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:
Nov. 09, 1999
Filed:
Oct. 09, 1997
Paul C Colby, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Electroglas, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for positioning rectilinearly a wafer holding platform by performing rotations in a positioning system. A method comprises coupling a first clamp to a wafer holding platform, decoupling a second clamp from the wafer holding platform, and rotating the first clamp to cause the wafer holding platform to be moved to a first position. Further couplings, decouplings, and rotations may be performed to achieve a rectilinear translation to a final position without a resultant rotation after the rectilinear translation. An apparatus of the invention comprises a first clamp having a first axis of rotation, a second clamp having a second axis of rotation, where the first axis and the second axis are not concentric. A wafer holding platform is independently couplable to the first clamp and to the second clamp and has a plurality of points on the wafer holding platform which are positionable at a plurality of X,Y locations by rotating independently the first and second clamps.