PRIORITY  
         [0001]    This application claims priority from Taiwanese patent application 091104650, filed Mar. 13, 2002, which application is incorporated by reference in its entirety.  
         BACKGROUND  
         [0002]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0003]    The present invention relates to a method for producing probe cards for testing integrated circuits, more particularly the process for forming micro probes on a ceramic substrate for testing integrated circuits, and also to the process for testing one or more dies on an integrated circuit wafer using such a probe card.  
           [0004]    2. Description of the Related Art  
           [0005]    Testing integrated circuit (“IC”) characteristics including reliability of ICs is indispensable to the semiconductor industry. As IC manufacturing technology advances, ICs perform better and are able to work at higher frequencies with ever smaller die sizes. The technology and equipment for IC testing needs to advance correspondingly. The number and density of the probes on a testing probe card should conform with the number and density of input/output (“I/O”) terminals of the ICs to be tested. All the lines and leads from the probes to the automatic test equipment (“ATE”) that generates and processes testing signals should be able to work at higher frequencies and maintain low noise to render accurate testing results. Besides, the cost of testing is an important component of the total cost of producing ICs. Therefore it is important to improve the performance of testing and to reduce its cost.  
           [0006]    Testing of an IC&#39;s characteristics and its reliability is carried out after the IC die has been packaged by sending and picking up test signals via the pins extending out of the IC package. Such a process does not sort out bad dies before packaging and thus wastes time and money when bad dies are packaged. Manufacturing wafers consumes the most time in the process of manufacturing IC products. In a typical process flow the failure rate of the ICs is only known at the last stage. It is consequently normal to produce a number of surplus wafers at the first stage of IC production in anticipation of failures because it is generally not acceptable to start replacement wafer production when the IC failure rate is known. The result is that a manufacturer will keep a larger stock of wafers on hand, which increases costs.  
           [0007]    Multi-chip modules have become more popular as advanced packaging technology has become available. In a multi-chip module any bad chip will result in the discard of the entire module. In a conventional process, testing is not done before the chips are packaged but is applied to the packaged multi-chip module. The testing thus experiences the greater complexity of the module and achieves less reliable results. The result is higher testing costs, longer research and development cycles and costs, and a higher risk of returned goods. If individual dies were sorted before they were packaged, testing of the packaged multi-chip module would only need to identify damage caused by the packaging process, limiting the above-mentioned drawbacks.  
           [0008]    Wafer sort technologies that test individual dies within a completed integrated circuit wafer before packaging have been developed to address the problems associated with traditional IC testing technology. FIGS. 20 a  and  20   b  illustrate a conventional wafer sort apparatus that uses cantilever type probes. FIG. 20 a  shows the bottom side of a probe card  10  that includes a substrate  11  with a plurality of probes  12  mounted on the bottom side of the substrate  11 . The probes  12  are arranged in a fan-shape with a first end  121  of each probe  12  extending through a resin plate  13 . The resin plate  13  has an opening in its central portion and is tightly attached to the substrate  11  by adhesive. The arrangement of the probes  12  corresponds to the positions of the I/O terminals (bonding pads)  21  of the integrated circuit  20  to be tested, which is to be located under the probes  12 . During testing the second ends  122  of the probes  12  are aligned to contact the I/O terminals  21 . The substrate  11  has a plurality of leads  14  each having a first end  141  inserted in the resin plate  13  where the first end  141  is connected to the first end  121  of each probe  12 . The second end  142  of each lead  14  extends outward and is soldered to the substrate  11 . To provide connection with the testing circuits, the substrate  11  comprises a plurality of terminals (not shown in the figures) electrically linked to the leads  14  via electrical lines on the surface of and inside the substrate  11 .  
           [0009]    The illustrated probe card has several drawbacks. First, using this probe card to test a die requires that the bonding pads which act as the I/O terminals of the die be located only on the circumference of the die. Secondly, due to its structural strength requirement, the cantilever type probes  12  are generally made relatively thick in a manner that limits the density of the probes  12  on the card. Consequently the number of I/O terminals of the die to be tested may also be limited or the die might have to be made over-sized to allow for adequate I/O terminals and testability. Thirdly, cantilever type probe cards have limitations for high frequency testing. Each probe  12  combined with lead  14  forms a one to three inch-long unshielded electric wire and these electric wires are closely spaced, extending substantially in parallel. This results in serious electromagnetic interference (“EMI”) when high frequency test signals are applied. Moreover, the different lengths of these wires also causes impedance mismatches that are detrimental to high frequency access time testing.  
           [0010]    Apart from the above-mentioned cantilever type probe cards, wafer sort apparatus of different designs have been disclosed, including the flexible membrane probe device described in “Flexible Contact Probe”, IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, October 1972, page 1513. The device comprises a flexible dielectric film having terminals that are suited to making electrical contact with pads on integrated circuits. The terminals are connected to the flexible wires of the test electronics. The major problem of such a device is that the dimensional stability of the membrane is not sufficient to allow contacts to be made to pads on a full wafer during a burn-in temperature cycle. Other disadvantages of conventional wafer sort systems are discussed in the following detailed description.  
         SUMMARY OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
         [0011]    An aspect of the present invention provides a method for producing a plurality of stiff vertical micro probes on a probe card adapted for accurately testing integrated circuit devices with high frequency signals.  
           [0012]    Another aspect of the present invention provides a method for producing a large number of stiff vertical micro probes on a probe card adapted for testing integrated circuit devices with reduced sizes or with denser I/O terminals.  
           [0013]    Still another aspect of the present invention provides a method for producing a large number of stiff vertical micro probes on a probe card adapted for testing integrated circuit devices having I/O terminals distributed over circumference and the central area of an IC die adapted for mounting to a printed circuit board using flip chip technologies.  
           [0014]    Still another aspect of the present invention provides a method for producing a large number of stiff vertical micro probes on a probe card that is durable and has a simple structure.  
           [0015]    A further aspect of the present invention provides a method for producing a large number of stiff vertical micro probes on a probe card with a low failure rate.  
           [0016]    A still further aspect of the present invention provides a method for mass-producing a large number of stiff vertical micro probes on a probe card in shorter time.  
           [0017]    How the foregoing are achieved will be discussed in the following with reference to the illustrating drawings, which form a part of the present disclosure. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0018]    FIGS.  1 - 19  are cross-sectional views of the materials used and their disposition during various stages of a preferred process in accordance with the present invention.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 20 a  is a perspective view of a conventional cantilever type probe card.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 20 b  is a cross-sectional view of the conventional cantilever type probe card shown in FIG. 20 a.    
         [0021]    [0021]FIGS. 21 a,    21   b  and  21   c  illustrate the bottom side of a vertical probe card made with a preferred process consistent with aspects of the present invention.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 22 is a cross-sectional views of the multi-layer ceramic substrate made with a preferred process consistent with aspects of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0023]    [0023]FIG. 21 a  is a bottom view of a vertical probe card  30  according to an implementation of an aspect of the present invention. The vertical probe card  30  comprises a printed circuit board  31  with a multi-layer ceramic substrate  32  mounted on the central portion of the board  31 . The multi-layer ceramic substrate  32  has an array of stiff vertical probes  321  on its bottom surface. FIG. 21 b  provides an exploded perspective view of the vertical probe card  30 , showing that the multi-layer ceramic substrate  32  is soldered to the printed circuit board  31  through solder pads  33  and solder bumps  34  using surface mount technology. FIG. 21 c  is an enlarged perspective view showing the arrangement of the vertical probes  321  on the bottom surface of the multi-layer ceramic substrate  32 .  
         [0024]    Now referring to FIG. 22, each solder pad  33  contacts a solder bump  34  to connect the bump through internal connections to a contact  322  on the top surface of the multi-layer ceramic substrate  32 . The illustrated structure electrically connects the printed circuit (“PC”) board  31  to the probes  321  on the surface of the multi-layer ceramic substrate  32  through its internal lines  323 . On the other side, the tips of the probes  321  contact the solder bumps  22  provided on the I/O terminals (bonding pads)  21  of the integrated circuit  20  to be tested.  
         [0025]    The vertical probes  321  on the surface of the ceramic substrate  32  most preferably are formed by photolithography and electroplating techniques of the type employed in wafer processing. Therefore the size and the pitch of the vertical probes  321  can be reduced to a very small scale. The difference between the pitch of the vertical probes  321  and that of the vias is relatively small so the lengths of the horizontal redistribution lines are limited. Therefore the overall EMI generated from the unshielded lines is very low. As a result, the probe card  30  is suitable and advantageous for very high frequency testing.  
         [0026]    0.13 micron process technology is becoming mainstream in current production of semiconductors. As the semiconductor manufacturing technology advances, the size of the transistors in an integrated circuit device has been reduced and individual IC devices contain more and more transistors and have more and more functions. As a consequence, the number of I/O terminals for an IC is typically increased. Traditional designs in which the I/O terminals are arranged in two rows or along the four edges of a die generally cannot meet the newest demands. Flip chip technology has been developed in response to the need for additional I/O terminals. Flip chip technology provides I/O terminals for an IC in an array over one surface of the IC and the I/O terminals are provided with solder bumps on them for mounting the IC to a PC board. In the past few years, IC packaging technology has evolved from QFP, to BGA, then to μBGA and now to wafer level packaging. The I/O terminals of an IC are thus not limited to the borders of the chip any more but may be arranged as an array of multiple columns and multiple rows arranged over a surface. Another factor which favors flip chip technology is that it can reduce EMI and thus facilitates higher frequency applications.  
         [0027]    FIGS.  1 - 3  illustrate initial steps in a preferred process in accordance with an aspect of the present invention for forming micro probe tips on a ceramic substrate. First a layer of tungsten and then a layer of aluminum are sequentially sputtered on the back surface of the multi-layer ceramic substrate  32  to form a contact-pad layer  401 . Sputtering or another form of physical vapor deposition (PVD) technology is particularly preferred, especially those forms of PVD that do not provide highly chemically reactive species to the deposition surface and instead effect a physical atomic transport. The contact-pad layer  401  connects to a plurality of exposed terminals  325  of the internal lines buried in the multi-layer ceramic substrate  32 . Then a thin layer of tungsten  402  is sputtered on the front surface of the multi-layer ceramic substrate  32  by physical vapor deposition technology as shown in FIG. 2. A layer of polymer such as polyimide is formed on top of the tungsten layer  402  as a first temporary protective film  403  as shown in FIG. 3. Then the ceramic substrate  32  is laid back-side up and the unwanted portion of the contact-pad layer  401  is removed with photolithography and etching process to form the desired contact pads (also numbered with  401  in FIG. 4 and in the following description and figures) on the back surface of the ceramic substrate  32 . The contact pads  401  will be electroplated with copper and become the solder pads  33  shown in FIG. 21 b.  The first temporary protective film  403  functions to protect the tungsten layer  402  and the terminals  324  (made of silver epoxy) of the underlying internal lines. Because the surface of the protective film  403  is finer than the original surface of the tungsten layer  402 , it helps the adhesion of the ceramic substrate  32  to the machine table on application of vacuum or suction.  
         [0028]    Referring now to FIG. 5, a layer of polymer such as polyimide is formed on the back surface of the ceramic substrate  32  as a second temporary protective film  404 , to protect the contact pads  401  and the terminals  325  (made of silver epoxy) of the underlying internal lines. As explained before, the second temporary protective film  404  also helps hold the ceramic substrate  32  on the machine table on application of vacuum or suction because it provides a finer and more even surface. The ceramic substrate  32  is then turned over for the following processes on its front side. The first temporary protective film  403  is removed. Referring now to FIG. 6, more tungsten is deposited on the previously formed tungsten layer  402  using a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process. Then the surface of the tungsten layer  402  is polished with a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process.  
         [0029]    In case the tungsten layer  402  has holes worn through after the chemical mechanical polishing process, for example because the surface of the ceramic substrate  32  beneath it is too rough, it may be desirable to sputter a thin layer of tungsten on the tungsten layer  402  before carrying out the following processes. Referring now to FIG. 7, a layer of copper  405  is sputtered on the tungsten layer  402  with physical vapor deposition (PVD) process. The copper layer  405  is to be fabricated into redistribution lines (RDL) on the front surface of the ceramic substrate  32 . The tungsten layer  402  is to function as the common cathode conductor for multiple micro probes  321  to be formed by electroplating.  
         [0030]    Tungsten preferably is chosen to make the common conductor layer  402  for subsequent electroplating, with the tungsten most preferably deposited with both PVD and CVD processes, as explained below. The surface of ceramic is so rough that it is very difficult to plate ceramic with a metal layer that has a smooth and even surface. If ceramic were plated with a metal layer by PVD process alone, the crevices on its surface would in many instances not be filled in. Using CVD to deposit tungsten can resolve this problem. Up to the present, there is no known method of depositing copper with a CVD process but tungsten can be easily deposited with a CVD process. Because it can be deposited to form an even surface, tungsten preferably is chosen to be deposited with a CVD process to make the common conductor layer for electroplating. However, if tungsten were deposited directly on the ceramic substrate  32  by a CVD process, the chemical gas used in the CVD process would corrode the surface of the ceramic substrate  32 . Therefore, in a preferred implementation of a process according to the present invention, a PVD process preferably is first employed to sputter a thin layer of tungsten covering the surface of the ceramic substrate  32 . Preferably then a CVD process is employed to deposit more tungsten and form a conductor layer with a more even top surface.  
         [0031]    After the deposition of the copper layer  405  has been completed, it is patterned into redistribution lines (RDL) on the surface of the ceramic substrate  32  by photolithography and wet etching process. An end of each completed redistribution line  405  is connected to a terminal  324  while the other end terminates at a position where a micro probe  321  is to be formed. Referring now to FIG. 9, a layer of chromium is sputtered by a PVD process on the front surface of the ceramic substrate  32  where the redistribution lines  405  are formed, as a protecting layer  406  of the redistribution lines  405 . Then a layer of copper is sputtered again by a PVD process on the protecting layer  406  to form an adhering layer  407  between the chromium made protecting layer  406  and the micro probes  321  yet to be formed, which will be made of nickel or nickel alloy. The function of the protecting layer  406  is to isolate the copper-containing redistribution lines  405  which can be easily oxidized, from the coming harsh processing environments. The copper-containing adhering layer  407  preferably is used because nickel, which is the major composition of the micro probes  321 , has poor adhesion to the chromium preferably used for the protecting layer  406 , and that copper adheres well to either of them.  
         [0032]    Referring now to FIG. 10, the adhering layer  407  is patterned by photolithography and wet etching processes into junction pads  407  each with a preferred surface area substantially identical to the footprint of a micro probe  321  to be formed. The protecting layer  406  is patterned into shapes just enough to fully cover the redistribution lines  405 . This patterning is also accomplished by photolithography and wet etching processes.  
         [0033]    Referring to FIG. 11, a sacrificial layer  408  is applied on the front surface of the ceramic substrate  32 . The thickness of the sacrificial layer  408  substantially equals the height of the micro probes  321  to be formed. The material of the sacrificial layer  408  is most preferably selected to be compatible with and capable of sustaining the subsequent manufacturing processes including PVD, photolithography, etching and electroplating. Most preferably the sacrificial layer  408  is easily removable after the completion of the micro probes  321 . On top of the sacrificial layer  408 , a thin layer of tungsten is plated by PVD technology. The thin layer of tungsten is provided to be made into a mask  409  for use in a subsequent dry etching process.  
         [0034]    Referring now to FIG. 12, a photomask is formed over the mask  409  by photolithography and etching process. Then the mask  409  is etched through the photomask into through holes  410  at positions where the micro probes  321  are to be formed. The sacrificial layer  408  is then dry-etched into electroplating cavities  411  (shown in FIG. 13) formed by the etchant etching through the through holes  410 .  
         [0035]    Before the electroplating process, the copper-containing junction pads  407  at the bottom of the electroplating cavities  411  are pickled and activated to obtain clean joining surfaces. Acid prickling is a preferred process for cleaning the exposed metal surface and activation prepares the surface for electroplating, including limiting oxide formation. Then the ceramic substrate  32  is put in an electroplating tub with an electroplating solution containing nickel ions. Optionally, as dictated by the various electrical property requirements of the micro probes  321 , ions of other metals such as tungsten or cobalt can also be added to the electroplating solution to produce micro probes  321  of nickel-tungsten alloy or nickel-cobalt alloy. The conductor layer  402  is connected to the negative potential in the electroplating system and, when electric current is on, nickel (or nickel alloy) is deposited on the exposed metal surfaces of the ceramic substrate  32 , namely the junction pads  407  at the bottom of the electroplating cavities  411 . After a period of the electroplating process, the deposited nickel (or nickel alloy) reaches the same level as the top surface of the sacrifice layer  408  and fills up the electroplating cavities  411 , forming the base material  412  of the micro probes  321 , as shown in FIG. 14.  
         [0036]    Referring now to FIG. 15, a layer of thick film photoresist material is applied over the top of the sacrificial layer  408  and of the base material  412  of the micro probes  321 . The thick film photoresist layer is etched to become a tapering mask  413  containing a plurality of ring-shaped openings laid over and conforming to the circumferences of the top surface of the base materials  412 . The base materials  412  are then wet-etched with the tapering mask  413 . Due to the isotropic behavior of the wet etchant, the top portion of the base materials  412  becomes tapered or have a pointed tip.  
         [0037]    After the pointed tips have been completed, they may be plated with rhodium to enhance their hardness, and consequently their wear resistance, and to protect them from oxidization. A further sacrificial layer made of polymer such as polyimide is then applied on the front side of the ceramic substrate  32  to protect the exposed tips of the micro probes  321  in the next process on the back side of the ceramic substrate  32 . Optionally the polymer sacrificial layer can be replaced by a covering board. Referring to FIG. 17, the second temporary protective film  404  is removed. A thick layer of copper is sputtered on the back surface of the ceramic substrate  32  including the contact pads  401  and then is patterned into spots just covering the contact pads  401  by photolithography and wet etching (this process is not shown in the figures), thus forming the solder pads  33  shown in FIG. 21 b.    
         [0038]    Referring to FIG. 18, the sacrificial layer  408  on the front side of the ceramic substrate  32  is removed. The ceramic substrate  32  is then put in a tungsten dry etch machine using SF 6  as an etchant to remove the exposed portions of the tungsten made conductor layer  402 , as illustrated in FIG. 19. Finally, the ceramic substrate  32  comprising the micro probes  321  is fast annealed to enhance the overall mechanical strength.  
         [0039]    The present invention has been described in terms of certain preferred embodiments thereof. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that various modifications might be made to the embodiments described here without varying from the basic teachings of the present invention. Consequently the present invention is not to be limited to the particularly described embodiments but instead is to be construed according to the claims, which follow.
Micro-fabrication forms a plurality of stiff vertical micro probes on the front surface of a ceramic substrate and a plurality of contacts on the back surface of the ceramic substrate. Photolithography, various etching technologies and electroplating are used to form the micro probes on the surface of the ceramic substrate. The produced micro probes are mechanically strong and consequently have a long duty life. Moreover, the probes can be arranged into a high-density planar array to conform to the newest integrated circuit devices which have dense I/O terminal arrays.