Patent ID: 7741837

Claim:
A probe apparatus for inspecting a plurality of chips arranged on a substrate by mounting the substrate on a horizontally and vertically movable substrate mounting table and then contacting probes of a probe card with electrode pads of the chips, the probe apparatus comprising: a load port for mounting therein a carrier having therein a plurality of substrates; a plurality of probe apparatus main bodies, each including the probe card having the probes on its bottom surface; a substrate transfer mechanism for transferring the substrate between the load port and the probe apparatus main bodies, the substrate transfer mechanism being rotatable about a vertical axis and movable up and down; and a control unit for outputting a control signal to the probe apparatus main bodies and the substrate transfer mechanism, wherein the substrate transfer mechanism has at least three substrate supporting members, the number of the substrate supporting members being greater than that of the probe apparatus main bodies by one, each substrate supporting member being independently movable back and forth, and the control unit outputs a control signal for receiving at least two substrates to be inspected from the carrier by the substrate transfer mechanism and sequentially replacing the substrates with inspected substrates in the probe apparatus main bodies by using an empty substrate supporting member.