P 12

The Tokyo Electron P 12 is an automatic wafer prober used in semiconductor test and measurement. Probers make temporary electrical contact to the circuits on a wafer so that parametric or functional tests can be performed before the wafer is diced and packaged.

A wafer prober uses a precision motorized stage to position a wafer under a probe card. The probe card contains many fine needles that align with the bond pads of individual die on the wafer. The prober brings the wafer up to contact the probe needles, then steps from die to die, making contact at each site so that a tester can apply signals and measure responses.

The P 12 is an automatic prober, meaning it loads, aligns, and steps through wafers under computer control without manual intervention for each die.

Wafer probers sit in the test and sort step of semiconductor manufacturing, after wafer fabrication and before dicing and packaging. Electrical tests performed on the prober allow defective die to be identified and marked for discard, improving final yield.

The prober is used in conjunction with an automatic test equipment (ATE) system. The prober handles wafer transport and alignment while the ATE performs the actual measurements.

The Tokyo Electron P 12 is employed in semiconductor foundries, integrated device manufacturers, and test houses for production wafer sort and engineering characterisation.