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. 10, 2001
Filed:
May. 15, 1998
Israel Avneri, Ramat Gan, IL;
Eyal Duzi, Nes-Ziona, IL;
Dvir Keren, Tel Aviv, IL;
Avner Regev, Kiriat Gat, IL;
Applied Materials, Inc, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A vacuum chuck is disclosed which has nipples as support structure and for vacuum delivery. In the preferred embodiment, two types of nipples are used: “plain” nipples which provide only support and vacuum nipples which provide support and deliver vacuum to retain the wafer on the chuck. The contact surface of the plain nipples is made smaller than that of the vacuum nipples. The chuck is secured to a stage using special supports which have limited flexibility in two axis with respect to the chuck, so as to prevent warping the chuck. Special vacuum nipples are disclosed which do not deliver vacuum unless the wafer exerts sufficient predetermined pressure on the nipple. The chuck is designed to hold both 200 mm and 300 mm wafers.