Thomson-csf

Rene Gerard

Michel Lacombat

Jean Bouygues

The present invention relates to the precise positioning of a body exhibiting a flat face, said latter requiring to be aligned, or in other words brought into coincidence with a mechanically indexed reference plane. The loading device in accordance with the invention comprises a levelling stage associated with a loading flap which can pivot about an axis. The stage comprises a base containing a cylindrical bore, and a lockable supporting stand equipped with a spherical-walled sleeve located in said cylindrical bore. The flap and the stage are equipped with mechanical indexing means which cooperate with those defining the reference plane.

Wafer loading and positioning device

The invention relates to the positioning of an object comprising at least two fixed reference marks in an optical projection system. The system according to the invention comprises two projector arms illuminating two regions of the surface of the object through two marks, which form a reference system, having a variable inter-axis interval, display means enabling coincidence between the reference marks of the object and the reference system to be established.

System for positioning an object in an optical projection system

The system according to the invention comprises means for displacing the lens and the object enabling magnification and focusing to be adjusted in dependence upon the lens used and co-operating with servocontrol means for the position of the lens which provide for automatic focusing while keeping magnification constant.

Optical system for projecting patterns comprising a

A flat rectangular workpiece, such as a photographic plate in a photo-repeating apparatus designed to produce integrated-circuit masks, laterally overhangs a platform of a carriage which is slidable on a mobile supporting table. The platform has two end stops and a side stop defining the relative position of the workpiece thereon, the overhanging edges of the workpiece entering between upper and lower jaws of three grippers -- one on one side and two on the other -- when the carriage is slid into a working position. The lower gripper jaws, constituted by spring-loaded plungers normally held down by suction, are then released to lift the workpiece off the platform while clamping it against the overlying upper jaws. Manual retraction of a stop screw, bearing upon a fixed abutment on the supporting table, causes a limited further advance of the carriage under the force of a carriage-borne magnet coacting with the abutment; this movement results in withdrawal of the side stop, through a camming mechanism, even as the end stops disengage the clamped workpiece so that the latter thereafter has no contact with the carriage.

Growing community of inventors

Paris, France

Rene Gerard