Method of fabricating probe pin for probe card

Abstract

Provided is a method of fabricating a probe pin. In the method, a concave region for a probe pin is formed on a mold substrate. The surface roughness of the concave region is reduced to smooth the surface of the concave region. A release layer is formed on the surface of the concave region of the mold substrate. A plating process is performed to form a probe pin corresponding to the concave region. After the performing of the plating process, the mold substrate having the probe pin is disposed on a circuit substrate and the probe pin is connected to a desired portion of the circuit substrate. Thereafter, the mold substrate is separated from the probe pin in such a way that the mold substrate remains unchanged. Also, the separated mold substrate may be reused.

1 . A method of fabricating a probe pin, the method comprising:
 forming a concave region corresponding to a probe pin on a mold substrate;   reducing the surface roughness of the concave region to smooth the surface of the concave region;   forming a release layer on the surface of the concave region of the mold substrate; and   performing a plating process to form a probe pin corresponding to the concave region.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the mold substrate is a silicon substrate. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the probe pin has a probe beam and a probe tip provided at one end of the probe beam. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the reducing of the surface roughness of the concave region comprises:
 forming an oxide layer on the surface of the concave region; and   removing the oxide layer.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the oxide layer formed on the surface of the concave region is a thermal oxide layer. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the release layer is formed of a copper or a copper alloy. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 forming a mask layer on the surface of the mold substrate other than the surface of the concave region before the forming of the release layer.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising:
 removing the mask layer after the performing of the plating process.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the probe pin is formed of one selected from the group consisting of Ti, Ni, Co and a combination thereof. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, after the performing of the plating process:
 disposing the mold substrate having the probe pin on a circuit substrate and connecting the probe pin to a desired portion of the circuit substrate; and   separating the mold substrate from the probe pin in such a way that the mold substrate remains unchanged.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the separating of the mold substrate from the probe pin is performed using the thermal expansion coefficient difference between the probe pin and the mold substrate. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 performing the process of  claim 1  by using the separated mold substrate.