THE MANUFACTURE OF TEST PROBES USING NANOFABRICATION TECHNIQUES

使用纳米制造技术制造测试探头的项目是格拉斯哥大学SUPA物理和天文学院的粒子物理组与PTSL公司Probe测试解决方案有限公司之间的合作。现代半导体技术依赖于微型半导体元件。为了使这些组件的制造者能够测试他们的设备，需要用细间距的探针针与其进行电接触。然而，半导体工业的持续技术发展已经将器件尺寸缩小到探针业由于探针针的最小间距而在其探测器件的能力方面受到限制的程度。该项目旨在通过使用所需的纳米半导体加工技术来克服目前探头针距的技术限制。PTSL是一家向半导体客户提供测试硬件解决方案的供应商，专注于半导体晶片探头的探针卡。他们的总部设在苏格兰的拉纳克郡。该公司是一家自筹资金的公司，其增长资金完全来自所产生的收入。他们利润的很大一部分被再投资，通过新员工、新设备和研发来改善他们的服务。该公司获得了2012年拉纳克郡商业杰出奖。格拉斯哥大学的粒子物理小组拥有一支强大的探测器开发团队。他们已经成功地设计和建造了用于领先的粒子物理实验的硅粒子跟踪器系统。格拉斯哥先进探测器开发实验室(GLADD)是他们新的制造和测试设施。GLADD拥有估计价值100万GB的设备和17名工作人员，是最近GU-PPE探测器开发活动的一个阶段性变化。最近，他们竞争了ATLAS实验的硅跟踪器和LHCb实验的硅顶点定位器，这两个实验都是在CERN大型强子对撞机上进行的。他们目前正在开发下一代粒子探测器。作为这项工作的一部分，建立了复合探测器和电子结构的详细的热和力学模型。该小组还在格拉斯哥大学詹姆斯瓦特纳米制造中心发展了广泛的纳米制造技能，用于开发新型半导体探测器，包括3D探测器。这项工作进一步扩展到生物应用的探针领域。从STFC资助的粒子物理仪器开发中获得的这些专业知识将应用于这个项目。该项目的目标是探索利用半导体纳米制造技术制造小尺寸晶片探针针的可能性，用于测试半导体结构。该项目工作分为四个部分。首先是利用有限元分析对所提出的探针针及其夹具进行建模。第二个工作包是工艺流程的设计和工艺的开发，以允许制造这些针。第三项任务是在PTSL的实验室和生产设施中对单个探头和组装的探头进行测试。最后，验证将在一家世界领先的半导体元件制造商进行。

THE MANUFACTURE OF TEST PROBES USING NANOFABRICATION TECHNIQUESThe project is between the particle physics group of the SUPA School of Physics and Astronomy of Glasgow University and the company Probe Test Solutions Ltd, PTSL.Modern semiconductor technologies rely on miniature semiconductor components. To allow the fabricator of these components to test their devices fine pitch probe needles are required to make electrical contact to them. However, the continued technological development of the semiconductor industry has reduced the device size to the point where the probe needle industry is limited in its ability to probe the device due to minimum probe needle pitch. This project aims at overcoming the technological limitations with the present probe needle pitch with the use of the very nano-semiconductor processing technologies that they are required to probe.PTSL are a supplier of test hardware solutions to semiconductor customers, concentrating on probe-cards for semiconductor wafer probe. They are based in Lanarkshire, Scotland. The company is a self-financed company, funding its growth purely from revenue generated. A significant portion of their profits is reinvested to improve their offering via new recruits, new equipment, and R&D. The company received the 2012 Lanarkshire business excellence award. The particle physics group at the university of Glasgow has a strong detector development team. They has successfully designed and built silicon particle tracker systems for leading particle physics experiments. The Glasgow Laboratory for Advanced Detector Development (GLADD) is their new fabrication and test facility. The GLADD, with an estimated worth of £1M in equipment and 17 staff, is a recent step-change for GU-PPE detector development activities. Most recently they competed work for the silicon tracker of the ATLAS experiment and the silicon vertex locator of the LHCb experiment both based at the CERN large hadron collider. They are presently developing the next generation of particle detectors. As part of this work detailed thermal and mechanical models of composite detector and electronic structures were developed. The group has also developed extensive skills in nanofabrication in the University of Glasgow James Watt Nanofabrication Centre, JWNC, arising for the development of novel semiconductor detectors, including the 3D detector. This work was further extended into the area of probes for biological applications. This expertise, gained from STFC funded developments of particle physics instrumentation, will be applied to this project.The project aim is to investigate the possibility to manufacture small size wafer probe needles using semiconductor nanofabrication techniques for the use to test semiconductor structures.The project work is divided into four sections. The first is the modeling, using finite element analysis, the proposed probe needles and their fixations. The second work package is the design of a process flow and the development of the process to allow for the fabrication of these needles. The third task is the testing of individual probes and assembled probe heads in the laboratory and production facility of PTSL. Finally validation will take place at a world leading semiconductor component manufacture.