Fabrication of a bump-type Si probe card

A probe card is used to test IC chips before they are packaged. As functions of IC become more and more complex, the number of metal pads and operating frequency also increase. So the performance of a probe card should be improved. Recently, many studies have been reported concerning this issue. The performance of a probe card should meet the requirements stated below. First, the number of probe tips should not be limited by its geometrical structure or fabrication method. Second, each probe should have independent tension when contacting metal pad. Third, multiple ICs or full wafer should be tested simultaneously with one probe card to reduce cost and time consumed. Fourth, wafer level burn in test should be carried out with a probe card. In this work, we propose a new probe card fabrication method and geometrical structure that have a potential to meet all the requirements mentioned above.