Segmented Vertical Probe Head for High Pin Count Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing vertical probe cards face challenges in maintaining probe alignment and reducing repair costs due to the small and precise dimensions of probes, which often lead to increased maintenance time and labor, especially for high pin count probe cards, as the non-fixed locating plate can interfere with proper probe removal and replacement.
Innovation Solution
A combined probe head is designed with sub-probe heads and a locating plate, where sub-dies are used to segment the layout areas of probes, allowing for accurate alignment and assembly, reducing mutual interference during repairs by using screw locking mechanisms and a probe alignment unit to position the sub-probe heads correctly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the probe head is designed as a single integrated unit with a non-fixed locating plate, then the assembly is simpler, but the probe alignment precision deteriorates during repair operations
Solution Approach 1:
The probe head is divided into multiple independent sub-probe heads, each containing a subset of probes. This segmentation allows individual sub-probe heads to be removed and replaced without affecting other probes, thereby maintaining alignment precision during repair operations while keeping the overall assembly manageable.
Solution Approach 2:
The locating plate is pre-fixed to the substrate before probe installation. This preliminary action ensures that the locating plate remains stationary during probe assembly and repair operations, preventing alignment shifts and ensuring consistent probe positioning throughout the device lifecycle.
2Productivity
If probes are tightly aligned in a high pin count probe card, then the testing capability is enhanced, but the repair difficulty increases due to interference between probes
Solution Approach 1:
The high pin count probe card is divided into multiple sub-probe heads, each handling a portion of the total probes. This segmentation enables targeted repair of specific sub-probe heads without requiring removal or manipulation of other functional probes, thus maintaining high testing capability while significantly easing repair operations.
Solution Approach 2:
Individual sub-probe heads can be extracted from the assembled probe card for separate repair or replacement. This extraction capability allows maintenance personnel to work on isolated units, reducing interference from other tightly aligned probes and simplifying the repair process for high pin count configurations.
3Ease of operation
If the locating plate is made non-fixed to facilitate probe removal, then the ease of operation improves, but the reliability of probe alignment deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The locating plate is fixed to the substrate before probe installation and remains fixed throughout operation. This preliminary fixing action eliminates the need to loosen or move the locating plate during probe removal, thereby maintaining both ease of operation (through standardized removal procedures) and reliability (through consistent alignment stability).
Solution Approach 2:
By segmenting the probe head into removable sub-probe heads, the system allows easy removal of individual probe units without requiring movement of the fixed locating plate. This segmentation maintains the locating plate's stability while facilitating straightforward probe replacement operations.
Data Source
AI summary
A combined probe head being disposed in a space transformer of a vertical probe card is provided, in which the combined probe head is used for differentiating or segmenting a layout area of the probes in the vertical probe card. The combined probe head may include a locating plate and sub-probe heads. The locating plate may include fixed portions. Each sub-probe head may include corresponding sub-dies and probes inserted between the sub-dies, and each sub-probe head is assembled and fixed in the corresponding fixed portion. Therefore, the layout area of the probes in the vertical probe card can be respectively differentiated or segmented from the sub-probe heads in order to avoid mutual interference under repair process. In addition, a related method for assembling and aligning the above mentioned combined probe head is provided.