Design and fabrication of a monolithic high-density probe card for high-frequency on-wafer testing

A novel probe card structure for high-density, high-frequency applications is described. Conventional probe tips are replaced by compliant, multilayer cantilever beams fabricated monolithically on a silicon wafer, which, if desired, can include active circuitry elements. All fabrication steps are ba...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hong, S., Lee, K., Bravman, J.C.
Format: Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Subjects:
Circuits
Fabrication
Force control
Micromachining
Nonhomogeneous media
Numerical simulation
Probes
Silicon
Stress control
Structural beams
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Description
Summary:A novel probe card structure for high-density, high-frequency applications is described. Conventional probe tips are replaced by compliant, multilayer cantilever beams fabricated monolithically on a silicon wafer, which, if desired, can include active circuitry elements. All fabrication steps are based on standard IC processing and micromachining technologies. The mechanical and electrical characterizations of the probe card structure, based upon numerical simulations, are summarized. The principal findings are: (1) sufficient elastic deflection (>50 mu m) of a multilayer probe tip can be obtained by controlling the residual stresses in each film; (2) resisting forces produced by the elastic deformation of the beam can generate stable and relatively low contact resistances (
ISSN:0163-1918
2156-017X
DOI:10.1109/IEDM.1989.74281