NAME# ASAD ULLAH REG# UW-14-ME-BSC-038

COURSE TITLE# CAD/CAM SEMESTER# 6TH B

Geometric design for ultra-long needle probe card for digital light
processing wafer testing:
Probe cards serve as the interface between tester
equipment and integrated circuit (IC) devices during wafer-level testing, for which the signal
from the tester is transmitted to the chips through contact between probing needles on the probe
card and bond pads on the chips. The DLP technology is enabled by the digital micro mirror
device (DMD), which contains an array of microscopic aluminum mirrors fabricated on the
surface of a CMOS static random access memory. In this work, three-dimensional finite element
models were developed and validated by experiments for single conventional and ultra-long
probing needles to analyze their mechanical responses during probe testing. Optimal geometric
designs for an ultra-long probing needle with respect to the minimized scrub length and
minimized buckling potential were performed using the Taguchi method. During testing, the
chuck moves upwards to ensure the pads on the wafer are in contact with the probing needles.
Broz and Rincon showed that the contact area of a needle tip is approximately 6585% of the tip
diameter. The argument is further identified in which we show measured scrub lengths and areas
with respect to different overdrive distances for the three types of probing needles. It is clear in
these figures such that as the tip length of the probing needle shortens, the scrub length and scrub
area increase. Furthermore, both the scrub length and scrub area increase as the overdrive
distance increases.
The probe card with ultra-long probing needles is specifically designed for probe testing of
wafers that feature protruding housing for digital micro mirror devices (DMD) for digital light
processing (DLP) applications. Compared with a conventional short probing needle, an ultra-
long probing needle leaves a smaller scrub mark on the pad during probe testing but it suffers the
risk from buckling. In this work, three-dimensional finite element models were developed and
validated by experiments for single conventional and ultra-long probing needles to analyze their
mechanical responses during wafer-level probe testing. In addition to minimizing the scrub
length, the prevention of needle buckling during probe testing is another key factor one has to
consider in the optimal design for an ultra-long probing needle. In the following subsections,
optimal designs based on minimized scrub length and buckling potential were conducted
separately, followed by a compromised design that considers minimizing scrub length and
buckling potential conjointly for engineering practice. The Taguchi method with an L9 (34)
orthogonal array, separate design optimizations with respect to minimizing scrub length and
buckling potential.

References:
Hao-Yuan Chang a,b, Wen-Fung Pan b, Meng-Kai Shih a, Yi-Shao Lai a,* a Advanced
Semiconductor Engineering, Inc., 26 Chin 3rd Rd., Nantze Export Processing Zone, Kaohsiung
811, Taiwan b Department of Engineering Science, National Cheng Kung University, 1 Ta Hsueh
Rd., Tainan 701, Taiwan,