Positioner of probe card and probe head of probe card

This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 103122324, filed on Jun. 27, 2014. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to a positioner and a probe head, and more particularly, to a positioner of a probe card and a probe head of a probe card.

2. Description of Related Art

Semiconductor integrated circuit chip typically adopts a probe card to perform an electrical testing. The probe card includes a printed circuit board, a space transformer and a probe head. The probe head at least includes an upper guide plate, a lower guide plate and a plurality of probes. The upper guide plate and the lower guide plate of the probe head typically have a plurality of through holes, and each through hole can only be passed by a single probe. Thus, when a under test contact pitch of the chip becomes smaller, a corresponding testing pitch of the probe head must also become smaller in correspondence, so as to be qualified as a fine pitch.

As shown in FIG. 1 , a typical probe head 80 that is used in testing the semiconductor chip includes an upper guide plate 81 , a lower guide plate 82 and a plurality of probes 90 . As shown in FIG. 2 , a cross-section of a head portion 92 of each probe 90 substantially appears to be a circle, and a cross-section of a body portion 94 of each probe 90 substantially appears to be an ellipse or a rectangle; and in order to facilitate in an assembling of each component of the probe head 80 , the head portion 92 of each probe 90 is usually positioned in a positioner 84 in the first, wherein the positioner 84 has a plurality of openings 85 passing through the positioner 84 . A shape of each opening 85 is formed by superimposing a circle and an ellipse. The circular portion in the each opening 85 is similar to a cross-sectional shape of the head portion 92 of each probe 90 . The head portion 92 of each probe 90 is inserted into each opening 85 of the positioner 84 , so that the openings 85 may constrain the probes 90 and further be disposed into upper through holes 86 of the upper guide plate 81 , thereby enabling the body portion 94 of each probe 90 to extend to the lower guide plate 82 .

When assembling the probe head 80 , each probe 90 can pass through each opening 85 of the positioner 84 after the positioner 84 is firstly disposed at the lower guide plate 82 , and the body portion 94 of each probe 90 that appears to be in an elliptical cross-sectional shape would also pass through the elliptical portion of each opening 85 so as to prevent each probe 90 from producing structural damage due to having mutual interference contacts with a wall-surface of each opening 85 . However, after gone through practical application, it is discovered that the openings 85 are unable to produce an effective positioning effect to the head portions 92 of the probes 90 , and thus is due to the reason that the head portions 92 of the probes 90 would move from the circular portions of the openings 85 towards the elliptical portions just by being subjected to a little force. As a result, all the probes 90 would shake or deviate from the positions due to the reason that the openings 85 being too large, thereby causing the head portions 92 of all the probes 90 unable to be uniformly aligned and pass through the upper through holes 86 of the upper guide plate 81 ; and therefore, the positioning effect of the probes 90 is poor, difficulty in assembling is increased, and a product yield is lowered.

On the other hand, it can be seen from FIG. 3 that, enlarged openings 85 would cause a distance D 10 between the openings 85 to be shortened. In a probe head 80 that adopts the fine pitch as depicted in FIG. 1 without increasing the pitch, if it is to switch to the probe 90 with a larger probe diameter, then the distance D 10 between the openings 85 would be shortened even more, thereby causing a significant increase in the probability of cracking at this certain location of the positioner 84 ; and as a result, the difficulty in assembling is further increased, and the product yield is further lowered. Therefore, how to effectively solve the aforementioned shortcomings is the foremost goal in need to be addressed by related practitioners.

The present invention is directed to a positioner of a probe card, wherein the positioner is configured to assemble the probe card that is used for testing a device under test having a fine pitch contact.

The present invention is directed to a probe head of a probe card, wherein a positioner used by the probe head may be configured to assemble the probe card that is used for testing a device under test having a fine pitch contact.

The present invention is directed to a positioner of a probe card. The positioner has a main opening, a first sub-opening, a second sub-opening, at least one positioning portion, and at least one elastic portion, wherein the first sub-opening and the second sub-opening are arranged at the periphery of the main opening and communicated to the main opening, the at least one positioning portion and the at least one elastic portion are complementary of each other, the at least one elastic portion is between the first sub-opening and the second sub-opening, and a stiffness of the at least one positioning portion is higher than a stiffness of the at least one elastic portion.

The present invention is directed to a probe head of a probe card. The probe head includes an upper guide plate, a lower guide plate, an aforementioned positioner, and a plurality of probes. The upper guide plate has a plurality of upper through holes. The lower guide plate is located at a side of the upper guide plate and has a plurality of lower through holes. The positioner is located between the upper guide plate and the lower guide plate, and has plurality of the main openings. Each probe is positioned between one upper through hole of the upper guide plate and one lower through hole of the lower guide plate, and passes through one main opening of the positioner.

In view of the above, the positioner of the present invention may provide the probes with favorable positioning effect while not damaging the probes easily, and a pitch between openings of the positioner would not crack easily. Accordingly, difficulty in assembling the probe head of the probe card is lowered, and a product yield of the probe head of the probe card is also increased.

To make the aforementioned and other features and advantages of the application more comprehensible, several embodiments accompanied with drawings are described in detail as follows.

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the present invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the present invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a conventional probe head.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view a conventional probe.

FIG. 3 is a partial top view of a conventional positioner.

FIG. 4A is a partial perspective view illustrating a positioner of a probe card according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4B is a schematic view illustrating another mode of the positioner depicted in FIG. 4A .

FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B are partial top views respectively illustrating a positioner of a probe card according to another two embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 6 through FIG. 12 are partial top views respectively illustrating a positioner of a probe card according to another seven embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view illustrating a probe head of a probe card according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14A and FIG. 14B are partial top views respectively illustrating a positioner of a probe card according to another two embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a schematic view illustrating a probe adapted to be used in the positioner of the probe card depicted in the embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a partial top view illustrating a positioner of a probe card according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a schematic view illustrating another probe adapted to be used in the positioner of the probe card depicted in the embodiments of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4A , a positioner 100 of a probe card of the present embodiment has a main opening 110 , a first sub-opening 120 , a second sub-opening 130 , a third sub-opening 140 , a fourth sub-opening 150 , a first positioning portion 160 , a second positioning portion 170 , a first elastic portion 180 , and a second elastic portion 190 . The first sub-opening 120 , the second sub-opening 130 , the third sub-opening 140 , and the fourth sub-opening 150 are sequentially arranged at the periphery of the main opening 110 , and the first sub-opening 120 , the second sub-opening 130 , the third sub-opening 140 and the fourth sub-opening 150 are all communicated to the main opening 110 . Taking the first sub-opening 120 being communicated to the main opening 110 as an example, the term “communicated” herein indicates that the first sub-opening 120 is directly connected with the main opening 110 , and there is no other barrier between the two. It is to be explained that, the positioner has a plurality of main openings and a plurality of sub-openings thereon. However, in the present embodiment or other embodiments of the present invention, for the simplification and the clarify of illustration, the descriptions are provided by taking only one main opening and one first sub-opening, one second sub-opening, one third sub-opening, and one fourth sub-opening that are communicated to the main opening, or with only one main opening and one first sub-opening and one second sub-opening that are communicated to the main opening, into account.

The first elastic portion 180 is between the first sub-opening 120 and the second sub-opening 130 . That is, three sides of the first elastic portion 180 respectively locate the main opening 110 , the first sub-opening 120 and the second sub-opening 130 , while a remaining side of the first elastic portion 180 is connected to other portion of the positioner 100 . The first positioning portion 160 is between the second sub-opening 130 and the third sub-opening 140 . That is, three sides of the first positioning portion 160 respectively locate the main opening 110 , the second sub-opening 130 and the third sub-opening 140 , while a remaining side of the first positioning portion 160 is connected to other portion of the positioner 100 . The second elastic portion 190 is between the third sub-opening 140 and the fourth sub-opening 150 . That is, three sides of the second elastic portion 190 respectively locate the main opening 110 , the third sub-opening 140 and the fourth sub-opening 150 , while a remaining side of the second elastic portion 190 is connected to other portion of the positioner 100 . The second positioning portion 170 is between the first sub-opening 120 and the fourth sub-opening 150 . That is, three sides of the second positioning portion 170 respectively locate the main opening 110 , the first sub-opening 120 and the fourth sub-opening 150 , while a remaining side of the second positioning portion 170 is connected to other portion of the positioner 100 . In the present embodiment, the first positioning portion 160 and the second positioning portion 170 appear to be oppositely disposed, and the first elastic portion 180 and the second elastic portion 190 appear to be oppositely disposed.

The first positioning portion 160 , the second positioning portion 170 , the first elastic portion 180 , and the second elastic portion 190 all include a portion of the periphery of the main opening 110 . The first positioning portion 160 , the second positioning portion 170 , the first elastic portion 180 , and the second elastic portion 190 are further complementary of each other; and the term “complementary” herein indicates that the first positioning portion 160 , the second positioning portion 170 , the first elastic portion 180 , and the second elastic portion 190 together constitute the entire periphery of the main opening 110 . In terms of the present embodiment, the first positioning portion 160 , the second positioning portion 170 , the first elastic portion 180 , and the second elastic portion 190 together constitute the entire periphery of the main opening 110 , except the portions that are communicated to the first to fourth sub-openings 120 - 150 .

In the positioner 100 of the probe card of the present embodiment, a stiffness of the first positioning portion 160 and a stiffness of the second positioning portion 170 are higher than a stiffness of the first elastic portion 180 and a stiffness of the second elastic portion 190 . Referring to FIG. 2 , FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B at the same time, when the body portion 94 , which has an elliptical cross-section, of the probe 90 as shown in FIG. 2 passes through the main opening 110 , the first elastic portion 180 and the second elastic portion 190 that have the lower stiffness would be bended in a manner as shown FIG. 4B when being subjected to force, and thereby prevent the positioner 100 or the probe 90 from being damaged due to having an excessive force being generated from between the positioner 100 and the body portion 94 of the probe 90 . After the body portion 94 of the probe 90 as shown FIG. 2 completely passes through the main opening 110 , the head portion 92 of the probe 90 does not oppress the first elastic portion 180 and the second elastic portion 190 , and thus the first elastic portion 180 and the second elastic portion 190 would return back to the original state as shown in FIG. 4A . When the first elastic portion 180 and the second elastic portion 190 return back to the original state as shown in FIG. 4A , the head portion 92 of the probe 90 would then be located at the main opening 110 . In addition, the first positioning portion 160 of the present embodiment has a first positioning side 160 A at the periphery of the main opening 110 , the second positioning portion 170 has a second positioning side 170 A at the periphery of the main opening 110 , the first elastic portion 180 has a first elastic side 180 A at the periphery of the main opening 110 , and the second elastic portion 190 has a second elastic side 190 A at the periphery of the main opening 110 . The first positioning side 160 A, the second positioning side 170 A, the first elastic side 180 A, and the second elastic side 190 A are configured to support the head portion 92 of the probe 90 . In other words, the first positioning side 160 A, the second positioning side 170 A, the first elastic side 180 A, and the second elastic side 190 A together constitute the entire periphery of the main opening 110 , except the portions that are communicated to the first to fourth sub-openings 120 - 150 . When the head portion 92 of the probe 90 as shown in FIG. 2 is located at the main opening 110 , the first positioning side 160 A, the second positioning side 170 A, the first elastic side 180 A, and the second elastic side 190 A together provide sufficient positioning force so as to limit the head portion 92 of the probe 90 at the main opening 110 . As such, it is ensured that the positioner 100 may provide sufficient positioning force to the head portion 92 of the probe 90 , so that the head portion 92 of the probe 90 may be prevented from assembling failure or being damaged due to position deviation during the subsequently assembling process. A sum of side lengths of the first elastic side 180 A and the second elastic side 190 A may be greater than or equal to a sum of side lengths of the first positioning side 160 A and the second positioning side 170 A, and this may be designed according to the actual needs, such that the present invention is not limited thereto. It is to be noted that, the majority of the embodiments of the present invention all include positioning sides and elastic sides similar to that of the present embodiment, but only the ones in the present embodiment are taken as an example for providing the detailed descriptions, such that no repetition will be provided later on.

In the present embodiment, a shape of the main opening 110 of the positioner 100 generally has to match a cross-sectional shape (such as a circle) of the head portion of the probe that is to be constrained, but the present invention does not intend to limit the shape of the main opening. In the present embodiment, since the first positioning portion 160 , the second positioning portion 170 , the first elastic portion 180 , and the second elastic portion 190 are complementary of each other, the shapes thereof are designed in a manner to support the probe, and thereby can provide favorable positioning effect to the head portion of the probe. Moreover, the positioner 100 of the present embodiment, for example, takes the form of a thin film, and a material thereof, for example, may be polyimide. The main opening 110 , the first sub-opening 120 , the second sub-opening 130 , the third sub-opening 140 , and the fourth sub-opening 150 of the positioner 100 may be formed by machining, such as laser machining, stamping and so forth, or directly be formed at the positioner 100 by means of photolithography. In the present embodiment, the first sub-opening 120 , the second sub-opening 130 , the third sub-opening 140 , and the fourth sub-opening 150 are straight strip-shaped. The definition of “straight strip-shaped” generally indicates that a width thereof in a direction perpendicular to an extending direction remains a constant. Moreover, an end of the first sub-opening 120 , an end of the second sub-opening 130 , an end of the third sub-opening 140 , and an end of the fourth sub-opening 150 away from the main opening 110 , preferably, respectively have an arc-shaped edge. For instance, if the sub-openings are cracks, then the cracks may continue to grow along a cracking direction due to stress concentration after the cracks are subjected to force; and thus, the first sub-opening 120 , the second sub-opening 130 , the third sub-opening 140 , and the fourth sub-opening 150 should preferably be straight strip-shaped, and the ends thereof away from the main opening 110 should preferably have the arc-shaped edge.

Referring to FIG. 4A , with respect to a geometric center C 10 of the main opening 110 , the first sub-opening 120 is point symmetric to the third sub-opening 140 , and the second sub-opening 130 is point symmetric to the fourth sub-opening 150 . The first sub-opening 120 being point symmetric to the third sub-opening 140 means that: by taking the geometric center C 10 as a point symmetric center, and after rotating 180° around the geometric center C 10 , profile positions of the first sub-opening 120 and the third sub-opening 140 before and after the rotation are substantially matched with each other. It is to be explained beforehand that, the sub-openings in the subsequent drawings ( FIG. 5A , FIG. 5B , FIG. 7 , FIG. 9 , FIG. 11 , and FIG. 16 ) are also point symmetric in design. Under such design, with respect to the geometric center C 10 of the main opening 110 , the first positioning portion 160 is also point symmetric to the second positioning portion 170 , and the first elastic portion 180 is also point symmetric to the second elastic portion 190 . As such, it is conducive in stably providing the optimal positioning effect to the head portion (or also known as a tail portion) of the probe. In the present embodiment, the first sub-opening 120 , the second sub-opening 130 , the third sub-opening 140 , and the fourth sub-opening 150 are all straight strip-shaped and parallel to each other. A length of the first sub-opening 120 is longer than a length of the second sub-opening 130 . In other embodiments, the first sub-opening, the second sub-opening, the third sub-opening, and the fourth sub-opening may also respectively be curved line-shaped, folded line-shaped or other-shaped.

Referring to FIG. 5A , a positioner 100 A of a probe card of the present embodiment is similar to the positioner 100 of FIG. 4A , and a difference therebetween lies in that the main openings 110 of the positioner 100 A of the present embodiment are arranged into an array, and any four adjacent main openings 110 are arranged into a rectangle. The positioner 100 A has a plurality of main openings 110 , a plurality of first sub-openings 120 , a plurality of second sub-openings 130 , a plurality of third sub-openings 140 , and a plurality of fourth sub-openings 150 . Similar to the positioner 100 of FIG. 4A , each main opening 110 in FIG. 5A is corresponded to one first sub-opening 120 , one second sub-opening 130 , one third sub-opening 140 , and one fourth sub-opening 150 , the means of connection and alignment positions thereof are all identical to the ones shown in FIG. 4A , and thus each main opening 110 in FIG. 5A also has a plurality of first positioning portions 160 , a plurality of second positioning portions 170 , a plurality of first elastic portions 180 , and a plurality of second elastic portions 190 that are identical to the ones shown in FIG. 4A . With such design, a shortest distance D 22 between these main openings 110 or a shortest distance D 24 between these sub-openings is much longer than the distance D 10 between the openings 85 of FIG. 3 . As a result, the positioner 100 A of the probe card of the present embodiment may easily be applied in a probe head of a probe adopting a fine pitch, and when a probe diameter of the probe is increased, the main openings 110 may still able to maintain a sufficient distance therebetween, and thereby will not crack easily.

In the present embodiment, the first sub-opening 120 and the second sub-opening 130 have deviation distance D 26 therebetween. Specifically, both ends of the first sub-opening 120 are located on a straight line L 10 , but both ends of the second sub-opening 130 do not simultaneously on the straight line L 10 , and thus the first sub-opening 120 and the second sub-opening 130 have the deviation distance D 26 therebetween. Moreover, the first sub-opening 120 and the fourth sub-opening 150 have a deviation distance D 28 therebetween. Specifically, both ends of the first sub-opening 120 are located on the straight line L 10 , but both ends of the fourth sub-opening 150 do not simultaneously on the straight line L 10 , and thus the first sub-opening 120 and the fourth sub-opening 150 have the deviation distance D 28 therebetween. Certainly, the both ends of the second sub-opening or the both ends of the fourth sub-opening may also be designed to on the straight line, such that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 5B , a positioner 100 B of a probe card of the present embodiment is similar to the positioner 100 of FIG. 4A and the positioner 100 A of FIG. 5A , and a difference therebetween lies in that any three adjacent main openings 110 of the positioner 100 B of the present embodiment are arranged into a triangle. With such design, the positioner 100 B of the probe card of the present embodiment may be applied in a probe head of a probe adopting different arrangement, and the main openings 110 may still able to maintain a sufficient distance therebetween, and thereby will not crack easily. Certainly, the arrangement (layout of openings) of the main openings on the positioner of the present invention is not limited to the two embodiments described in the above, and may be varied depending on the design of a device under test, the probe diameter of the probe being used, or the difference in material of the positioner, such that a single device under test may include the layout of openings of both embodiments, or include the layout of openings of one of the embodiments in addition with the layout of openings of having only one main opening, etc.; the present invention is not limited thereto.

Referring to FIG. 6 , a positioner 200 A of a probe card of the present embodiment is similar to the positioner 100 of FIG. 4A , and thus only the differences are to be described herein. A main opening 210 A of the positioner 200 A of the present embodiment has a symmetry line L 20 passing through a geometric center C 20 thereof. A first sub-opening 220 A and a fourth sub-opening 250 A are line symmetric to a second sub-opening 230 A and a third sub-opening 240 A with respect to a symmetry line L 20 . The first sub-opening 220 A and the fourth sub-opening 250 A being line symmetric to the second sub-opening 230 A and the third sub-opening 240 A means that: by taking the symmetry line L 20 as a symmetry line of the line symmetric, after folding the positioner 200 A along the symmetry line L 20 , profile positions of the first sub-opening 220 A and the fourth sub-opening 250 A are substantially matched with profile positions of the second sub-opening 230 A and the third sub-opening 240 A. It is to be explained beforehand that, the sub-openings in the subsequent drawings ( FIG. 8 , FIG. 10 , FIG. 12 , FIG. 14A , and FIG. 14B ) are also line symmetric in design. In the present embodiment, a length of the first sub-opening 220 A is shorter than a length of the third sub-opening 240 A. Under such design, a stiffness of an elastic portion 260 A between the first sub-opening 220 A and the second sub-opening 230 A would be lower than a stiffness of an elastic portion 260 B between the fourth sub-opening 250 A and the third sub-opening 240 A, and thereby is apt to be deformed but difficult to be damaged.

Referring to FIG. 7 , a positioner 200 B of a probe card of the present embodiment is similar to the positioner 100 of FIG. 4A , and thus only the differences are to be described herein. In the present embodiment, a first sub-opening 220 B is parallel to a third sub-opening 240 B, and a second sub-opening 230 B is parallel to a fourth sub-opening 250 B, but the first sub-opening 220 B is not parallel to the second sub-opening 230 B. A length of the first sub-opening 220 B is longer than a length of the second sub-opening 230 B. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, a first positioning portion 264 A has a first positioning side 264 A 1 at the periphery of a main opening 210 B, a second positioning portion 264 B has a second positioning side 264 B 1 at the periphery of the main opening 210 B, a first elastic portion 262 A has a first elastic side 262 A 1 at the periphery of the main opening 210 B, and a second elastic portion 262 B has a second elastic side 262 B 1 at the periphery of the main opening 210 B. It is to be explained that, technical features regarding the first positioning side 264 A 1 , the second positioning side 264 B 1 , the first elastic side 262 A 1 , and the second elastic side 262 B 1 can be referred back to the previous embodiment depicted by FIG. 4A , and thus will not be repeated herein. Moreover, in the present embodiment, the first sub-opening 220 B and the second sub-opening 230 B have a deviation distance D 26 B therebetween; the first sub-opening 220 B and the fourth sub-opening 250 B have a deviation distance D 28 B therebetween; and the technical features regarding the deviation distances D 26 B and D 28 B may be referred back to the previous embodiment depicted by FIG. 5A , and thus will not be repeated herein.

Referring to FIG. 8 , a positioner 200 C of a probe card of the present embodiment is similar to the positioner 200 A of FIG. 6 , and thus only the differences are to be described herein. In the present embodiment, a first sub-opening 220 C is parallel to a second sub-opening 230 C, but a third sub-opening 240 C is not parallel to a fourth sub-opening 250 C.

Referring to FIG. 9 , a positioner 200 D of a probe card of the present embodiment is similar to the positioner 200 B of FIG. 7 , and thus only the differences are to be described herein. In the present embodiment, a second sub-opening 230 D and a fourth sub-opening 250 D are straight strip-shaped, and a first sub-opening 220 D and a third sub-opening 240 D are curved line-shaped.

Referring to FIG. 10 , a positioner 200 E of a probe card of the present embodiment is similar to the positioner 200 C of FIG. 8 , and thus only the differences are to be described herein. In the present embodiment, a first sub-opening 220 E and a second sub-opening 230 E are straight strip-shaped, and a third sub-opening 240 E and a fourth sub-opening 250 E are curved line-shaped.

Referring to FIG. 11 , a positioner 200 F of a probe card of the present embodiment is similar to the positioner 200 B of FIG. 7 , and thus only the differences are to be described herein. In the present embodiment, a first sub-opening 220 F and a third sub-opening 240 F are folded line-shaped, namely, respectively include two connected straight line portions 220 F 1 and 220 F 2 , and 240 F 1 and 240 F 2 . The portion 220 F 1 of the first sub-opening 220 F that is away from the main opening 210 F is parallel to the second sub-opening 230 F, while the portion 220 F 2 of the first sub-opening 220 F that is close to the main opening 210 F is not parallel to the second sub-opening 230 F.

Referring to FIG. 12 , a positioner 200 G of the probe card of the present embodiment is similar to the positioner 200 C of FIG. 8 , and thus only the differences are to be described herein. In the present embodiment, a third sub-opening 240 G and a fourth sub-opening 250 G are folded line-shaped, namely, respectively include two connected straight line portions. A portion of the third sub-opening 240 G that is away from the main opening 210 G is parallel to the fourth sub-opening 250 G, while a portion of the third sub-opening 240 G that is close to the main opening 210 G is not parallel to the fourth sub-opening 250 G.

Referring to FIG. 13 and FIG. 5A , a probe head 20 of the present embodiment is, for example, adapted to be used in a vertical probe card for electrically connecting a circuit board (such as a printed circuit board or a space transformer) of the vertical probe card to at least one device under test. Specifically, the probe head 20 includes an upper guide plate 21 , a lower guide plate 22 , a positioner 100 A, and a plurality of probes 90 . The upper guide plate 21 has a plurality of upper through holes 21 a . The lower guide plate 22 has a plurality of lower through holes 22 a. The positioner 100 A is located between the upper guide plate 21 and the lower guide plate 22 . Each probe 90 is positioned between one upper through hole 21 a of the upper guide plate 21 and one lower through hole 22 a of the lower guide plate 22 and passes through the main opening 110 of the positioner 100 A. Certainly, the positioner 100 A may also be replaced by any positioner described in the other embodiments of the present invention. In addition, it is to be explained that, these probes 90 may be produced by micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) processing (namely, may be referred to as MEMS probes), or be made of wires through mechanical stamping (namely, may be referred to as molded probes).

In the positioners of the probe cards as described in the above, each main opening is, for example, corresponded to the sub-openings of two positioning portions and two elastic portions, but the positioners of the probe cards of the present invention are not limited thereto, such that each main opening may also be corresponded to the sub-openings of only one positioning portion and one elastic portion, or each main opening may also be corresponded to the sub-openings of much more positioning portions and much more elastic portions. In the following below, several embodiments are provided for describing a design whereby each main opening is corresponded to the sub-openings of one positioning portion and one elastic portion. Moreover, the technical features regarding the positioners of the probe cards of the present invention and the probe heads adopting the said positioners can be referred back to the previous embodiments, such that similar contents regarding thereof will not be repeated in the following embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 14A , a positioner 300 A of a probe card of the present embodiment has a main opening 310 A, a first sub-opening 320 A, a second sub-opening 330 A, a positioning portion 360 A, and an elastic portion 380 A. The first sub-opening 320 A and the second sub-opening 330 A are arranged at the periphery of the main opening 310 A, and the first sub-opening 320 A and the second sub-opening 330 A are both communicated to the main opening 310 A. The elastic portion 380 A is between the first sub-opening 320 A and the second sub-opening 330 A. The positioning portion 360 A and the elastic portion 380 A are complementary of each other, namely, the positioning portion 360 A and the elastic portion 380 A together constitute the entire periphery of the main opening 310 A. Taking the present embodiment as an example, the positioning portion 360 A and the elastic portion 380 A together constitute the entire periphery of the main opening 310 A, except the portions that are communicated to the first sub-opening 320 A and the second sub-opening 330 A. A stiffness of the positioning portion 360 A is higher than a stiffness of the elastic portion 380 A. A positioning side 360 A 1 provided at the periphery of the main opening 310 A by the complementary positioning portion 360 A and an elastic side 380 A 1 provided at the periphery of the main opening 310 A by the complementary elastic portion 380 A may together provide the probe with favorable positioning effect.

Referring to FIG. 14B , a positioner 300 C of a probe card of the present embodiment is similar to the positioner 300 A of FIG. 14A , and thus only the differences are to be described herein. A shape of a main opening 310 C of the positioner 300 C of the present embodiment generally matches a cross-sectional shape of a head portion of a probe that is to be constrained, such as being a rectangle. The positioning portion 360 C and the elastic portion 380 C that are complementary of each other may also together provide favorable positioning effect to the probe, and the elastic portion 380 C may elastically be deformed to avoid damaging the probe. In the present embodiment, the shape of the main opening 310 C of the positioner 300 C is a rectangle, which may be used for a MEMS probe 90 B as shown in FIG. 15 . When a stopper portion 92 B of the MEMS probe 90 B passes through the main opening 310 C, the elastic portion 380 C as being oppressed by the stopper portion 92 B would be elastically deformed, and then the elastic portion 380 C would return to the original state after the stopper portion 92 B leaves the main opening 310 C.

Referring to FIG. 16 , a positioner 400 of a probe card of the present embodiment is similar to the positioner 100 of FIG. 4A , and thus only the differences are to be described herein. A shape of a main opening 410 of the positioner 400 of the present embodiment generally matches a cross-sectional shape of a head portion of a probe that is to be constrained, such as being a rectangle. A first positioning portion 460 , a second positioning portion 470 , a first elastic portion 480 , and a second elastic portion 490 that are complementary of each other may also together provide favorable positioning effect to the probe, and the first elastic portion 480 and the second elastic portion 490 may be elastically deformed to avoid damaging the probe. In the present embodiment, the shape of the main opening 410 of the positioner 400 is a rectangle, which may be used for a MEMS probe 90 C as shown in FIG. 17 . When two stopper portions 92 C of the MEMS probe 90 C pass through the main opening 410 , the first elastic portion 480 and the second elastic portion 490 as being respectively oppressed by the stopper portions 92 C would be elastically deformed, and then the first elastic portion 480 and the second elastic portion 490 would return back to the original state after the stopper portions 92 C leave the main opening 410 . The first positioning portion 460 and the second positioning portion 470 appear to be oppositely disposed, and the first elastic portion 480 and the second elastic portion 490 appear to be oppositely disposed.

In summary, in the present invention, the positioning portion and the elastic portion of the positioner that are complementary of each other may simultaneously provide the probe with favorable positioning effect, and the elastic portion between the sub-openings may provide a suitable deformation margin when being passed by the probe, so as to prevent the probe from being damaged due to excessive friction. At the same time, the strength between the main openings of the positioner is also enhanced as the distance therebetween increases, thereby preventing the distance between the main openings from cracking. Accordingly, the difficulty in assembling the probe head of the probe card is lowered, and the product yield of the probe head of the probe card is increased.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the present invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.