Probe Mounting Structure for High-Voltage Wafer Testing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wafer-level reliability test systems face challenges in maintaining high-pressure gas within a cavity during high-voltage testing, which can lead to safety risks and inefficiencies due to the difficulty in sealing and maintaining pressure across a large cavity, potentially causing sparks and explosions.
Innovation Solution
A probe mounting structure with smaller, individually sealed mounting holes on a probe mounting plate, filled with high-pressure arc-extinguishing gas, and a soft insulating sealing plate to absorb unevenness and prevent damage, allowing for batch charging and discharging of gas and using spring probes for compatibility with varying wafer thicknesses.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a large cavity is used to contain multiple probes and test chips for high-voltage testing, then batch testing capability is improved, but pressure maintenance becomes difficult and safety risks increase due to potential explosions
Solution Approach 1:
The large cavity is divided into multiple small mounting holes, each independently sealed and filled with high-pressure gas. This segmentation allows batch testing of multiple probes while maintaining pressure control in each small chamber, avoiding the safety risks of a single large cavity.
Solution Approach 2:
A probe mounting plate with multiple sealed mounting holes serves as an intermediary structure between the test chips and the high-pressure gas environment. Each mounting hole acts as an independent pressure chamber, enabling safe batch testing through controlled segmentation.
2Reliability
If high-pressure gas is filled into a large cavity containing multiple probes, then high-voltage testing can be performed, but the structure requires high strength to prevent explosion, increasing device complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The cavity is segmented into multiple small mounting holes in the probe mounting plate. Each small chamber requires minimal structural strength to contain high-pressure gas, eliminating the need for a complex, high-strength large cavity structure while enabling high-voltage testing.
3Ease of operation
If probes are moved to contact each wafer sequentially, then individual testing is achieved, but testing efficiency decreases compared to batch testing
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple probes are mounted simultaneously on a single probe mounting plate with multiple mounting holes, combining individual probe contact capability with batch testing. This allows sequential wafer testing while maintaining the efficiency benefits of batch processing through the multi-probe configuration.
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
This solution ensures safe and efficient high-voltage testing by maintaining pressure within each mounting hole independently, reducing the risk of sparks and explosions, and enabling batch testing with improved safety and simplicity, while accommodating different wafer thicknesses and warpage.
Implementation Method 1
arc-extinguishing gas is filled into the cavity. The air pressure in the cavity needs to be maintained at a certain pressure to ensure that spark does not happen when high voltage is applied (In normal atmospheric pressure air, high voltage will break down the air and cause sparking. High-voltage spark can be avoided by increasing the air pressure in the environment)
Data Source
AI summary
A probe mounting structure and a wafer-level reliability test system are provided. The probe mounting structure includes a probe mounting plate. The probe mounting plate is provided with mounting holes penetrating through a thickness direction of the probe mounting plate. A volume of each mounting hole is smaller than a preset value and is used to install a corresponding probe. Two ends of each probe are respectively connected to a corresponding first pad on a circuit board and a corresponding die of a wafer under test. Two sides of the probe mounting plate are in contact with the test circuit board and the wafer under test respectively, such that each of the mounting holes forms a sealed chamber. The mounting holes are filled with high-pressure gas to ensure that the wafer under test does not spark during high-voltage testing.