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:
May. 29, 2001
Filed:
Dec. 02, 1998
Applicant:
Inventors:
Yuan-Ko Hwang, Hualien, TW;
Tsung-Chi Hsieh, Taipei, TW;
Assignee:
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd', Hsin Chu, TW;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
B65G 4/907 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
B65G 4/907 ;
Abstract
An electrically conductive workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer or the like is transported between a staging area and an electrostatic chuck within a processing chamber using an electrostatic arm. The arm is used to apply an electrical charge to the wafer and to hold the wafer during transport by means of an electrostatic force of attraction between the arm and the wafer. The arm also pre-charges the wafer in preparation to be electrostatically chucked within the processing chamber. Pre-charging the wafer eliminates the need for using a gas plasma within the chamber for chucking and dechucking the wafer.