Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US8012331?dq=7125605
Timestamp: 2014-08-28 10:43:56
Document Index: 587076652

Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 10', 'art 72', 'art 72', 'art 72', 'art 72', 'art 72', 'art 72', 'art 72', 'art 72', 'art 72', 'art 72', 'art 72', 'art 73', 'art 73', 'art 73', 'art 73', 'art 73', 'art 73', 'art 73', 'art 73', 'art 72', 'arts 72', 'arts 110', 'arts 110', 'art 76', 'art 79']

Patent US8012331 - Probe and method of making same - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign in<nobr>Advanced Patent Search</nobr>PatentsDisclosed herein are a probe and a method of making the same, and more particularly to a probe having a minute pitch, with which a probe card corresponding to arrangement of pads formed with a massed shape or other various shapes on a wafer is made, and a method of making the same. The probe having a...http://www.google.com/patents/US8012331?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US8012331 - Probe and method of making sameAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS8012331 B2Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 11/876,180Publication dateSep 6, 2011Filing dateOct 22, 2007Priority dateMar 17, 2003Also published asCN1762050A, CN1762050B, US7285966, US20060171425, US20080035487, WO2004084295A1Publication number11876180, 876180, US 8012331 B2, US 8012331B2, US-B2-8012331, US8012331 B2, US8012331B2InventorsOug-Ki Lee, Jung-Hoon LeeOriginal AssigneePhicom CorporationExport CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (12), Non-Patent Citations (2), Classifications (13), Legal Events (1) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetProbe and method of making sameUS 8012331 B2Abstract Disclosed herein are a probe and a method of making the same, and more particularly to a probe having a minute pitch, with which a probe card corresponding to arrangement of pads formed with a massed shape or other various shapes on a wafer is made, and a method of making the same. The probe having a prescribed thickness and formed in the shape of a flat plate. The probe comprises a body part bent at the middle thereof so that the body part is elastically tensioned or compressed when a tension force or a compression force is applied to the body part at the upper and lower ends thereof, a connection part integrally formed with the lower end of the body part, the connection part being fixed to a substrate, and a tip part integrally formed with the upper end of the body part, the tip part contacting a pad of an element.
step 1 applying a sacrifice layer directly to the whole upper surface of a silicon wafer, coating the sacrifice layer at the upper surface thereof with a first photoresist, and attaching a first mask having a first pattern of a main probe to the upper surface of the first photoresist, wherein the first pattern comprises: a body part bent at the middle thereof, a connection part integrally formed with the lower end of the body part, and a tip part integrally formed with the upper end of the body part;
step 2 exposing and developing the first photoresist to form the first pattern of the main probe on the first photoresist;
step 3 performing electrolytic plating on the upper surface of the sacrifice layer and the first pattern of the photoresist to form a first metallic film having a shape of the main probe;
step 4 coating a second photoresist on the upper surface of the first photoresist and the first metallic film, and attaching a second mask having a second pattern of an auxiliary probe to the upper surface of the second photoresist, wherein the second pattern comprises: a body part bent at the middle thereof and identical to the body part of the main probe, and a connection part integrally formed with the lower end of the body part and identical to the connection part of the main probe, wherein the second mask is not provided with a tip part;
step 5 exposing and developing the second photoresist to form the second pattern of the auxiliary probe on the second photoresist; and
step 6 performing electrolytic plating on the upper surface of the first metallic film and the second pattern of the second photoresist to form a second metallic film having a shape of the auxiliary probe; and
step 7 removing the first photoresist and second photoresist, and etching the sacrifice layer to separate the probe from the silicon wafer.
2. A method of making a probe, comprising:
step 1 applying a sacrifice layer directly to the whole upper surface of a silicon wafer, coating the sacrifice layer at the upper surface thereof with a first photoresist, and attaching a first mask having a first pattern of an auxiliary probe to the upper surface of the first photoresist, wherein the first pattern comprises: a body part bent at the middle thereof, and a connection part integrally formed with the lower end of the body part;
step 2 exposing and developing the first photoresist to form the first pattern of the auxiliary probe on the first photoresist;
step 3 performing electrolytic plating on the upper surface of the sacrifice layer and the first pattern of the first photoresist to form a first metallic film having a shape of the auxiliary probe;
step 4 coating a second photoresist on the upper surface of the first photoresist and the first metallic film, and attaching a second mask having a second pattern of a main probe to the upper surface of the first photoresist, wherein the second pattern comprises: a body part bent at the middle thereof, a connection part integrally formed with the lower end of the body part, and a tip part integrally formed with the upper end of the body part;
step 5 exposing and developing the second photoresist to form the second pattern of the main probe on the second photoresist;
step 6 performing electrolytic plating on the upper surface of the first metallic film and the second pattern of the second photoresist to form a second metallic film having a shape of the main probe;
step 7 coating a third photoresist on the upper surface of the second photoresist and the second metallic film, and attaching a third mask having a third pattern of an auxiliary probe to the upper surface of the third photoresist, wherein the third pattern comprises: a body part bent at the middle thereof, and a connection part integrally formed with the lower end of the body part;
step 8 exposing and developing the third photoresist to form the third pattern of the auxiliary probe on the third photoresist; and
step 9 performing electrolytic plating on the upper surface of the second metallic film and the third pattern of the third photoresist to form a third metallic film having a shape of the auxiliary probe,
wherein each of the body parts formed by the first, second and third masks are identical,
wherein each of the connection parts formed by the first, second and third masks are identical, and
wherein the second and third masks are not provided with a tip part; and
step 10 removing the first photoresist, second photoresist and third photoresist, and etching the sacrifice layer to separate the probe from the silicon wafer. Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The present application is a Divisional Application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/549,335 filed on Sep. 13, 2005 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,285,966, which is a National Stage application under 35 U.S.C. �371 of and claims the benefit of International Application No. PCT/KR2004/000559, filed on Mar. 16, 2004, which claims priority to Korean Application No. 10-2003-0016634, filed on Mar. 17, 2003, published in the English language on Sep. 30, 2004 as International Publication Number WO 2004/084295 A1, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects can be accomplished by the provision of a probe having a prescribed thickness and formed in the shape of a flat plate, the probe comprising: a body part bent at the middle thereof so that the body part is elastically tensioned or compressed when a tension force or a compression force is applied to the body part at the upper and lower ends thereof; a connection part integrally formed with the lower end of the body part, the connection part being fixed to a substrate; and a tip part integrally formed with the upper end of the body part, the tip part contacting a pad of an element.
Referring to the left side of FIG. 7 b, a probe 71 comprises a main probe 72, which is formed in the shape of a bent plate and made of metal, and an auxiliary probe 73, which is also formed in the shape of a bent plate and made of metal. The auxiliary probe 73 is similar to the main probe 72 except for the shape of one end thereof. The auxiliary probe 73 is attached to the main probe 72. The main probe 72 comprises: a body part 72 b, which is bent at the middle thereof so that the body part 72 b is elastically compressed and expanded when an external force is applied to the body part 72 b; a connection part 72 a integrally formed with one end of the body part 72 b, the connection part 72 a serving as a supporting beam for supporting the body part 72 b when one end of the body part 72 b is connected to a substrate; and a tip part 72 c integrally formed with the other end of the body part 72 b, the tip part 72 c directly contacting a pad of an element to be tested. Similarly, the auxiliary probe 73 comprises: a body part 73 b, which is bent at the middle thereof so that the body part 73 b is elastically compressed and expanded when an external force is applied to the body part 73 b; and a connection part 73 a integrally formed with one end of the body part 73 b, the connection part 73 a serving as a supporting beam for supporting the body part 73 b when one end of the body part 73 b is connected to a substrate. The bottom of the probe 71, which is seen in the direction X at the left side of FIG. 7 b, is shown at the right side of FIG. 7 b. It can be seen from FIG. 7 b that the tip part 72 c is more extended to the left side than the connection parts 72 a and 73 a. The reason why the probe 71 is constructed as described above is that adjacent tip parts can be arranged densely in straight lines by an intersection arrangement of the probes. When the probes are arranged while intersecting each other as shown in FIG. 11 a, the distance between tip parts 110 c is decreased. FIG. 11 b is a plan view simplifying the dense arrangement of the probes. It can be seen from FIG. 11 b that the distance between the tip parts 110 c, i.e., the pitch p, is smaller than that of the conventional cantilever-type probe (See FIGS. 6 a and 6 b). The width w1 of the tip part of the probe corresponds to half of the width w2 of the body part of the probe. Consequently, it is possible to manufacture a probe card having a pitch p smaller half than that of the conventional cantilever-type probe.
A probe 74 shown in FIG. 7 c is similar to the probe 71 shown in FIG. 7 b except that an auxiliary probe 75 is disposed below a main probe 76. The auxiliary and main probes 76 and 75 are attached to each other. At one end of the main probe 76 is formed a tip part 76 c. Consequently, the probe 74 of FIG. 7 c is symmetrical to the probe 71 of FIG. 7 b. A probe 77 shown in FIG. 7 d is a combination of the probes of FIGS. 7 b and 7 c. Specifically, the probe 77 comprises: a main probe 79 having a tip part 79 c formed at one end thereof, and auxiliary probes 78 and 80 attached to lower and upper sides of the main probe 79, respectively. The auxiliary probes 78 and 80 are provided for reinforcing the strength of the probe.
Patent CitationsCited PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitleUS5160959 *Dec 9, 1991Nov 3, 1992Massachusetts Institute Of TechnologyDevice and method for the alignment of masksUS5989994 *Dec 29, 1998Nov 23, 1999Advantest Corp.Method for producing contact structuresUS6504223 *Sep 16, 2000Jan 7, 2003Advantest Corp.Contact structure and production method thereof and probe contact assembly using sameUS20010026166Dec 18, 2000Oct 4, 2001Khoury Theodore A.Probe contactor and production method thereofJP10357541A Title not availableJP2001136192A Title not availableJP2002219254A Title not availableJPH08261200A Title not availableJPS63148777A Title not availableKR20010020840A Title not availableKR20010319599A Title not availableWO2002084306A1Apr 10, 2002Oct 24, 2002Sumitomo Electric IndustriesContact probe* Cited by examinerNon-Patent CitationsReference1Office Action dated Jul. 20, 2007 (and English Translation) from Chinese Patent Office for counter-part Application.2U.S. Appl. No. 10/549,335, filed Sep. 13, 2005.Classifications U.S. Classification205/122, 205/170International ClassificationC25D5/02, G01R1/073, G01R1/067, G01R3/00Cooperative ClassificationG01R1/06744, G01R3/00, G01R1/07342, G01R1/07307, G01R1/06711European ClassificationG01R1/067C, G01R1/067C3BLegal EventsDateCodeEventDescriptionJan 22, 2008ASAssignmentOwner name: OUG-KI LEE, KOREA, REPUBLIC OFFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:LEE, OUG-KI;LEE, JUNG-HOON;REEL/FRAME:020395/0286;SIGNING DATES FROM 20050906 TO 20050909Owner name: PHICOM CORPORATION, KOREA, REPUBLIC OFFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:LEE, OUG-KI;LEE, JUNG-HOON;SIGNING DATES FROM 20050906 TO 20050909;REEL/FRAME:020395/0286RotateOriginal ImageGoogle Home - Sitemap - USPTO Bulk Downloads - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - About Google Patents - Send FeedbackData provided by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services©2012 Google