June 9, 2006 – FormFactor has unveiled new wafer probe card technology to address challenges associated with one-touchdown 300mm flash wafer probing.

The Harmony OneTouch targets test cell utilization in two ways. A bridge capability provides enhanced planarity, to quickly adjust the tilt of the probe card relative to the wafer, and reduces thermal setup time from hours to just minutes, the company claims. This enhances system-to-system portability, providing more flexibility on the test floor. The OneTouch card also incorporates a new “MicroSpring” contactor, designed to be more reliable in a high-volume flash environment.

Reducing the number of touchdowns that a probe card must make to test all devices on a wafer is critical to improving test throughput and lowering the overall cost of test, the company explained. Under normal operating conditions, setup and maintenance can lead to hours or even days of lost productivity or downtime. At one touchdown, this downtime represents a greater percentage of total test cell time and has the potential to erode productivity gains, equating to a loss of test throughput of several thousand die/hour.

“At 300 mm, simply scaling existing wafer probe solutions is not enough to deliver the most cost-effective testing. For one-touchdown testing, minimizing non-productive time in test cell operation is critical,” stated Igor Khandros, FormFactor CEO. He noted the new product helps improve productivity in the entire cell, and maximize test cell output.”

First customer shipments of the new product are scheduled for June.