Electricity: measuring and testing – Measuring – testing – or sensing electricity – per se – With rotor
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-12
2001-06-26
Brown, Glenn W. (Department: 2858)
Electricity: measuring and testing
Measuring, testing, or sensing electricity, per se
With rotor
C324S754090
Reexamination Certificate
active
06252392
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to probe stations, commonly known as package or wafer probers, used manually, semiautomatically or fully automatically to test semiconductor devices. More particularly, the invention relates to such probe stations having environment control enclosures for providing dry, EMI shielded, and/or light-tight environments for such test devices, such as those probe stations shown in commonly-owned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,266,889 and 5,457,398 which are hereby incorporated by reference.
The probe stations shown in the foregoing patents enable lateral movement of the chuck assembly, which supports the test device, relative to the environment control enclosure along orthogonal X and Y lateral axes to properly position the test devices for probing. To enable such movement of the chuck assembly while simultaneously maintaining the integrity of the environment control enclosure, sliding metal plates are provided on the bottom of the environment control enclosure to allow the full X-Y range of motion. These sliding plates work well in a manual or a semiautomatic application. However, for a fully automatic application, movement speeds are much faster and operation approaches twenty-four hours per day, three hundred and sixty-five days per year. Accordingly, a structure having less friction, inertia, and wear than the sliding plates, and adapted for quicker movements, is desirable. Such structure is needed especially for fully automatic applications, but would also be desirable for manual and semiautomatic applications.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention satisfies the foregoing need by providing a probe station, having a chuck assembly laterally movable with respect to a surrounding environment control enclosure, wherein the environment control enclosure includes a flexible wall assembly interconnected with the chuck assembly to accommodate large lateral X-Y movements.
The wall elements are preferably bendably flexible but, as used herein, “flexible” and “flexibly” are also intended to encompass other types of flexibility such as the provision of articulated or hinged joints between adjacent portions of the wall element material.
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“Model TPO3000 Series Thermochuck® Systems,” four-page product note, Temptronic Corporation, Newton MA (May 1992 or earlier).
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Micromanipulator Company, Inc., “Test Station Accessories,” 1983. (Month unavailable).
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Micromanipulator Company, Inc., “Probing Stations and Accessories,” 1995, pp. 1-12. (Month unavailable).
Photograph of Micromanipulator Probe Station, 1994. (Month unavailable).
Brown Glenn W.
Cascade Microtech, Inc.
Chernoff Vilhauer & McClung & Stenzel
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