Patent ID: 6130543
Filing Date: 2000-10-10
Classification: G01R

Abstract:
An inspection method of inspecting electrical characteristics of semiconductor integrated circuits formed on a semiconductor wafer, said method comprising:the contacting step of moving a main chuck, on which the semiconductor wafer is placed, toward a contactor having a plurality of measuring contacts that come into contact with electrodes of at least one of the semiconductor integrated circuits which are formed on the semiconductor wafer and which have a plurality of electrodes, thereby bringing said measuring contacts and the electrodes into contact with each other, andthe inspection step of inspecting the electrical characteristics of each of the semiconductor integrated circuits based on an inspection signal output from said measuring contacts while said measuring contacts and the electrodes are in contact with each other,wherein the contacting step comprises:the step of moving said main chuck toward said contactor until a gap between said semiconductor wafer and said contactor becomes the one which is present immediately before said measuring contacts contact the electrodes; andthe step of setting a pressure of the gap between said semiconductor wafer and said contactor to a low pressure and moving said contactor and the semiconductor wafer on the main chuck closer to each other with a suction force generated by the low pressure, thereby bringing said measuring contacts and the electrodes into contact with each other,wherein the suction force generated by the low pressure occurs due to exhausting a gas from the gap.