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:
Feb. 06, 2001
Filed:
Dec. 02, 1998
Yuan-Ko Hwang, Hualien, TW;
Tsung-Chi Hsieh, Tamshui, TW;
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Hsin Chu, TW;
Abstract
An electrostatic arm transports a semiconductor wafer between a staging area and a processing chamber and also electrically charges the wafer in order to eliminate the need for using gas plasma in the chamber to chuck and dechuck the wafer. The arm includes a pair of electrically conductive members coupled with an electrical power supply which respectively control the polarity of the charge applied to the wafer and create an electrostatic force which holds the wafer on the arm without the need for mechanical clamping. One of the members comprises a plate spaced from the face of the wafer by an air gap, and when charged with a polarity opposite that of the wafer, creates an electrostatic attraction force which holds the wafer the carrier. A controller is used to selectively reverse the polarity of charge on the plate so as to create an electrostatic repulsion force which positively releases the wafer from the carrier.