Patent ID: 7332918

Claim:
A prober for testing a plurality of objects to be tested which are arranged on a wafer-like substrate, comprising: a prober chamber; a stage base arranged in the prober chamber; a Z stage arranged on the stage base, the Z stage including a Z stage elevating mechanism to vertically move the Z stage; an X-Y stage arranged on the Z stage, the X-Y stage forming a first frame structure and having a first space at the center thereof, the X-Y stage including an X-Y driving mechanism to move the X-Y stage at least in the X and Y directions; a substrate fixing mechanism arranged on the X-Y stage, the substrate fixing mechanism forming a second frame structure and having a second space, at the center thereof, which is continuous to the first space; a probe card arranged in the prober chamber to oppose the wafer-like substrate and having a plurality of probes; a probing stage elevating mechanism fixed on the Z stage; and a probing stage attached to the probing stage elevating mechanism and arranged in the first space, wherein: the probing stage being arranged such that an axis thereof coincides with an extension line vertically extending from a center of the probe card, and an upper flat surface of the probing stage has a size smaller than the size of the first and second space, and the upper flat surface serving to come into contact with the bottom surface of the substrate, when the probing stage is moved upward by the probing elevating mechanism, to support the substrate from below.