METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DIRECT PROBE SENSING

An improved method and apparatus for automatically aligning a wafer prober to the bonding pads of a semiconductor device are provided. In one embodiment of one aspect of the invention, a pattern of contact electrodes is located using a low magnification image of a number of contact electrodes. A shape representative of a contact electrode point is then fitted to each of the number of contact electrodes using a high magnification image of the contact electrodes and a centroid of that fitted shape is determined. The position of the centroid is compared to the position of each of the number of pads, and the pads and contact electrodes are moved relative to each other to a position for contact between the pads and contact electrodes. Other aspects and other embodiments are also described.