So, anyone pick up anything good at NEARfest? Just a few odds and ends here. I found a decent-condx National Velvet Vernier for $5... Later saw a broken one for $20. It might end up on my RX project. Also picked up a couple of solar panels and a few small parts. Strangest thing seen... A wafer probe station, sans probes. It sold for $200! For those not in the semiconductor business, this is a high-quality binocular microscope over a small, flat, circular platform. The semiconductor wafer is held to the platform using vacuum. Surrounding the platform is another large platform. This one can be moved up and down with a lever action. Onto this platform go the probes, also held by vacuum. The probes have 3-axis micrometers for positioning the probe tip, a finely pointed needle. The idea is to position several of them over the die pads on the wafer, do your probing, lift all of the probes via the lever action, move the wafer's small platform over one die via its micrometers, and drop all of the probes onto this die's pads, again using the lever action. A very finely machined piece of equipment... The seller claimed $18k original price. I used to use them daily when I was in that business. We had them mounted on air tables... Basically, a huge slab of marble floating on air cushions. The mass of this would prevent floor vibrations from setting your probes vibrating while in contact with the die!
