Testing integrated circuits on a wafer using a cartridge with pneumatic locking of the wafer on a probe card

1. A cartridge for testing integrated circuits on a wafer, the wafer having a wafer front surface with a plurality of terminals of the integrated circuits, wherein the cartridge includes a probe card having a card front surface with a plurality of probes for contacting the terminals of the integrated circuits electrically and a card back surface opposite the card front surface, and locking means for locking the wafer on the probe card,

the locking means including at least one through-hole crossing the probe card from the card front surface to the card back surface, sealing means arranged on the card front surface around the probes and the at least one through-hole, a substantially airtight chamber being defined by the probe card, the sealing means and the wafer when the wafer front surface abuts against the sealing means, and coupling means arranged on the card back surface for coupling the cartridge with pneumatic means for creating a depression in the chamber by removing air from the chamber through the at least one through-hole and for sealing the airtight chamber when the cartridge is decoupled from the pneumatic means.

2. The cartridge according to claim 1 , wherein the probe card further includes spacing means projecting from the card front surface for maintaining a minimum distance between the probe card and the wafer.

3. The cartridge according to claim 2 , wherein the spacing means includes a plurality of spacers being distributed substantially uniformly throughout the probes.

4. The cartridge according to claim 2 , wherein the coupling means further includes compensating means for restoring the depression in the chamber in response to a leakage of air into the chamber when the cartridge is decoupled from the pneumatic means.

5. The cartridge according to claim 3 , wherein the coupling means further includes compensating means for restoring the depression in the chamber in response to a leakage of air into the chamber when the cartridge is decoupled from the pneumatic means.

6. The cartridge according to claim 1 , wherein the coupling means further includes compensating means for restoring the depression in the chamber in response to a leakage of air into the chamber when the cartridge is decoupled from the pneumatic means.

7. The cartridge according to claim 6 , wherein the compensating means includes a flexible cap arranged on the card back surface around the at least one through-hole to define a further chamber, the further chamber collapsing in response to the removal of the air from the chamber and expanding in response to the leakage of the air into the chamber.

8. The cartridge according to claim 1 , further including protective means for enclosing the wafer when coupled with the probe card, and means for mounting the protective means in a removable manner.

9. A prober for assembling a plurality of cartridges according to claim 1 to be supplied to a test machine, the prober including a chuck plate for locking the wafer during the assembling and for releasing the wafer after the assembling, means for aligning the wafer with the probe card by moving the chuck plate locking the wafer, and the pneumatic means for creating the depression in the chamber.

10. A test machine for testing a plurality of cartridges according to claim 1 , the test machine including at least one conditioning chamber having a covering with a plurality of windows each one adapted to be closed by the probe card of a corresponding one of the cartridges, a wafer back surface opposite the wafer front surface of the wafer of the cartridge facing the conditioning chamber through the window, conditioning means for conditioning each wafer thermally by acting on the wafer back surface thereof, and means for testing each wafer.

11. The test machine according to claim 10 , wherein the conditioning means includes means for controlling a temperature of a conditioning fluid, and means for supplying the conditioning fluid to the wafer back surface of each wafer.

12. The test machine according to claim 11 , further including control means for controlling the conditioning means to act selectively on different areas of the wafer back surface of each wafer.

13. The test machine according to claim 12 , wherein the means for supplying the conditioning fluid includes a plurality of nozzles each one for a corresponding area of the wafer back surface of each wafer, the actuation means including means for driving each nozzle individually.

14. The test machine according to claim 10 , further including control means for controlling the conditioning means to act selectively on different areas of the wafer back surface of each wafer.

15. The test machine according to claim 14 , wherein the control means includes monitoring means for monitoring a local temperature of the wafer back surface of each wafer, and actuation means for actuating the conditioning means according to the local temperature.

16. The test machine according to claim 15 , wherein the monitoring means includes an infrared camera for taking a snapshot of the wafer back surface of each wafer, the snapshot providing an indication of the local temperature of the wafer back surface of each wafer.

17. A method for testing integrated circuits on a wafer by means of a cartridge, the wafer having a wafer front surface with a plurality of terminals of the integrated circuits, wherein the method includes the steps of:

providing a probe card having a card front surface with a plurality of probes for contacting the terminals of the integrated circuits electrically and a card back surface opposite the card front surface, and

locking the wafer on the probe card,

wherein the step of locking includes:

placing the wafer with the wafer front surface abutting against sealing means arranged on the card front surface around the probes and at least one through-hole crossing the probe card from the card front surface to the card back surface, a substantially airtight chamber being defined by the probe card, the sealing means and the wafer,

coupling the cartridge by means for coupling means arranged on the card back surface with pneumatic means for creating a depression in the chamber by removing air from the chamber through the at least one through-hole, and

decoupling the cartridge from the pneumatic means, the coupling means sealing the airtight chamber when the cartridge is decoupled from the pneumatic means.

18. The method according to claim 17 , further including the steps of:

assembling a plurality of cartridges in a prober, for each cartridge the step of assembling including:

locking the wafer on a chuck plate,

aligning the wafer with the probe card by moving the chuck plate locking the wafer,

creating the depression in the chamber,

releasing the wafer from the chuck plate, and

supplying the cartridges to a test machine.

19. The method according to claim 17 , further including the steps of:

closing each one of a plurality of windows being opened in a covering of at least one conditioning chamber of the test machine by the probe card of a corresponding one of the cartridges, a wafer back surface opposite the wafer front surface of the wafer of the cartridge facing the conditioning chamber through the window,

conditioning each wafer thermally by acting on the wafer back surface thereof, and

testing each wafer.