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:
Dec. 23, 2025
Filed:
Oct. 17, 2022
Applicant:
Tokyo Electron Limited, Tokyo, JP;
Inventors:
Anthony R. Schepis, Averill Park, NY (US);
Daniel J. Fulford, Ballston Lake, NY (US);
David C. Conklin, Saratoga Springs, NY (US);
Anton J. Devilliers, Clifton Park, NY (US);
Assignee:
Tokyo Electron Limited, Tokyo, JP;
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L 21/02 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L 21/02118 (2013.01); H01L 21/02318 (2013.01);
Abstract
Methods described herein address the chuck degradation challenge that can result in wafer distortion upon wafer coupling, leading to downstream fabrication issues. Techniques include actively monitoring wear of a chuck and counteracting chuck degradation by wafer shape manipulation to maintain an ideal working surface. Techniques include using chuck-based flatness metrology and/or modeling based on previous wafer level results and/or historical database of chuck wear information.