Patent ID: 6174744
Filing Date: 2001-01-16
Classification: G01R,H01L

Abstract:
A method of producing a probe card, comprising the following steps of:forming a mask on a silicon substrate;forming a plurality of beams on said silicon substrate each having a rectangular shape protrusion at its end through a dry etching process;forming an electric conductive layer on a surface of each of said beams through a sputtering process;performing an anisotropic wet etching process for said rectangular shape protrusion on each of said beams to form a pyramid shaped micro contact pin;pressing said beams into an insulation material;reducing a thickness of said beams through a lost wafer process;forming a piezoelectric element on each of said beams through a sputtering process;overlapping a second silicon substrate having a sacrificial layer made of a silicon material on a back side of said beams; andremoving said sacrificial layer to form a plurality of recesses for allowing an up-down movement of said plurality of beams;whereby establishing a probe card having a large number of micro contact pins which are movable in a vertical direction which is a direction perpendicular to the silicon substrate when a drive signal is supplied to the piezoelectric elements, and wherein the vertical movement of each of the micro contact pins is selectively made by the drive signal, and wherein the vertical movement of each micro contact pin is independent from that of the other micro contact pins thereby contacting a target electrode without causing any mechanical movement in the other micro contact pins.