Planarity diagnostic system, E.G., for microelectronic component test systems

摘要

Maintaining proper planarity of elements of a microelectronic component test system helps ensure reliable operation of the test system. Aspects of the invention provide test systems and methods for verifying planarity of, for example, a head and a support surface of a microelectronic component test system. In one exemplary method, a probe card is mounted to and electrically coupled to a head of a microelectronic component test system. The probe card has an array of probes. A contact surface of the support is moved with respect to the head and a change in contact condition of each of the probes is recorded in a first data set. The orientation of the probe card with respect to the contact surface is changed, the contact surface is moved with respect to the head again and a change in contact condition of each of the probes is recorded in a second data set.