Bong-Hwan Kim et al 2007 J. Micromech. Microeng. 17 1350 doi:10.1088/0960-1317/17/7/018
Bong-Hwan Kim1,2, Hyeon-Cheol Kim2, Soon-Don Choi3, Kukjin Chun2, Jong-Bok Kim1 and Jong-Hyun Kim1
Show affiliationsA vertically guided MEMS probe card was designed to deflect 50 µm at a force of 1.5 g and achieve less than 50 µm of pad pitch. Based on our experimental results, the measured average contact resistance of a device under test (DUT) was approximately 0.2 Ω at 1.44 g of force and the leakage current between two tips in the distance of one pitch was about 10 pA. In addition, tip planarity was about ±6 µm with x–y alignment errors within ±8 µm. A reliability test showed that the average contact resistance was 0.34 Ω and the probe tip wear was less than 1 µm after the 10 000 timed touchdowns. To be capable of fine pitch probing, a cantilever beam was constructed by dry etching using a positive photoresist. After the cantilever beam was formed by silicon etching using a deep RIE etcher inside a deep-recessed trench, a vertically guided structure was created from the cantilever beam. Furthermore, to make a horizontally stopped structure, the cantilever beam was designed to have a pyramid tip with a width bigger than that of the beam itself. This kind of structure is mechanically stable when the tip is applied with an oblique force. Because the probe card can be guided vertically and horizontally, it can be neither broken nor deformed by any directional force. In that respect, this newly proposed probe card is suitable for wafer-level testing and fine pitch device testing.
85.85.+j Micro- and nano-electromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS) and devices
81.40.Jj Elasticity and anelasticity, stress-strain relations
81.40.Np Fatigue, corrosion fatigue, embrittlement, cracking, fracture, and failure
85.40.Ls Metallization, contacts, interconnects; device isolation
Issue 7 (July 2007)
Received 18 March 2007, in final form 10 May 2007
Published 11 June 2007
Bong-Hwan Kim et al 2007 J. Micromech. Microeng. 17 1350
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