4080

The Electroglas 4080 is a wafer prober. Wafer probers are test and probe equipment used in semiconductor manufacturing to make temporary electrical contact with devices on a semiconductor wafer for electrical testing before the wafer is diced into individual chips.^[1]

A wafer prober consists of a precision stage that holds a wafer, a probe card assembly, and an alignment system. The stage moves the wafer in X, Y, and theta axes to position each die under the probe card. The alignment system uses cameras and pattern recognition to align the wafer's bond pads to the probe tips.

The probe card is mounted on a probe card holder and connects to a test head or automatic test equipment (ATE). During a test sequence, the prober lowers the probe card or raises the stage so that the probes contact the pads. The test system then measures electrical parameters such as continuity, leakage, and functional performance.

Wafer probers are used in the semiconductor test and probe step, which occurs after wafer fabrication and before packaging. At this stage, the wafer has completed all front-end processing and contains completed devices. The prober tests each die on the wafer to identify known good dies and to provide process feedback.

Typical applications include testing microprocessors, memory chips, power semiconductors, and radio-frequency devices. The prober can be configured for different wafer sizes, probe card types, and test requirements. Some probers are designed for specific technologies such as MEMS or optoelectronics.