MEMS probe cards with tip-to-pad electric feed-through and automatically isolated metal coating

Presented is a newly developed MEMS probe-card with the technical requirements from Sino IC Technology Co. Ltd. for dies-under-test (DUT) of 8-inch wafers. By a double-sided metal overlapping scheme, electric feed-through is realized from the probe-tips at bottom to the automatic testing equipment (ATE) interface at topside. A recessed concave-step is formed to automatically isolate the adjacent probes when metal is sputtered on the cantilever-tips. A MEMS probe-card with nearly 100 silicon probes for simultaneously testing two dies is fabricated with bulk micromachining technology. Preliminary measurement shows below 1 /spl Omega/ resistance for the feed-through electric connection from the tip to the wire-bonding pad.