Design of Vertical Type MEMS Probe with Branch Springs

The conventional vertical probe has the thin and long signal path that makes transfer characteristic of probe worse because of the S-shaped structure. So we propose the new vertical probe structure that has branch springs in the S-shaped probe. It makes closed loop when the probe mechanically connects to the electrode on a wafer. We fabricated the proposed vertical probe and measured the transfer characteristic and mechanical properties. Compared to the conventional S-shaped vertical probe, the proposed probe has the overdrive that is 1.2 times larger and the contact force that is 2.5 times larger. And we got the improved transfer characteristic by 1.4 dB in GHz. Also we developed the simulation model of the probe card by using full-wave simulator and the simulation result is correlated with measurement one. As a result of this simulation model, the cantilever probe and PCB have the worst transfer characteristic in the probe card.

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