JPH0212070A - Manufacture of inspection device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To surely inspect an object even when the object has a fine pitch by constituting the manufacturing process of a process for working a metallic sheet to a comb-line electrode group, process for electrically connecting each electrode, process for forming a measuring probe section, and process for forming a measuring section by combining one or more probe sections. CONSTITUTION:Firstly, each metallic lead beam 9 (91-9n) of a metallic sheet (lead plate) 7 is plated with solder by about a half. A heat resistive tape, etc., is stuck and fixed to the lead beams 9 on the plated wide and one side of the sheet 7 is cut off. The processed lead plate 7 is fixed to the surface of a circuit board 2. A lead wiring pattern of the same pitch and same number as those of the lead beams 91-9n is formed on the circuit board 2. The soldering side of the lead beams 91-9n is put on and soldered to one edge of the wiring pattern and the lead beams 91-9n are fixed to the circuit board 2 by means of a holding plate 4. Then the lead beams 91-9n projecting from the circuit board 2 are cut off after the projecting part is fixed with a tape 11, etc. When a plating process is performed to the leading edge section, a probe head is manufactured.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing an inspection device for inspecting various electrical characteristics of an object to be inspected.

(Prior Art) Probe devices have traditionally been used as inspection devices when inspecting the electrical characteristics of objects to be inspected, such as semiconductor wafers and circuit boards.
With the miniaturization of test object measurement units due to high integration, probe devices with structures that can cope with measurements of miniaturized test objects are being developed.

An example of such a miniaturized object to be inspected is a high-definition liquid crystal display (television) that has become rapidly popular in recent years. A large number of electrode terminals are provided, and a liquid crystal display is performed by applying predetermined electrical signals to these electrode terminals.

For example, in a liquid crystal television, more than 200 electrode terminals are protruded from one side of a square display part at a pitch of about 0.3 am, and the electrode pitch is likely to become narrower in the future.

Then, a flexible circuit board is connected to the above-mentioned large number of electrode terminals, or a circuit board is connected to the circuit board via anisotropic connectors to produce a product.As a pre-process, the display performance test of the liquid crystal display section and the connection to the flexible circuit board are performed. There is an inspection process that tests the circuit boards used. Testing in this inspection process requires connecting external terminals to fine-pitch electrode terminals, and a conventional method has been to connect them to external circuit boards via anisotropic connectors.

However, such a method has a problem in that poor contact between the electrode terminal and the connector is likely to occur, resulting in a lack of reliability. Furthermore, with a high fine pitch, there is a drawback that insulation between adjacent terminals cannot be maintained due to the nature of the anisotropic connector.

Therefore, a measurement method using a probe card is used as a method for inspecting objects to be inspected with such fine pitches. In the inspection method using this probe card, high reliability can be obtained because the mechanical contact force between the stylus (probe needle) and the object to be inspected is stable.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, with the above-mentioned inspection device using the conventional probe card, it is technically difficult to arrange and form a large number of stylus in order to correspond to a high fine pitch. The problem was that it was very expensive.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing an inspection device that can reliably inspect even objects to be inspected with a fine pitch and can be manufactured at low cost. do.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) The method for manufacturing an inspection device of the present invention includes a measuring stylus that contacts a group of inspected parts on an object to be inspected, and this 1llll measuring stylus In the manufacturing of an inspection device for inspecting the electrical characteristics of the object to be inspected, a step of processing a thin metal plate into a comb-like electrode group having a pitch equal to the arrangement pitch of the inspection object;
A step of electrically connecting each electrode of the thin metal plate to the lead wires of a measurement board having lead wires formed at the same pitch as the arrangement pitch of the electrode group, cutting the tooth-shaped electrode group at a position protruding from the measurement substrate by a predetermined amount to form a measurement stylus;
This method is characterized by comprising a step of forming a measuring section by combining one or more measuring stylus sections.

(Function) The method of the present invention eliminates the work of aligning and arranging the stylus probes one by one in a stylus-type inspection device, making it possible to manufacture an inexpensive and highly reliable inspection device.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example in which the method of the present invention is applied to manufacturing a probe head of a prober for measuring a liquid crystal substrate will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a probe head manufactured by the method of the embodiment, in which the probe head 1 is electrically connected to a circuit board 2 having a large number of lead wires formed on one side, and to each lead wire of this circuit board. The probe stylus 3 includes a protruding probe stylus 3 and a holding plate 4 for fixing the stylus to the circuit board 2.

During measurement, as shown in Figure 2, the stylus 3 is placed at an appropriate angle θ relative to the object to be inspected, such as a group of electrode terminals on a liquid crystal board.
are brought into contact with each other under a predetermined pressure.

The measured value at this time is sent to a tester 6 or the like electrically connected to one end of the lead wire of the circuit board via, for example, a flat cable.

A method of manufacturing a probe head having such a configuration will be described below.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a thin metal piece for manufacturing the stylus of the probe head of this example. First, a large number of slit holes (81, 82, . . . ,,,
) are drilled parallel to each other by electric discharge machining or electrolytic machining. In this case, etching may be considered, but etching is isotropic and the cross section of the lead beam becomes irregular.

Each thin metal lead beam (9) left between each slit hole
1,92,...9. ) is the same as the electrode pitch of the object to be inspected, and this metal lead beam (91
,92,...91. 1) becomes the stylus when the probe head is completed.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the process of manufacturing a blower using the thin metal plate (hereinafter referred to as lead plate) 7 that has been drilled in this manner.

First, each metal lead beam (91, 92,
・・・・・・Press about half of each of 9n) as shown in Figure 4(a)), then attach heat-resistant tape or the like to prevent misalignment on the metal lead beam on the plating side. Then, one end of the metal lead beam is cut using a cutting device (FIG. 4(b)).

The lead plate 7 thus cut is fixed onto the circuit board 2. As shown in FIG. 5, on this circuit board 2, lead wiring patterns 11 of the same pitch and number as the lead beams (91, 92, . . . 9,) are formed in parallel. , these lead wires 10 are solder-plated.

The marked sides of the lead beams (91, 92, . . . 9.) are overlapped by a predetermined amount on one end 10a of this lead wiring pattern 10, and the marked sides are bonded by thermocompression bonding or the like. In order to increase the strength, the fixed beam is pressed and fixed to the circuit board 2 by the holding plate 4 (FIG. 4(C)).

Next, lead beams (91, 9
2,...9. ) after fixing it with tape 11 etc. (
Figure 4(d)) Cut the protruding end of the lead beam.

Next, apply the necessary plating to the tip (Fig. 4 (e)
)) The probe head 1 shown in FIG. 1 is completed.

In the inspection using the probe head manufactured in this way, as shown in FIG. 2, when the stylus 3 makes contact, each stylus is bent by pressure, so its elasticity allows each stylus to respond to the unevenness of the contact area. Good followability and high contact reliability. Therefore, accurate measurements are possible.

Further, the positional relationship between the stylus 3 and the object to be inspected 5 is sufficiently accurate by the above manufacturing method.

In the above embodiment, a metal lead beam (91,
92,...9. ), the thin metal plate 7
A large number of slit holes (81, 8; !, 8 degrees, 811 + 1) were drilled in parallel to each other, but if the pitch of the object to be inspected is large and the lead beam can be made thicker, Since there is little deformation due to processing, a thin metal plate can be processed into a comb-like shape in one step, simplifying the manufacturing process. In this case, the probe head manufacturing process starts from connecting the circuit board.

Further, the connection between the lead beam and the circuit board is not limited to soldering, and any method may be used as long as the lead beam can be connected to the wiring pattern and mechanical strength can be ensured.

By the way, the configuration of the probe head in the above-mentioned embodiment is such that one row of stylus made of one thin metal plate corresponds to the electrodes to be inspected that are consecutively lined up at a predetermined pitch. As the size of the lead beam becomes even smaller, it becomes difficult to form slit holes in a thin metal plate, and the lead beam also becomes easily deformed.

Even in such a case, the present invention can easily deal with it. That is, two sets of stylus probes formed in a row at a pitch twice the electrode pitch of the object to be inspected were created using the method of the above-mentioned embodiment.
They may be shifted one pitch from each other and then overlapped and integrated.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the configuration of such a probe head 21, in which a first probe head 24 consisting of a first circuit board 22 and a first stylus 23, a second circuit board 25, and a stylus 23 are connected to each other. At the same time, the second probe head 27 composed of the needle 26 is fixed with a predetermined gap maintained by the spacer 28, and at the same time, the arrangement pitch of the first stylus 23 and the second stylus 26 is one pitch from each other. It is installed out of alignment. Therefore, when contacting the electrodes of the object to be inspected, for example, the first stylus 23 contacts an even-numbered (odd number I) electrode, and the second stylus 26 contacts an odd-numbered (even-numbered) electrode.

With such a configuration, the probe can be manufactured very easily, and at the same time, the shape of the lead beam can be freely changed to the extent that there is a dimensional margin.

That is, by making the lead beam thicker at the base and thinner at the contact end, appropriate rigidity and contact reliability can be ensured.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the method of the present invention, it is possible to manufacture an inspection device that can reliably inspect even objects to be inspected with a fine pitch and has a structure that can be manufactured at low cost. Become.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a probe head according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an inspection state of the probe head in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the manufacturing process of the embodiment, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a circuit board used in the probe head of the actual relaxation example, and FIG. 6 is a diagram of the probe of another embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing the inspection state of a head. 1... Probe head 2... Circuit board 3... Stylus 4... Holding plate 5. ......Object to be inspected 7...Lead plate 9...Lead beam 10...Lead wiring pattern (b ) Figure 3 Figure 1 Figure 2 (G) (d) Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] In the manufacture of an inspection device that is equipped with a measuring stylus that contacts a group of parts to be inspected on an object to be inspected, and which tests the electrical characteristics of the object to be inspected using the measuring stylus, a thin metal plate is attached to the part to be inspected. A step of processing into a comb-like electrode group having a pitch equal to the arrangement pitch, and attaching each electrode of the metal thin plate to the lead wire of a measurement board having lead wires formed at the same pitch as the arrangement pitch of this electrode group. A process of electrically connecting each,
A step of cutting the comb-like electrode group attached to the measurement substrate at a position protruding from the measurement substrate by a predetermined amount to form a measurement stylus, and a step of combining one or more measurement stylus portions to perform measurement. 1. A method of manufacturing an inspection device, comprising the step of forming a part.