Patent ID: 7649369

Claim:
A probe that comes into electrical contact with an object to be inspected when inspecting an electrical characteristic of the object to be inspected, the probe comprising: a probe main body having a contact portion that comes into contact with the object to be inspected; and a plurality of conductive materials each having a tip portion projecting from the contact portion of said probe main body, wherein the conductive materials are buried in the contact portion and made of a material harder than the contact portion, and wherein the contact portion has a contact surface that comes into contact with the object to be inspected, the tip portions are formed to project from the contact surface, a projection length of the tip portions being larger than a thickness of an oxide film formed on a surface of an electrode of the object to be inspected, and the contact surface is formed substantially parallel to the surface of the electrode and comes into contact with the oxide film on the surface of the electrode to function as a stopper for the tip portions when the tip portions penetrate the oxide film to reach the electrode.