News Article
Future MEMS contactors will enable ultra fine pitch wafer probing
FormFactor, Inc. has announced that it has developed a breakthrough probing contact technology capable of full area wafer probing of high pin density, ultra fine pitch devices.
FormFactor, Inc. has announced that it has developed a breakthrough probing contact technology capable of full area wafer probing of high pin density, ultra fine pitch devices. FormFactor's new technology will provide a 10x reduction in pitch (spacing between contacts), and potentially allow the probing of 1000x more contacts on a 300 mm wafer in a single touchdown. The new technology can be leveraged across memory, logic, SOC and parametric test applications, with either area array or peripheral test contacts. "This fine-pitch full-wafer contactor technology is positioned to address the future testing needs of semiconductor devices, without the trade off between testing pad pitch, density and throughput," says Ben Eldridge, FormFactor's chief technology officer. "This demonstration is another significant milestone in our strategy to develop complete product solutions with the most advanced technology available. FormFactor's technology roadmap optimizes design reducing die size and maximing test throughput." Following Moore's Law, device die size has been continuously shrinking while the number of testing pads for new device function and performance has increased. In order to cope with this trend, semiconductor device designers will need to reduce the physical dimensions of the testing pads while maintaining high throughput.FormFactor's new technology can reduce the contactor pitch for an area array from approximately 200 microns to less than 20 microns. The breakthrough technology, leveraging FormFactor's MEMS expertise, employs a true vertical spring, improving contact precision beyond existing capabilities. The new MEMS contactor technology is anticipated to be commercially available within three to five years.
