Patent ID: 7777510

Claim:
A wafer inspecting apparatus, comprising: a stage provided with a heater or a cooler thereinside, allowing a semiconductor wafer to be mounted on a top face thereof, and heating or cooling the semiconductor wafer to a predetermined temperature; a drive mechanism for driving said stage up and down; a probe card disposed upward said stage, and having a probe needle which comes in contact with a bonding pad formed on the semiconductor wafer to transmit a signal; a position control device for controlling said drive mechanism in a manner causing a bonding pad of the semiconductor wafer to contact said probe needle of said probe card; and a clock means for measuring an elapsed time after said probe needle is caused to contact the bonding pad, wherein said position control device controls a position of said stage by adding a position correction value based on the predetermined temperature and the elapsed time measured by said clock means after said probe needle is caused to contact the bonding pad, thereby causing the bonding pad of the semiconductor wafer to contact said probe needle of said probe card with a predetermined distortion amount.