Patent ID: 7560943

Claim:
A probing apparatus comprising: a substrate; and a plurality of probes disposed on said substrate, each of said probes comprising a contact tip, said tips disposed in a pattern to contact terminals of semiconductor dies to be tested, wherein two or more of first probes of said plurality of probes each comprise a first tip disposed on a first substantially flat surface of said first probe, said first tip disposed on said first substantially flat surface such that a corner of said first tip is disposed at least a predetermined distance from a perimeter of said first substantially flat surface, wherein said predetermined distance is a minimum spacing for a processing algorithm to find said corner of said first tip in a digital image that includes portions of at least some of said probes, and one or more of second probes of said plurality of probes each comprising a second tip disposed on a second substantially flat surface of said second probe, said second tip disposed on said second substantially flat surface such that all corners of said second tip are disposed less than said predetermined distance from a perimeter of said second substantially flat surface.