Dear All;

I am now trying to make new probe-card.
The requirement of the matrial of probe tip is as followed.

1. Low Contanct Resistance
   : for high current probing

2. Good Hardness
   : for longer life time

3. High  modulus of elasticity
   : resistant to fatigue for longer life time

4. Compatible for electroplating
   : I want to employ the electroplating when making probe tip.

If you have some good idea, please reply to me.

Thanks.


P.S. At present, these matrials are widely used.

1. Tungsten :
   good: it has great hardness and is resistant to fatigue thus consistently
providing contact force.
   bad : it has a high contact resistance and not suitable for hight current
probing.

2. BeCu (Beryllium Copper) :
   good: lower contact resistance
   bad : it is softer than tungsten and therefore will wear faster resulting
in a shorter useful probe life.

3. Palladium
   good : it has a lot of  characteristics similar to BeCu
   bad : it has a relatively low modulus of elasticity and therefore is less
restant to fatigue.



Choe,Seong-Hun

Tohoku university, Esashi Laboratory
choe@mems.mech.tohoku.ac.jp