Patent ID: 7626406

Claim:
A probing method for measuring electrical characteristics of an object to be inspected by bringing a probe needle to make a contact with an electrode pad of the object, the probe needle being vertically formed toward the object, comprising: (a) mounting the object on a mounting table; (b) aligning the object and the probe needle; (c) after the aligning, contacting the probe needle with the electrode pad by moving the mounting table vertically upwards to an initial contact position; and then (d) moving the mounting table vertically upwards toward the probe needle while moving the mounting table horizontally to rend an oxide film formed on a surface of the electrode pad, so that a tip of the probe needle is stuck into the electrode pad to form a rend mark and the probe needle and the electrode pad electrically conduct with each other in a conduction position, and, after the moving is completed, a depth of the rend mark in a vertically downward direction into the electrode pad is increased from the initial contact position to the conduction position and a width of the rend mark in a horizontal direction along a top surface of the electrode pad increases from the initial contact position to the conduction position.