ATE:
Automatic Test Equipment.
Balanced Contact Force:
Measured as a « ±% » BCF is the allowable deviation from the floating average contact force.
Beam length:
The distance, measure horizontally, from the center of the probe tip to the point the probe enters the epoxy.
Blade card:
Probe card that uses ceramic or metallic blades.
Bond Pad:
The metalized locations on an integrated circuit where the test probes will make contact.
Bond Pad Pitch:
The distance between adjacent bond pad centers.
Bond Pad Size:
The measurement of that portion of the bond pad metalization that’s usable for probing.
Burst Current:
A current pulse of less than 10ms duration.
Contact Force:
The force presented by a probe at overdrive on a bond pad or bump, measured in grams/mil of overdrive (OD).
Contact Resistance:
The resistance that occurs at the junction between the probe tip and the device contact surface metalization.
Dielectric Constant:
A measure of the ability of the material to resist the formation of an electric field within it.
Die:
A single square or rectangular piece of semiconductor material onto which a specific electrical circuit has been fabricated also called a ship or Dut.
Edge Sensor:
An edge sensor (E/S) is a two–wire or three-wire probe configuration that forms a switch to detect contact with the wafer.
EWLP:
Embedded Wafer Level Packaging.
Fab-lite:
Any semiconductor company that out sources less than 75% of it’s wafer manufacturing and is a silicon provider.
Fabless:
Any semiconductor company that out sources 75% or greater of its wafer manufacturing and sells silicon to an end-customer.
Fanout Angle:
The angle made by a probe with respect to the side of the die, measured from the perpendicular to the die side.
Floating Average:
A range of acceptable average values. Applies specifically to contact force.
FPD:
Flat Panel Discret Packaging.
FR4:
A PCB material.
FWLT:
Full Wafer Level Test.
Glassivation:
Passivation using silicon dioxide as the coating.
IDM:
Any integrated device manufacturer that produces 75% of their silicon internally.
Leakage Current:
Parasitic loss of current in an electrical circuit.
Mask:
A patterned screen, usually of glass, used to allow exposure of selected areas of photoresist-coated wafer by a light source.
Measure THD:
Total Harmonic Distortion.
Micron:
A metric unit linear measure that equals on millionth of a meter. Same as micrometer (mm); equal to 25,4 µm.
Mil:
One Thousandth of an Inch. Equal to 25,4 microns.
MotherBoard:
Tool measure probe card.
Needle:
Probe.
OHM (Ω):
Unit of measurement used for resistance.
Overdrive:
Z axis (vertical) distance measurement calculated from the first contact point of the probe to the device surface.
Passivation:
A protective coating placed on a wafer surface. Sometimes called glassivation.
PCB:
Printed Circuit Board.
PCB Aperture:
A hole opened in the center of the pcb to support attachment ring.
Planarization:
The ideal probing operation would result in simultaneous contact of all test pads on each and every device across the substrate.
Polyimide:
A PCB material that used for probe cards designed for probing temperatures greater than 100°C.
Probe Angle:
The angle of the probe shank where it passes through the epoxy relative to the horizontal plane of the PCB.
Probe Card Analyzer:
A piece of test equipment used to measure critical probe card parameters.
Probe Shank:
The portion of the probe that isn’t tapered.
Probe Solder Point:
The location on the PCB where the probe tail is connected.
Probe Stability:
The ability of a probe to retain its performance characteristics over time.
Probe Tail:
The portion of a probe outside the ring.
Probe Tip Alignment:
Probe tip placement at overdrive with respect to the targets on a coordinates glass mask or bond pads on a wafer.
Probe Tip Depth:
The distance from the reference plane of a probe card to the plane formed by the probe tips. This is typically measured from the bottom of the pcb to the probe.
Probe Tip Length:
The Vertical distance from the tip of the probe to the bend in the probe.
Probe Tip Shape:
The contour of the probe tip; typically flat or radiused.
Probe Tip Diameter:
The diameter of the wire material from which the finished probe is made.
Probing:
A term used to describe the electrical testing that employs very finely tipped probes applied sequentially to a wafer.
Raidissor:
Mechanical part above the spider.
Ring:
A ceramic or metallic piece machined to proper dimensions to support probes on a PCB.
Ring Aperture:
The opening (hole) in the center of the ring.
Scrub Mark:
Mark on the contact surface created by scrubbing action as the probe tip moves across the device metalization when over drive is applied.
SNR:
Signal to Noise Ratio.
Spider:
Assemby ring with needles.
Stiffener:
Mechanical part above the PCB.
Target:
A shape on a glass mask that represents the final position of the probe tip.
Tip length:
Probe tip length is measured from the tip of the probe to the bend in the probe.
Touchdown:
The point of initial contact between probe and bond pad. The number of times the probe card is overdriven onto a wafer during the lifetime of the probe card.
Wafer:
A thin disk of semiconducting material on which many separate circuits can be fabricated and then cut into individual ICs.
WLBI:
Wafer Level Burn In.
WLCSP:
Wafer Level Chip Size Package.
WLT:
Wafer Level Test.
Yield:
The number of acceptable units produced compared to the maximum number.

International System of Units

The 20 SI prefixes used to from decimal multiples and sub-multiples of SI units are shown here:

Tableau SI

Length measurements

Unit Symbol Equivalence
mil   0.0254 mm
inch in. or '' 2.54 cm
foot (=12'') ft or ' 30.48 cm
yard (=3') yd 91.44 cm
mile (=1760 yd)   1609 m

Surface measurements

Unit Symbol Equivalence
square inch sq. in. 6.45 cm²
square foot sq. ft. 0.0929 m²
square yard sq. yd. 0.83 m²
square mile sq. mi. 2.59 km²

Volume measurements

Unit Symbol Equivalence
cubic inch cu. in. 16.39 cm³
cubic foot cu. ft. 28.32 dm³
cubic yard cu. yd. 0.7646 m²

Capacitance measurements

Unit Symbol Equivalence
English
pint pt 0.568 l
quart (=2 pt) qt 1.136 l
gallon (=4 qt) gl 4.545 l
American
pint US pt 0.473 l
quart (=2 pt) US qt 0.946 l
gallon (=4 qt) US gl 3.785 l

Weight measurements

Unit Symbol Equivalence
Common (English, American)
ounce oz 28.35 g
pound (=16 oz) lb 0.454 kg
English
hundredweight (=112 lb) cwt 50.8 kg
British ton or long ton (=20 cwt) ton 1,016 kg
American
cental or US hundredweight (=100 lb) cwt 45.4 kg
US ton or short ton (=20 cwt) ton 907.2 kg

Surface pressure measurements

Unit Symbol Equivalence
Pound/Square Inch PSI 0.07 kg/cm²
pound/square foot lb/sq ft 4.88 kg/m²

Microelectronics Industry

IEC

International Electrotechnical Commission

www.iec.ch
JEITA

Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association

www.jeita.or.jp
ISO

International Organization for Standardization

www.iso.org
KSIA

Korea Semiconductor Industry Association

www.ksia.or.kr
SIA

Semiconductor Industry Association

www.sia-online.org
WEF

World Economic Forum

www.weforum.org
CEN

European Committee for Standardization

www.cen.eu
CENELEC

European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization

www.cenelec.eu
EECA

European Electronic Component Manufacturers Association

www.eeca.eu
ETSI

European Telecommunication Standards Institute

www.etsi.org
ORGALIME

The European Engineering Industries Association

www.orgalime.org
BUSINESS EUROPE

The Confederation of European Business

www.businesseurope.eu
AFNOR

Association Française de Normalisation

www.afnor.org
CNFM

National Coordination in Micro- and nanoelectronics Training

www.cnfm.fr
FIEN

Filières des Industries Electroniques et Numériques

www.fien.fr
GFIE

Groupement des Fournisseurs de l'Industrie Electronique

www.gfie.fr
GIXEL

Groupement des Industries de l’interconnexion, des Composants et des sous-ensembles Electroniques

www.gixel.fr
SIMTEC

Syndicat de l'Instrumentation de Mesure, du Test et de la Conversion d'Energie dans le domaine de l’électronique

www.simtec.org
SPDEI

Syndicat Pofessionnel de la Distribution en Electronique Industrielle

www.spdei.fr
SYCABEL

Syndicat professionnel des fabricantsde fils et Câbles Electriques

www.sycabel.com
UTE

Union Technique de l'Electricité

www.ute-fr.com

Type of component

IEC

BCC : Bump Chip Carrier

www.wikipedia.org
IEC

BGA : Ball Grid Array

www.wikipedia.org
IEC

LCC : Leadless Chip Carriers

www.wikipedia.org
IEC

LDFP : Low Profile Quad Flat Package

www.wikipedia.org
IEC

LGA : Land Grid Array

www.wikipedia.org
IEC

MLF : Microlead Frame

www.wikipedia.org
IEC

PBGA : Plastic Ball Grid Array

www.wikipedia.org
IEC

PGA : Pin Grid Array

www.wikipedia.org
IEC

PLCC : Plastic Leaded Chip Carrier

www.wikipedia.org
IEC

QFN : Quad Flat No Leads

www.wikipedia.org
IEC

QFP/MLF : Quad Flat Package

www.wikipedia.org
IEC

SOIC/SO : Small Outline Integrated Circuit

www.wikipedia.org
IEC

TQFP : Thin Quad Flat Pack

www.wikipedia.org