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:
Jul. 03, 2001
Filed:
Jan. 11, 1999
Salman M Kassir, Paso Robles, CA (US);
Strasbaugh, Inc., San Luis Obispo, CA (US);
Abstract
In a type of end effector used for handling wafers in the semiconductor industry, the wafer is acquired by lowering the end effector until it almost touches the upper side of the wafer and then applying suction to lift the water into contact with a wafer contacting surface on the underside of the end effector. Release of the wafer is accomplished by relieving the suction or replacing it with a small overpressure. Wet thin wafers do not reliably release; the liquid spreads into a thin film between the upper side of the wafer and the wafer contacting surface, and the surface tension of this film causes the thin wet wafer to adhere to the wafer contacting surface. This problem is solved by affixing a sheet of a porous resilient material, such as open cell MYLAR®, to the wafer contacting surface.