P 8 XL

The Tokyo Electron P 8 XL is a prober used in semiconductor test and probe applications. Probers are pieces of equipment that physically lower a set of microscopic probe needles onto the bond pads of individual semiconductor die on a wafer, allowing electrical signals to be passed from a test system to the device. The P 8 XL is a model of wafer prober designed for handling wafers in a semiconductor manufacturing fab.

A prober, also known as a wafer probe station, operates by receiving a wafer cassette, loading a single wafer onto a precision chuck, and using a motorized X–Y–Z stage to align the wafer beneath a probe card. The prober drives the wafer into contact with the probe card's needles at each die site, then steps to the next site while the test system performs parametric or functional tests. Probers repeat this contact-and-step sequence until all die on the wafer have been tested or until a test limit is reached.

Probers are deployed in the wafer sort (also called die sort, probe, or electrical test) step of semiconductor manufacturing. After wafers complete front-end-of-line and back-end-of-line processing and have been metallized with bond pads, they are sent to the sort area where a prober and a tester work together to identify functional die. Probers sit downstream of all wafer fabrication steps and upstream of assembly and packaging; only die that pass probe testing are diced and packaged. The P 8 XL fits into this sort process as a wafer-handling platform that presents each die to the tester.

Probers are used for parametric testing of process control monitor structures, for functional test of logic and memory devices, and for known-good-die selection prior to packaging. The P 8 XL can support final wafer-level test for many types of integrated circuits manufactured on wafers of the sizes that the tool is designed to handle.