The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 06, 2020
Filed:
Aug. 09, 2016
M Cubed Technologies, Inc., Newtown, CT (US);
Edward J. Gratrix, Monroe, CT (US);
M Cubed Technologies, Inc., Newtown, CT (US);
Abstract
A method for decontaminating support surfaces of a wafer chuck, such as a wafer chuck, entails lightly passing a treatment tool having a nominally flat contacting surface over the regions of the chuck where contaminants are to be removed. The treatment tool and the chuck surface may have about the same hardness. The treatment tool may be minimally constrained so that it may conform to the surface being processed. When the treatment tool is contacted to a flat surface, the locust of contact may be in the form of a circle, ring or annulus. At higher application pressures, the treatment tool will abrade the chuck, which here is to be avoided, or at least minimized. Thus, the instant inventors have discovered that the same treatment tool that is used to engineer the elevation or profile of the surface, and its roughness, at lower application pressures can be used to remove grinding debris and other contaminants from the surface.