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:
Mar. 03, 2026
Filed:
Mar. 09, 2023
Disco Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Atsushi Ueki, Tokyo, JP;
Takayuki Masada, Tokyo, JP;
DISCO CORPORATION, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An expansion method includes an expansion step of expanding a sheet between an outer periphery of a wafer and an inner periphery of an annular frame in a wafer unit, and a heating step of heating the sheet in its region between the outer periphery of the wafer and the inner periphery of the annular frame by a heating unit to allow slack of the sheet, the slack having been formed in the expansion step, to shrink. The region includes a first region, and a second region that is harder to shrink by the heating than the first region. On the sheet, heat spots of a temperature higher than that of the sheet surrounding the heat spots are formed with heat radiated to the sheet. In the heating step, the heating unit is moved such that the heat spots are positioned over an entirety of at least the second region.