Experimental characterization of wafer probe burn

The probing test is a typical quality control method for individual chips on a wafer. This study investigates the cantilever wafer probe current carrying capacity along a probe body in order to model the probe burn phenomenon by using experimental techniques and numerical simulation. The standard measurement approach used in the test industry is conducted to define the mechanical degradation of the cantilever probe on the wafer card and temperature distribution along the probe body is conducted using a conduction heat transfer equation via computational discretization. Maximum current carrying capacity is defined and the probe burn phenomenon is observed at the tip region of the tungsten-rhenium cantilever probe due to effects of Joule heating for both experimental and numerical results. Reasonably good agreement is observed between experimental and computational results.