Patent ID: 7649366

Claim:
A probe card assembly comprising: a mounting structure by which said probe card assembly can be attached to and detached from a prober; an electrical interface comprising N electrical connections configured to make connections with N communications channels from a tester; a plurality of M probes secured to said mounting structure and further disposed in a pattern that corresponds to a pattern of contact terminals of a plurality of electronic devices to be tested, wherein M is greater than N; a plurality of electrical connections directly connecting first ones of the plurality of M probes to the electrical interface wherein each one of the electrical connections connects one of the first ones of the plurality of M probes to one of the electrical connections of the interface; and a plurality of switches selectively connecting second ones of the plurality of M probes to the electrical interface wherein ones of the switches connect selectively one of a first set of the second ones of the plurality of M probes and a second set of the second ones of the plurality of M probes to a set of the electrical connections of the interface such that only one of the first set or the second set is connected to the set of the electrical connections of the interface at a time, wherein the first set of the second ones of the plurality of M probes are disposed in the pattern of the M probes to correspond to contact terminals of a first one of the electronic devices, and the second set of the second ones of the plurality of M probes are disposed in the pattern of the M probes to correspond to contact terminals of a second one of the electronic devices.