Methods are provided for making plated through holes usable for inserting
and attaching connector probes. In a first method, a curved plated
through hole is formed by bonding curved etchable wires to a first
substrate, plating the wires with a non-etchable conductive material,
encasing the plated wires with a dielectric material to form a second
substrate, planing the second substrate to expose the etchable wire, and
etching the wires to leave plated through holes. In a second method,
wires coated with a first etchable layer are initially bonded to a
substrate, a second non-etchable plating layer is then applied over the
first layer, and the first layer is etched away leaving plated through
holes with wires disposed inside. In a third embodiment, a layer of
masking material is initially deposited on a substrate and etched to form
holes which are filled with a sacrificial fill material, the masking
material is then removed, the fill material plated, grinding is performed
to remove some plating to expose the fill material, and the fill material
is then etched away leaving plated attachment wells. Probes may be
attached to the plated through holes or attachment wells to create
resilient spring contacts to form a wafer probe card assembly. A twisted
tube plated through hole structure is formed by supporting twisted
sacrificial wires coated with the plating material in a substrate, and
later etching away the wires.