Silicon Probe Guide with Tapered Coating for Strength
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional probe guides made of silicon with etched guide holes face challenges in ensuring strength and abrasion resistance due to tapered inner walls and thin partition walls, which can lead to breakage during semiconductor inspection processes.
Innovation Solution
A probe guide configuration featuring a silicon plate with guide holes that have a guide film on the inner walls, where the cross-sectional area and film thickness gradually increase towards the surface, suppressing the tilt of the inner walls and enhancing the strength and abrasion resistance, with the option of forming the guide film as a sputtered diamond-like carbon or yttria-stabilized zirconia film.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If guide holes are formed by etching in a silicon plate, then manufacturing precision is improved, but strength deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The invention combines silicon base material with a coating layer (diamond-like carbon or other hard coatings) to create a composite structure. The silicon provides the structural framework and etching manufacturability, while the coating layer compensates for the brittleness and strength deficiencies of pure silicon, particularly in the tapered regions of etched guide holes.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the physical and chemical parameters of the silicon surface by applying a coating layer with different mechanical properties. This coating transformation allows the probe guide to maintain the manufacturing advantages of etched silicon holes while achieving the strength and abrasion resistance needed for practical application.
2Ease of manufacture
If guide holes are formed by etching in a silicon plate, then ease of manufacture is improved, but abrasion resistance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The coating layer (particularly diamond-like carbon) provides exceptional abrasion resistance while allowing the underlying silicon structure to be manufactured using standard etching processes. This composite approach maintains manufacturing ease while dramatically improving wear resistance during probe card operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces the reliance on pure mechanical strength of silicon with a surface coating that provides tribological protection. The coating layer handles the wear and friction aspects, allowing the silicon substrate to focus on providing the geometric precision achieved through etching.
3Area of stationary object
If pitch between adjacent guide holes is decreased, then area of stationary object is reduced, but strength deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The coating layer reinforces the thin partition walls between closely-spaced guide holes, allowing the probe guide to maintain structural integrity even when the pitch between holes is reduced. This enables higher density probe card designs without sacrificing the strength needed to prevent hole collapse or probe misalignment.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution improves the strength and abrasion resistance of the probe guide, preventing breakage and maintaining accurate probe positioning during semiconductor inspections, while allowing for finer guide holes and reduced pitch between adjacent holes.
Implementation Method 1
the guide film is formed as a sputtered film
Data Source
AI summary
OBJECTTo improve the strength of a probe guide and improve the abrasion resistance of the probe guide.MEANS FOR SETTLEMENTA guide plate 20 is formed of a silicon plate 22 having guide holes 23 respectively adapted to support contact probes 13, the inner walls of the guide holes 23 include a guide film 25 formed on the inner wall surfaces of corresponding penetration-processed holes 24 of the silicon plate 22, the cross-sectional areas of the penetration-processed holes 24 gradually increase toward a first surface of the silicon plate 22, and the film thickness of the guide film 25 gradually increases toward the first surface of the silicon plate 22. By employing such a configuration, as compared with the tilts of the inner wall surfaces of the penetration-processed holes 24, the tilts of the inner wall surfaces of the guide holes 23 can be suppressed, and the strength of the silicon plate 20 can be improved. Accordingly, the abrasion resistance of a probe guide 100 can be improved.