Importance

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Abstract

A wafer prober for use in the examination of electric characteristics of semiconductor chips formed on a semiconductor wafer is disclosed. Foe examination, probing needles provided on a probe card are press-contacted to electrode pads of an individual chip. Prior to the examination, the probing needles are press-contacted to a non-chip region of the wafer, in which portion no chip is formed, so that traces of tips of the probing needles are formed on this non-chip region. The positional relation between the traces of the needle tips and the electrode pads is detected and, on the basis of the detection, the probing needles are relatively aligned with the electrode pads. Thus, the alignment of the probing needles and the electrode pads can be made fully automatically. In another aspect, by the formation of the traces of the needle tips, the measurement necessary for the alignment can be made easily and accurately, with the result that the alignment can be made efficiently. Also, during the needle alignment, any chip on the wafer is not damaged.

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First Claim