Method for making guide panel for vertical probe card in batch
A method for making a guide panel for a vertical probe card in batch includes the steps of a) preparing a non-metal substrate, b) forming a shielding layer having a plurality of openings on the substrate, c) etching a part of the substrate corresponding to the openings of the shielding layer by an anisotropic etching so as to form bind holes with a predetermined depth on the substrate, d) grinding the substrate to open the blind holes by a back side thinning technology so as to form micro feed through holes on the substrate, and e) removing the shielding layer so as to obtain the desired guide panel.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a guide panel for use in a vertical probe card and more specifically, to a method for making the guide panel in batch.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in
Various guide panels for vertical probe cards have been disclosed. Exemplars are seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,417,684; 6,297,657B1 and 6,404,211. According to U.S. Pat. No. 6,417,684, entitled “Securement of test points in a test head”, a conventional precision processing technique is employed to drill micro feed through holes in a ceramic, engineering plastic, glass or semiconductor material one by one. According to this conventional processing technique, there is a limitation on the position precision of micro feed through holes and the pitch between micro feed through holes (micro feed through hole position error will be greater than 15 μm; micro feed through hole pitch will be greater than 25 μm). Further, the manufacturing cost will be relatively increased subject to the number of the micro feed through holes to be made. This method does not meet modem technology requirements. According to U.S. Pat. No. 6,297,657B1, entitled “Temperature compensated vertical pin probing device”, metal plus dielectric material or insulating material are used for making the guide panel, and a laser processing technique is employed to make micro feed through holes on guide panels. This method achieves a better precision than the aforesaid conventional drilling method. However, using this laser processing technique to make the designed micro feed through holes one after another is complicated. The manufacturing cost and time are relatively increased subject to the number of the micro feed through holes to be made. According to U.S. Pat. No. 6,404,211, entitled “Metal buckling beam probe”, multiple metal layers are stacked to form the designed guide panel, and etching technology is employed to make micro feed through holes (apertures) in the metal layers. However, because etching technology cannot make micro feed through holes of high depth-to-diameter ratio, multiple metal layers must be stacked so that micro feed through holes of desired depth can be obtained. This fabrication method is complicated. Further, much time is wasted in stacking metal layers. Further, it is difficult to control levelling of stacked metal layers.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. It is the primary objective of the present invention to provide a guide panel fabrication method, which is able to make guide panels in batch, thereby saving much manufacturing time and lowering much manufacturing cost.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a guide panel fabrication method, which makes micro feed through holes on guide panels in a high precision.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a guide panel fabrication method, which can greatly reduce the diameter of the micro feed through holes.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a guide panel fabrication method, which can greatly reduce the pitch between each two adjacent micro feed through holes.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a guide panel fabrication method, which is practical to make big area guide panels for vertical probe card.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a guide panel fabrication method, which is practical for making temperature compensated guide panels for vertical probe card.
To achieve these objectives of the present invention, the method for making guide panel for vertical probe card in batch comprises the steps of: a) preparing a non-metal substrate, b) depositing an etching masking layer on the substrate, c) forming a shielding layer having openings of a predetermined pattern on the etching masking layer, d) etching a part of the etching masking layer corresponding to the openings of the shielding layer by a reactive ion etching so as to form apertures on the etching masking layer corresponding to the openings of the shielding layer, e) removing the shielding layer, f) etching a part of the substrate corresponding to the apertures by an anisotropic etching so as to form micro feed through holes on the substrate corresponding to the apertures, and g) removing the etching masking layer so as to obtain the desired guide panel.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
(A) As shown in
(B) As shown in
(C) As shown in
(D) As shown in
(E) Remove the shielding layer 13, as shown in
(F) As shown in
(G) Remove the first etching masking layer 121 and the second etching masking layer 122 from the substrate 11 having the micro feed through holes 113, and therefore the desired guide panel 10 is thus obtained, as shown in
By means of the aforesaid manufacturing steps, the guide panels that have precision micro feed through holes spaced from one another at a small pitch can be made in batch at a time. Because the amount of the micro feed through holes does not complicate the manufacturing procedure (micro feed through holes are formed in the same step, i.e. Step F), the above-mentioned method provided by the present invention greatly reduces the manufacturing cost of guide panels and is practical for making guide panels having a large area. As indicted above, since the substrate is preferably made of silicon-based material, which is same as the electronic component under test, the guide panels made by the method of the present invention have the advantage of temperature compensative characteristic.
Further, when making relatively greater area guide panels, the following steps may be added so that prepared guide panels can be cut into small guide panels.
(H) As shown in
(I) As shown in
Further, an insulative material, such as SiO2, Al2O3, TiO2, or any suitable dielectric material, may be coated on the guide panel to enhance the insulative characteristic.
Further, a polymeric material, such as polyimide, may be coated on the guide panel to enhance the toughness of the guide panel or the lubricant characteristic of the micro feed through holes.
(A) As shown in
(B) As shown in
(C) As shown in
(D) As shown in
(E) Grind the second side 212 of the substrate 21 by the back side thinning technique to open the blind holes 213, thereby forming micro feed through holes 214 through the first side 211 and the second side 212, as shown in
(F) As shown in
Similar to the aforesaid first embodiment, the guide panel thus obtained can be cut into small guide panels, i.e. the method further includes the following steps.
(G) As shown in
(H) The guide panel 20 thus obtained is bonded to a seat member 23, as shown in
Further, an insulative material, such as SiO2, Al2O3, TiO2, or any suitable dielectric material may be coated on the guide panel to enhance the insulative characteristic.
Further, a polymeric material, such as polyimide, may be coated on the guide panel to enhance the toughness of the guide panel or the lubricant characteristic of the micro feed through holes.
(A) As shown in
(B) As shown in
(C) As shown in
(D) As shown in
(E) As shown in
(F) As shown in
(G) As shown in
(H) As shown in
If necessary, a further step (I) of cutting the guide panel 30 into small guide panels may be employed, as shown in
Further, an insulative material, such as SiO2, Al2O3, TiO2, or any suitable dielectric material may be coated on the guide panel to enhance the insulative characteristic.
Furthermore, a polymeric material, such as polyimide, may be coated on the guide panel to enhance the toughness of the guide panel or the lubricant characteristic of the micro feed through holes.
(A) As shown in
(B) As shown in
(C) As shown in
(D) As shown in
(E) As shown in
(F) As shown in
(G) As shown in
(H) As shown in
(I) As shown in
(J) Use the inductively coupled plasma etching technique to deepen the depth of the blind holes 46 on the substrate 41 until reaching the second oxide layer 422, as shown in
(K) As shown in
(L) As shown in
Further, an insulative material, such as SiO2, Al2O3, TiO2, or any suitable dielectric material may be coated on the guide panel to enhance the insulative characteristic.
Furthermore, a polymeric material, for example polyimide, may be coated on the guide panel to enhance the toughness of the guide panel or the lubricant characteristic of the micro feed through holes.
(A) Prepare a thin substrate 51 made of a non-metal material, for example a Si-based material in this embodiment, as shown in
(B) Apply a first oxide layer 521 and a second oxide layer 522 on the first side 511 and the second side 512 of the substrate 51 respectively, and then deposit a first nitride layer 531 and a second nitride layer 532 on the first oxide layer 521 and the second oxide layer 522 respectively by the low pressure chemical vapor deposition, as shown in
(C) Apply a first shielding layer 53 on the second oxide layer 532, and then form an opening 541 with a predetermined area on the first shielding layer 54 by the lithograph technology, and then remove a part of the second nitride layer 532 corresponding to the opening 541 and a part of the second oxide layer 522 corresponding to the opening 541 by the reactive ion etching technique so as to let a part of the substrate 51 corresponding to the opening 541 be accessible from outside, as shown in
(D) Use KOH or any of a variety of other etchant for anisotropic wet etching to etch the part of the substrate 51 corresponding to the opening 541 subject to a predetermined depth and diameter so as to form a recessed portion 513 on the second side 512 of the substrate 51, and then remove the first shielding layer 54 and the first and second nitride layers 531 and 532, as shown in
(E) As shown in
(F) As shown in
(G) As shown in
(H) As shown in
(I) Use the inductively coupled plasma etching or the anisotropic dry etching to deepen the depth of the blind holes 57, thereby forming the designed micro feed through holes 58 on the substrate 51 corresponding to the first and second apertures 523 and 524.
(J) As shown in
According to the aforesaid five embodiments, the present invention provides a guide panel fabrication method, which uses the anisotropic etching technique to make micro feed through holes on a substrate so that the guide panels for vertical probe card can be made in batch at a time to save the manufacturing time and to reduce the manufacturing cost. Further, the method of the present invention greatly improves the precision of the micro feed through holes, greatly reduces the pitch between each two adjacent micro feed through holes, and is suitable in making guide panels having relatively large area for vertical probe card. Furthermore, the invention is also practical for making temperature compensated guide panels for vertical probe card.
Claims
1. A method for making a guide panel for a vertical probe card in batch, wherein the guide panel has a plurality of micro feed through holes for insertion of probe pins of the vertical probe card, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) preparing a non-metal substrate;
- (b) forming a shielding layer having a plurality of openings with a predetermined pattern on said non-metal substrate; and
- (c) forming a plurality of micro feed through holes on said non-metal substrate corresponding to said openings using by an anisotropic etching so as to obtain a guide panel having a plurality of micro feed through holes.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said non-metal substrate is made of a material selected from the group consisting of Si-based material, GaN-based material, GaAs-based material and InP-based material.
3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said non-metal substrate is made of a semiconductor material that accepts the anisotropic etching.
4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said non-metal substrate is made of glass or ceramic.
5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said non-metal substrate is made of a nonconductor material that accepts the anisotropic etching.
6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said shielding layer is formed of a photo resist.
7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the openings of said shielding layer are formed by the lithography technology.
8. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step (d) of coating an insulative material on the guide panel obtained from the step (c).
9. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the insulative material is selected from the group consisting of SiO2, Al2O3, and TiO2.
10. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step (d) of coating a polymeric material on the guide panel obtained from the step (c).
11. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein said polymeric material is polyimide.
12. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of cutting the guide panel obtained from the step (c) into a plurality of small guide panels.
13. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step (b) includes the sub-steps of:
- i) depositing an etching masking layer on said non-metal substrate;
- ii) forming a shielding layer having a plurality of openings with a predetermined pattern on said etching masking layer;
- iii) etching a part of said etching masking layer corresponding in location to the openings of said shielding layer by a reactive ion etching to form a plurality of apertures on said etching masking layer; and
- iv) removing said shielding layer;
- wherein the step (c) includes the sub-steps of:
- i) etching a part of said non-metal substrate corresponding in location to the apertures to form a plurality of micro feed through holes by an anisotropic wet etching; and
- ii) removing said etching masking layer so as to obtain the guide panel.
14. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein said non-metal substrate has a first side and a second side opposite to said first side, said first side being deposited with a first etching masking layer thereon, said second side being deposited with a second etching masking layer thereon; wherein said shielding layer is formed on said first etching masking layer and the apertures are formed on said first etching masking layer.
15. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein said anisotropic wet etching uses an etchant selected from the group consisting of KOH, ethylenediamine pyrocatechol, tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide and hydrazine.
16. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein said etching masking layer is formed of Si3N4 by means of the low pressure chemical vapor deposition.
17. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the anisotropic etching employed in the step (c) is an anisotropic dry etching.
18. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the step (c) includes the sub-steps of:
- i) forming a plurality of blind holes having a predetermined depth corresponding to the openings of said shielding layer on said substrate by the anisotropic dry etching; and
- ii) grinding said substrate to open said blind holes, thereby obtaining the guide panel having a plurality of micro feed through holes.
19. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein said anisotropic dry etching is selected from the group consisting of inductively coupled plasma etching, plasma etching, ion beam etching, deep reactive ion etching and focus ion beam etching.
20. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein said non-metal substrate has a first side on which said shielding layer is form, and a second side opposite to said first side.
21. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the step (b) includes the sub-steps of:
- i) depositing an oxide layer on said non-metal substrate;
- ii) forming a shielding layer having openings with a predetermined pattern on said oxide layer; and
- iii) etching a part of said oxide layer corresponding in location to the openings by a reactive ion etching to form a plurality of apertures on said oxide layer corresponding to the openings.
22. The method as claimed in claim 21, wherein said oxide layer is formed of SIO2.
23. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the step (c) includes the sub-steps of:
- i) etching said non-metal substrate to form a plurality of blind holes having a predetermined depth and diameter corresponding to the openings of said shielding layer by the anisotropic dry etching;
- ii) depositing a nitride layer on said first shielding layer and the peripheries of said openings and blind holes;
- iii) forming a second shielding layer having through holes corresponding to the openings of said first shielding layer on said first shielding layer;
- iv) removing said nitride layer at a bottom side of each of said blind holes by a reactive ion etching;
- v) deepening said blind holes by the anisotropic dry etching; and
- vi) removing said first shielding layer and said second shielding layer; and
- vii) removing the nitride layer.
24. The method as claimed in claim 23, wherein said non-metal substrate has a first side and a second side opposite to said first side, said first side being deposited with a first oxide layer thereon, said second side being deposited a second oxide layer thereon; wherein said first shielding layer is covered on said first oxide layer.
25. The method as claimed in claim 24, wherein said nitride layer is deposited a low pressure chemical vapor deposition.
26. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the steps (b) and (c) include the sub-steps of:
- i) forming a first oxide layer and a second oxide layer on a first side and a second side of said non-metal substrate respectively;
- ii) forming a first nitride layer and a second nitride layer on said first oxide layer and said second oxide layer respectively;
- iii) forming a first shielding layer having an opening on said second nitride layer and then removing a part of said second nitride layer and a part of said second oxide layer corresponding in location to the opening of said first shielding layer by a reactive ion etching;
- iv) etching said no-metal substrate by an anisotropic wet etching to form a recessed portion on said non-metal substrate corresponding in location to the opening of said first shielding layer;
- v) removing said first shielding layer and said first and second nitride layers;
- vi) etching said first oxide layer by a reactive ion etching to form a plurality of first and second apertures with a predetermined pattern on said first oxide layer, wherein the second apertures have a diameter grater than that of the first apertures;
- vii) forming a second shielding layer on said first oxide layer, said second shielding layer having through holes in communication with the first and second apertures on said first oxide layer;
- viii) etching said non-metal substrate by an anisotropic dry etching to form a plurality of blind holes on said non-metal substrate corresponding in location to said first and second apertures;
- ix) removing said second shielding layer;
- x) deepening said blind holes of said non-metal substrate by an anisotropic dry etching;
- xi) removing said first oxide layer and said second oxide layer so as to obtain a guide panel having a recessed portion.
27. A guide panel for a vertical probe card, comprising:
- a non-metal substrate having a plurality of micro feed through holes formed by an anisotropic etching for insertion of probes of a vertical probe card.
28. The guide panel as claimed in claim 27, wherein said non-metal substrate is made of a material selected from the group consisting of Si-based material, GaN-based material, GaAs-based material and InP-based material.
29. The guide panel as claimed in claim 27, wherein said non-metal substrate is made of a semiconductor material that accepts the anisotropic etching.
30. The guide panel as claimed in claim 27, wherein said non-metal substrate is made of glass or ceramic.
31. The guide panel as claimed in claim 27, wherein said non-metal substrate is made of a nonconductor material that accepts the anisotropic etching.
32. The guide panel as claimed in claim 27, wherein said anisotropic etching is an anisotropic wet etching.
33. The guide panel as claimed in claim 32, wherein said anisotropic wet etching uses an etchant selected from the group consisting of KOH, ethylenediamine pyrocatechol, tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide and hydrazine.
34. The guide panel as claimed in claim 27, wherein said anisotropic etching is an anisotropic dry etching.
35. The guide panel as claimed in claim 34, wherein said anisotropic dry etching is selected from the group consisting of inductively coupled plasma etching, plasma etching, ion beam etching, deep reactive ion etching and focus ion beam etching.
36. The guide panel as claimed in claim 27, wherein said non-metal substrate is coated with a layer of insulative material.
37. The guide panel as claimed in claim 36, wherein the insulative material is selected from the group consisting of SiO2, Al2O3, and TiO2.
38. The guide panel as claimed in claim 27, wherein said non-metal substrate is coated with a layer of polymeric material.
39. The guide panel as claimed in claim 38, wherein said polymeric material is polyimide.
Type: Application
Filed: Aug 30, 2006
Publication Date: May 24, 2007
Applicant: MJC Probe Incorporation (Chu-Pei City)
Inventors: Chih-Yung Cheng (Hsinchu Hsiang), H. Fan (Hsinchu Hsiang), Chih-Chung Chen (Hsinchu Hsiang), Hsin-Hung Lin (Hsinchu Hsiang)
Application Number: 11/512,185
International Classification: C23F 1/00 (20060101);