin (10) is grown without plating the protective layer (300) on the electrode portion (200), the protective layer (300) can be plated to surround the electrode portion (200). However, in this case, if the pin is grown by plating after plating the protective layer (300) described later, the effect of preventing unnecessary formation of the probe pin (10) due to the difference in plating speed may not be obtained.

[0038] In addition, the protective layer (300) is characterized by being formed of a material having a slower plating speed than the electrode portion (200). Due to this characteristic, when the pins are plated after the protective layer (300) is plated, as shown in FIG. 5, the pins growing from the electrode portion (200) can only grow in the pin growth portion (20), and the probe pins (10) can be prevented from being formed in other undesired locations, as indicated by the arrows in FIG. 5, other than the pin growth portion (20).

[0039] As described above, in order for the protective layer (300) to be formed of a material having a slower plating speed than the electrode portion (200), the electrode portion (200) is formed of copper (Cu), and the protective layer (300) is formed of nickel (Ni), so that when the probe pin (10) is grown on the pin growth portion (20), the probe pin (10) is not formed on other parts and is grown only on the pin growth portion (20).

[0040] In this way, if the protective layer (300) is formed of a material having a slower plating speed than the electrode portion (200), the pins can be formed concentrated only in the pin growth portion (20) as described above.

[0041] Meanwhile, when forming the electrode portion (200), a method can be utilized in which the elastic layer is etched, the electrode portion (200) is formed on the etched negative portion, and the electrode portion (200) is embedded in the elastic layer. The detailed process is described below.

[0042] The photoresist layer is formed on the upper surface of the elastic layer, and may be formed of a photoresist material, and has a structure in which the upper surface of the elastic layer is exposed, including an opening, and the opening is provided in the photoresist layer so that the upper surface of the elastic layer is exposed in the shape of an electrode. That is, the photoresist layer may be formed in a form in which an opening is formed in the shape of an electrode to expose the upper surface of the elastic layer. Meanwhile, the photoresist layer formed on the elastic layer may be etched to form the opening, or a separate opening-forming portion in the shape of an opening is deposited to form the opening, and the photoresist layer including the opening is formed by removing the opening-forming portion after depositing the photoresist layer.

[0043] When a photoresist layer including an opening is provided in this way, a deposition portion can be formed by etching the elastic layer through the opening.

[0044] The deposition portion is a configuration formed by etching the elastic layer through the opening. That is, the deposition portion is a configuration in which the elastic layer is etched in the shape of the opening to form an electrode pattern, and is formed in a form engraved on the elastic layer, and then, in a subsequent process, an electrode is deposited to form an electrode embedding structure in which the electrode is embedded in the elastic layer. At this time, a semiconductor etching method such as etching or an ashing process can be utilized as a method for etching the deposition portion, and in one embodiment of the present invention, the ashing process will be described as being utilized as the standard.

[0045] In this way, if the elastic layer includes a concave deposition portion, an electrode can be deposited on the deposition portion to form an electrode portion (200), and an electrode embedding structure in which the electrode portion (200) is embedded in the elastic portion can be formed to improve the adhesive strength of the electrode metal.

[0046] The electrode portion (200) is a configuration deposited on the deposition portion, and may be formed of various materials capable of conducting electricity. When the electrode portion (200) is deposited on the deposition portion engraved on the elastic layer, not only the bottom surface of the electrode portion (200) comes into contact with the elastic layer, but also the side surface of the electrode portion (200) comes into contact with the elastic layer, and accordingly, the metal adhesion of the electrode portion (200) can be improved. In addition, since the electrode portion (200) is embedded and fixed within the elastic layer, the pin formed on the electrode is minimized from being detached or moved due to pressure, and thus pitch deformation can be minimized.

[0047] When the electrode part (200) is provided in this way, in addition to the bottom surface of the elastic layer, the side surface of the electrode part (200) comes into contact with the elastic layer, so that the adhesive force of the electrode increases, and the metal adhesive force of the electrode can be improved. Accordingly, the detachment or movement of the pin formed on the electrode can be minimized, and pitch deformation can be minimized.

[0048] Meanwhile, the electrode portion (200) may include a lower electrode deposited on the deposition portion and an upper electrode deposited on the upper surface of the lower electrode.

[0049] The lower electrode is a configuration that is deposited on the deposition portion, and the upper electrode is a configuration that is deposited on the upper surface of the lower electrode to form the electrode portion (200). At this time, the lower electrode can be deposited to a location lower than the height of the deposition portion, and the upper electrode can be deposited to a location higher than the height of the deposition portion.

[0050] At this time, the upper electrode and the lower electrode forming the electrode portion (200) can be provided with various materials capable of conducting electricity. In one embodiment of the present invention, the lower electrode is formed of Ti, and the upper electrode is formed of Cu so as to be suitable for forming a probe pin (10) on the upper electrode. However, it is understood that the upper electrode and the lower electrode can be formed of various metals such as Cu, Au, Ag, or materials capable of conducting electricity. In addition, the lower electrode is deposited on a deposition portion formed on an elastic layer so that the bottom surface and the side surface of the lower electrode are in contact with the elastic layer to increase adhesive strength, and the upper electrode is deposited on the lower electrode so that the bottom surface is in contact with the lower electrode, and a part of the side surface is in contact with the elastic layer to form an adhesion. Accordingly, the adhesive strength can be increased through the lower electrode, and the probe pin (10) can be formed on the upper electrode through the upper electrode.

[0051] When the electrode part (200) including the upper electrode and the lower electrode is formed in this way, the lower electrode is formed so that the bottom surface and the side surface are in contact with the elastic layer, thereby increasing the area in contact with the elastic layer and increasing the adhesive strength, thereby serving as a support for fixing to the elastic layer, and the upper electrode is deposited on the upper part of the lower electrode, with a part of the side surface being in contact with the elastic layer and being adhered to it, and a part protruding outside the elastic layer, and having a shape and material suitable for growing the probe pin (10), so that the upper electrode and the lower electrode can perform their respective roles separately. In addition, since the upper electrode and the lower electrode perform their respective roles separately and can maintain a stable state with respect to each other, chemical stability can be secured.

[0052] Meanwhile, the above-described opening can be formed so that the open area increases from top to bottom. A cross-section of the opening reveals a shape in which the opening widens as it approaches the elastic layer. As the open area of ​​the opening increases from top to bottom, the etching solution entering the opening can remain there without easily escaping to the outside, allowing for more precise etching of the location where the deposition portion will be formed.

[0053] In this way, when the opening is formed so that the open area increases from top to bottom, the elastic layer can be precisely etched in the desired area to form a deposition portion.

[0054] Additionally, when the opening area increases from top to bottom, the side surface of the upper electrode may be formed to have a predetermined angle. In this case, since the protruding corner of the upper electrode has a predetermined angle, problems such as breakage or cracking may be less likely to occur than when the predetermined angle is not formed and the corner is angled. However, if the opening is simply formed to have a constant area, it is obvious that the upper electrode may also be formed to have an angled corner.

[0055] The photoresist layer can be removed using a lift-off process or the like, and a protective layer (300) surrounding the electrode portion (200) can be plated. At this time, the protective layer (300) can be formed of various materials, and in one embodiment of the present invention, it is described based on the case where it is formed of Cu. In addition, the protective layer (300) prevents the electrode from external impact and contamination, and enables the electrode to conduct electricity.

[0056] By providing a protective layer (300) in this way, the impact received by the electrode from the outside can be mitigated and contamination of the electrode, etc. can be prevented.

[0057] A probe head including an electrode structure according to an embodiment of the present invention described above can be formed, and the electrical characteristics of an electrical device can be tested using the probe head to which the electrode embedding structure is applied.

[0058] The above-described preferred embodiments of the present invention are disclosed for the purpose of illustration, and those skilled in the art will be able to make various modifications, changes, and additions within the spirit and scope of the present invention, and such modifications, changes, and additions should be considered to fall within the scope of the above-described claims. In addition, those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains will be able to make various substitutions, modifications, and changes without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention, and therefore the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and the attached drawings.

[0059] In the exemplary system described above, the methods are described based on a flowchart as a series of steps or blocks. However, the present invention is not limited to the order of the steps, and some steps may occur in a different order or simultaneously with other steps described above. Furthermore, those skilled in the art will understand that the steps depicted in the flowchart are not exclusive, and other steps may be included, or one or more steps in the flowchart may be deleted without affecting the scope of the present invention.

[0060] According to the present invention, a fine probe pin can be formed.

[0061] Additionally, it can prevent the probe pin from growing by being plated in an unwanted location.

Claims

1. First elastic layer (100); An electrode portion (200) formed on the upper surface of the first elastic layer (100); and It includes a protective layer (300) plated to surround the electrode portion (200); The above protective layer (300) is An electrode structure comprising a first pin portion (310) that is perforated to expose the pin growth portion (200) of the electrode portion (200), and characterized in that it is formed of a material having a slower plating speed than the electrode portion (200).

2. In paragraph 1, An electrode structure characterized by further including a second elastic layer (400) that surrounds the protective layer (300) and has a second pin portion (410) formed therethrough to correspond to the first pin portion (310).

3. In paragraph 1, An electrode structure characterized in that the probe pin (10) is grown by plating in the pin growth portion (20) of the electrode portion (200) so that the probe pin (10) passes through the first pin portion (310).

4. In paragraph 2, An electrode structure characterized in that the probe pin (10) is grown by plating in the pin growth portion (20) of the electrode portion (200) so that the probe pin (10) passes through the first pin portion (310) and the second pin portion (410).

5. In paragraph 3 or 4, The above electrode part (200) is made of copper (Cu), An electrode structure characterized in that the protective layer (300) is made of nickel (Ni) so that when a probe pin (10) is grown in the pin growth portion (20), the probe pin (10) is not formed in other parts and only grows in the pin growth portion (20).

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