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. 26, 2002
Filed:
Dec. 06, 2000
Bruce K. Libby, Groveland, MA (US);
Isao Yamada, Hyogo, JP;
James A. Greer, Andover, MA (US);
Lester G. Crawford, Boxford, MA (US);
James G. Bachand, Georgetown, MA (US);
Matthew C. Gwinn, Salem, MA (US);
Richard P. Torti, Burlington, MA (US);
Epion Corporation, Billerica, MA (US);
Abstract
An apparatus for smoothing a surface of a substrate includes an ionizer to form gas cluster particles; a power supply to accelerate the gas cluster particles; a triode/Einzel lens combination assembly to focus the accelerated gas cluster particles; a permanent magnet beam filter; scan plates to irradiate the filtered accelerated gas cluster particles onto a surface of a workpiece situated in a reduced pressure atmosphere chamber; and a substrate loading/unloading mechanism to load and unload the workpiece. The ionizer includes an alignment device wherein the alignment device includes a X/Y translation element and an angular translation element. The substrate loading/unloading mechanism provides a workpiece from a plurality of workpieces onto a holder positioned at a first position within the reduced pressure atmosphere chamber, the first position being substantially parallel to a central axis of a flow of the filtered accelerated gas cluster particles. The substrate loading/unloading mechanism also moves the holder with a workpiece thereon to a second position, the second position being substantially perpendicular to the first position and the central axis of a flow of the filtered accelerated gas cluster particles.