USRE31053E - Apparatus and method for holding and planarizing thin workpieces - Google Patents

Apparatus and method for holding and planarizing thin workpieces Download PDF

Info

Publication number
USRE31053E
USRE31053E US06/259,596 US25959681A USRE31053E US RE31053 E USRE31053 E US RE31053E US 25959681 A US25959681 A US 25959681A US RE31053 E USRE31053 E US RE31053E
Authority
US
United States
Prior art keywords
wafer
back surface
workpiece
holding face
abutments
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
US06/259,596
Inventor
Victor A. Firtion
Donald R. Herriott
Martin E. Poulsen
Leif Rongved
Thomas E. Saunders
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
AT&T Corp
Original Assignee
Bell Telephone Laboratories Inc
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from US05/965,304 external-priority patent/US4213698A/en
Application filed by Bell Telephone Laboratories Inc filed Critical Bell Telephone Laboratories Inc
Priority to US06/259,596 priority Critical patent/USRE31053E/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of USRE31053E publication Critical patent/USRE31053E/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

Links

Images

Classifications

    • GPHYSICS
    • G03PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
    • G03FPHOTOMECHANICAL PRODUCTION OF TEXTURED OR PATTERNED SURFACES, e.g. FOR PRINTING, FOR PROCESSING OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; MATERIALS THEREFOR; ORIGINALS THEREFOR; APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED THEREFOR
    • G03F7/00Photomechanical, e.g. photolithographic, production of textured or patterned surfaces, e.g. printing surfaces; Materials therefor, e.g. comprising photoresists; Apparatus specially adapted therefor
    • G03F7/70Microphotolithographic exposure; Apparatus therefor
    • G03F7/70691Handling of masks or workpieces
    • G03F7/707Chucks, e.g. chucking or un-chucking operations or structural details
    • BPERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B25HAND TOOLS; PORTABLE POWER-DRIVEN TOOLS; MANIPULATORS
    • B25BTOOLS OR BENCH DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR, FOR FASTENING, CONNECTING, DISENGAGING OR HOLDING
    • B25B11/00Work holders not covered by any preceding group in the subclass, e.g. magnetic work holders, vacuum work holders
    • B25B11/005Vacuum work holders
    • BPERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B28WORKING CEMENT, CLAY, OR STONE
    • B28DWORKING STONE OR STONE-LIKE MATERIALS
    • B28D5/00Fine working of gems, jewels, crystals, e.g. of semiconductor material; apparatus or devices therefor
    • BPERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B28WORKING CEMENT, CLAY, OR STONE
    • B28DWORKING STONE OR STONE-LIKE MATERIALS
    • B28D5/00Fine working of gems, jewels, crystals, e.g. of semiconductor material; apparatus or devices therefor
    • B28D5/0058Accessories specially adapted for use with machines for fine working of gems, jewels, crystals, e.g. of semiconductor material
    • B28D5/0082Accessories specially adapted for use with machines for fine working of gems, jewels, crystals, e.g. of semiconductor material for supporting, holding, feeding, conveying or discharging work
    • B28D5/0094Accessories specially adapted for use with machines for fine working of gems, jewels, crystals, e.g. of semiconductor material for supporting, holding, feeding, conveying or discharging work the supporting or holding device being of the vacuum type
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01LSEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/027Making masks on semiconductor bodies for further photolithographic processing not provided for in group H01L21/18 or H01L21/34
    • H01L21/0271Making masks on semiconductor bodies for further photolithographic processing not provided for in group H01L21/18 or H01L21/34 comprising organic layers
    • H01L21/0273Making masks on semiconductor bodies for further photolithographic processing not provided for in group H01L21/18 or H01L21/34 comprising organic layers characterised by the treatment of photoresist layers
    • H01L21/0274Photolithographic processes
    • YGENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y10TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
    • Y10TTECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
    • Y10T29/00Metal working
    • Y10T29/49Method of mechanical manufacture
    • Y10T29/49998Work holding

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Condensed Matter Physics & Semiconductors (AREA)
  • Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
  • Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
  • Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
  • Power Engineering (AREA)
  • Container, Conveyance, Adherence, Positioning, Of Wafer (AREA)
  • Exposure And Positioning Against Photoresist Photosensitive Materials (AREA)

Abstract

An apparatus and method for holding a thin workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer for operations which require the workpiece to have a high degree of planarity such as photolithographic printing includes positioning the workpiece onto a planar holding face comprising the points of a multiplicity of regularly spaced-apart substantially parallel pins with a thin rim encompassing all pins to contain a vacuum in the region adjacent to the workpiece. The small abutting area of each pinpoint abutment reduces the probability of dirt particles collecting on the holding face and provides a high thrust pressure to dislodge dirt particles interposed between the abutment and the workpiece. A small amount of lateral motion is imparted to the workpiece when it first contacts the holding face to brush off any dirt particles on the abutments.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation-in-part of our copending application, Ser. No. 871,477, filed Jan. 23, 1978, now abandoned.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to apparatus and method for holding and planarizing thin workpieces, and more specifically to vacuum apparatus for holding semiconductor wafers during pattern exposure in photolithography.
The invention also relates to a method for fabricating devices on a semiconductive wafer by utilizing such an apparatus.
Recent advances in large scale integration (LSI) of semiconductor circuits have been made possible largely by higher resolution photolithography which permits finer features to be patterned onto a semiconductor surface. Consequently circuit components can be made smaller, thus making it possible to place an increasing number of components onto a single semiconductor chip. The results are circuits of greater complexity, higher speed, lower power dissipation and lower cost.
As a practical matter, the feature size limitations in photolithography are not usually imposed by the resolution capabilities of the optical components nor by that of the photoresist, but rather by the flatness or planarity of the semiconductor surface being patterned. The consequence of nonplanarity is distortion of the pattern being exposed and an error in the focal position. Surface planarity is particularly important when projection printing is used where, to achieve the maximum resolution capability of the projection optics, the semiconductor surface being exposed must be made essentially coincident with the focal plane of the projection optics. Deviations of the surface from the focal plane must not exceed the depth of focus of the optical system. For example, if the total depth of focus were 10 microns, then to achieve maximum resolution, the semiconductor surface including a photoresist film approximately one micron thick must be maintained planar to within 10 mircons during pattern exposure. A high degree of surface planarity is also required to achieve freedom from pattern distortion in contact printing and maximum pattern resolution in proximity printing although the requirement is not as critical as for projection printing.
Nonplanarity in semiconductor wafers may be separated into two sources. The first is that of nonlinear thickness variations in the wafer. Normally during pattern exposure, one surface of the wafer (back surface) is forced to substantially conform to a planar surface by some wafer holding apparatus. Thus, the other surface of the wafer (front surface) would be planar if the wafer had no nonlinear thickness variation. Notice that if the wafer had a linear thickness variation (e.g. a wedge shape), its front surface would still be planar although it would not be parallel with the back surface. This can be tolerated by most projection and proximity printing systems which have means for tilting the wafer surface to make it parallel to the optical plane of the printing system. But, if the wafer had a nonlinear thickness variation, its front surface would be nonplanar. However, nonlinear thickness variations can be reduced to an acceptable degree by careful wafer fabrication.
The second source of nonplanarity in semiconductor wafers is that of warpage. Owing to the thinness of semiconductor wafers used for intergrated circuit processing, some warpage is always present. A typical three inch diameter silicon wafer which has a thickness of fifteen to twenty thousandths of an inch may exhibit a warpage of as much as two thousandths of an inch or approximately fifty microns. Warpage is first introduced when the wafer is sawed from the boule. Because the thin wafer is rather springy, the warpage is not removed by the subsequent lapping and polishing steps in the wafer fabrication process. Furthermore, the furnace sequences and the growth and deposition of various films on the wafer surface during the device fabrication process may all aggravate the warpage.
The usual method for removing wafer warpage during pattern exposure is to hold the wafer on a vacuum holding apparatus with a highly planar holding face. Thus, if the wafer warpage where not too severe, (less than fifty microns), and if the wafer had minimal nonlinear thickness variation, the vacuum holding apparatus would in principle cause the front surface to have a high order of planarity.
However, a problem arises when dirt particles become interposed between the wafer and the holding face to prevent intimate contact. Since the size of dirt particles may be ten microns in diameter or greater, their effect is to cause the wafer front surface to deviate sufficiently from planarity to produce pattern distortion during photolithographic exposure. The problem of dirt particles is especially difficult to solve in a manufacturing environment where the necessity to maintain a high throughput of wafers through each photolithographic step renders any cleaning procedure to remove dirt particles from the wafer and the wafer holder impractical. Moreover, removal of particulates from the air as in an "ultra-clean room" environment does not completely solve the problem as most of the dirt particles come from the wafers themselves in the form of chips from the wafer edges and flakes from films grown or deposited on the wafer surface. A broken wafer causes the most severe contamination of particles.
Vacuum fixtures for holding thin workpieces are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,627,338, and 3,747,282. Both patents disclose vacuum chucks where the workpiece holding face comprises a planar surface with annular and radial grooves for distributing vacuum to the back surface of the workpiece. Furthermore, these known fixtures were apparently devised for applications in machining and polishing of thin workpieces where the requirements for workpiece planarity is not as critical as for photolithography. Therefore, none of the above-mentioned disclosures offers any solutions to the problems arising from the wafer planarity requirements imposed by photolithography and the detrimental effects of dirt particles on achieving that planarity.
From the foregoing, a need clearly exists for a vacuum wafer holding apparatus and wafer planarization method which is substantially immune to dirt particles which are always present in a semiconductor device manufacturing environment.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide a vacuum wafer holding apparatus and wafer planarization method which would meet the aforedescribed need.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vacuum wafer holding apparatus and wafer planarization method which would improve the actual resolution capabilities of a photolithographic system in a manufacturing environment.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a vacuum wafer holding apparatus and a fabrication method which would improve the manufacturing yield of LSI integrated circuits.
These and other objectives will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiment of the invention which is of a vacuum holding apparatus having a planar holding face comprising the points of a plurality of regularly spaced-apart substantially equal height pins mounted perpendicularly in a circular baseplate. The baseplate has a thin raised rim of the same height as the pins. The edge of the rim has a smooth planar surface which forms part of the holding face. The workpiece is positioned over the holding face with its edges overlapping the rim. The rim edge forms a substantially airtight seal against the workpiece creating an evacuable chamber enclosed by the baseplate, the rim, and the workpiece. The chamber is evacuated through an opening in the baseplate, the vacuum creating a pressure difference between the front and back workpiece surfaces giving rise to a net force uniformly distributed along the front surface which causes the workpiece to conform to the holding face. The pinpoint abutments of the holding face exert counterbalancing localized forces against the back surface to hold the workpiece in place. Owing to the small area of each pinpoint abutment, it is highly improbable that a dirt particle would collect on it. The few dirt particles that do collect on the pinpoints would normally be brushed off by any slight lateral motion of the wafer when it is positioned on the holding face. The extent of this lateral motion would determine the largest dimension which an abutment may have and still insure that a dirt particle situated on the abutment will be brushed off. It has been found that in a manufacturing environment, the minimum lateral motion of a wafer being positioned over a holding face is about fifty thousandths of an inch. Furthermore, the small area of the pinpoints would also tend to squeeze out any dirt particles which remain after the wafer is in place. .Iadd.
Another aspect of the present invention is a method of improving the planarity of a substrate wafer during photolithography by making advantageous use of the lateral motion which is normally imparted to the wafer as it is loaded onto a holding face to prevent dirt particles from becoming interposed between the wafer and the holding face. By supporting the wafer with a holding face comprising a multiplicity of pinpoint abutments each having a maximum dimension which is less than the extent of the lateral motion of the wafer, dirt particles on the holding face are brushed off when the wafer is loaded.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
The invention will be better understood from the more detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:
FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a vacuum holding apparatus in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 2 is a top view of the embodiment of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a view taken along lines 4--4 of FIG. 2; and
FIG. 4 depicts a wafer being manually loaded onto a wafer holding apparatus.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Referring now to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, there is shown a schematic of the preferred embodiment of the invention comprising a generally circular baseplate 10 having a raised rim 11. The rim includes a press-fitted insert 12 to provide a narrow edge 13 which has a smooth top planar surface for supporting the periphery of the back surface of a thin workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer 14 having a resist layer, 19, coated thereon, the diameter of the rim being smaller than that of the workpiece to allow the workpiece edge to overhang the rim. In a typical embodiment intended to hold 3 inch diameter wafers, the outside diameter of the rim is 2.86 inches. The rim edge makes a substantially airtight seal with the back surface of the workpiece thereby forming an evacuable chamber 15. The chamber communicates with a vacuum pump through a vacuum passage 16 in the baseplate. Mounted in the baseplate and substantially perpendicular thereto are a plurality of regularly spaced-apart rigid cylindrical pins 17 with tapered points 18. The pinpoints together wtih the rim edge form the holding face against which the back surface of the workpiece is held when the chamber 15 is evacuated.
The pinpoints provide localized abutments whose areas can be made much smaller than that of the distributed abutments in prior art vacuum chucks which comprise annular strips of "land" between vacuum distributing grooves on the holding face of the chuck.
The heights of the pins 17 and the rim 11 must all be substantially the same to give the holding face a high degree of planarity. In the preferred embodiment the planarity is achieved by lapping the entire holding face after its construction. Thus, the holding face is made planar to a fraction of a micron over a circular region approximately three inches in diameter.
Since one principle of the invention is to decrease the probability of dirt particles collecting on the holding face by reducing its area, the holding face should be composed of as few pinpoints as possible. However, the pinpoints must not be spaced so far apart to allow the unsupported regions of the workpiece to distort under the force created by the vacuum, as that would defeat the main objective of the invention to maintain workpiece surfaces at a high degree of planarity. The optimal spacing between adjacent pinpoints depends on the thickness of the workpiece and the mechanical characteristics of the workpiece material. This spacing can be readily calculated by a person skilled in the art. An example of how such a calculation is made can be found in Advance Strength of Materials, J. P. DenHartog, published in 1952 by McGrawHill Book Co. (see page 128). In a specific illustrative embodiment intended for holding silicon wafers three inches in diameter and twenty thousandths of an inch thick, the spacing between adjacent pinpoints in the holding face is two-tenths of an inch. The diameters of semiconductor wafers used in device fabrication may vary, and in general the wafer thickness increases with increasing wafer diameter. In accordance with the principles of the invention, apparatus can be designed to hold wafers of any diameter.
Another principle of the invention is to reduce the area of each individual abutment in the holding face and thereby increase the probability that a dirt particle would be brushed off during the workpiece loading operation and that the thrust of the small localized abutment would squeeze out a dirt particle which becomes interposed between the abutment and the workpiece. In practice the smallness of the abutting area depends on the abutment material, the fabrication method for the pins, the method used to planarize the holding face and the rate of abrasion of the abutment used. In the preferred embodiment which has alumina pins with ground points, and in which the holding face is planarized by lapping, the pinpoints have diameters between ten and fifteen thousandths of an inch. Therefore, the area of each abutment in the preferred embodiment is in the range of approximately 8.0×10-5 to 1.8×10-4 square inches. As a practical matter, a holding face which is planarized by lapping will have abutments with minimum dimensions exceeding five thousandths of an inch (i.e., a minimum abutting area of approximately 2.0×10-5 square inches). In the same embodiment, the rim insert 13 which is, for example, made of hardended steel has an edge which is twenty thousandths of an inch wide.
Still another principle of the invention is that when the wafer is loaded onto the holding face either manually with tweezers or with automatic wafer loading apparatus, some lateral motion is always imparted to the wafer even after the wafer contacts the holding face as illustrated by FIG. 4. This lateral motion is used advantageously in the instant invention to "brush" dirt particles off the pinpoints by ensuring that the diameter of each pinpoint abutment (or the maximum dimension in the case of pinpoints having noncircular shapes) is less than the extent of the lateral motion of the wafer. In the preferred embodiment which is to be used in conjunction with automatic wafer loading apparatus which provides a minimum lateral "scrubbing" motion of at least fifty thousandths of an inch, the diameters of the pinpoints used were, accordingly, made smaller than fifty thousandths of an inch (i.e., the area of each abutment was made less than 2.0×10-3 square inches).
Also shown in FIG. 4 is a representation of a conventional pattern exposure apparatus 20 by means of which a high-resolution pattern can be exposed in the layer 19.
Although the particular illustrative embodiment described comprises apparatus for holding circular semiconductor wafers during photolithographic exposure, the invention can also be applied to apparatus for holding other types of thin workpieces with various shapes during other operations such as polishing, grinding and machining. It is to be understood that the terms "abutment" and "pinpoint abutments" as used in the specification and in the claims, includes any localized arbitrary shape having small area in addition to the circular shape shown in the drawing. Moreover, it is to be understood that the term "pins" as used in the specification and claims include column-like members of any cross-sectional shape and of any height, and represent just one of many possible structures for supporting small area localized abutments. Various other modifications may also be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention. Whichever particular apparatus is selected, it is apparent that the utilization of such an apparatus made in accordance with the principles of the present invention makes possible a method that improves the yield realized in fabricating microminiature devices.

Claims (6)

I claim:
1. A vacuum apparatus for holding and planarizing a thin workpiece on a holding face which minimizes the interposition of dirt particles between said workpiece and said holding face, said apparatus comprising:
(a) a baseplate having a rigid raised rim which includes a smooth planar edge surface adapted to support a workpiece having front and back surfaces, said edge surface being adapted to contact the periphery of said back surface to make a substantially airtight seal thereto, thus forming an evacuable chamber enclosed by said baseplate, said rim, and said back surface;
(b) a plurality of .[.regularly.]. spaced-apart rigid support members disposed within said chamber, each providing a localized pinpoint abutment with said back surface, said abutments together with said edge surface forming a holding face which is substantially planar, each of said abutments having an area sufficiently small to reduce the probability of dirt particles collecting thereon, evacuation of said chamber producing a pressure difference between said front and back workpiece surfaces forcing said back surface to conform to said holding face, the spacing between adjacent ones of said abutments and the spacing between said abutments nearest said rim and said edge-surface being sufficiently small to prevent significant distortion of the unsupported regions of said workpiece.
2. An apparatus as in claim 1 wherein the area of each of said abutments is in the range of 2.0×10-5 to 2.0×10-3 square inches.
3. An apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said support members comprise substantially parallel pins mounted in said baseplate and wherein said abutments comprise the points of said pins.
4. An apparatus according to claim 3 wherein said baseplate is made from aluminum, said rim is made from steel, and said pins are made from alumina.
5. In the fabrication of semiconductive devices, a method for positioning and planarizing a substrate wafer having a front and a back surface, said method comprising the steps of:
loosely positioning said wafer in a general position;
applying substantially uniformly distributed forces along said front surface;
applying a multiplicity of localized forces along said back surface, said back surface forces counterbalancing said front surface forces and being sufficient to planarize said wafer;
applying each of said localized forces to an area of said back surface which area is in the range of 2×10-5 to 2×10-3 square inches;
initially moving said wafer in a direction transverse to that of said localized forces so as to dislodge any dirt particles in contact with said back surface.
6. In the fabrication of semiconductive devices, a method for positioning and planarizing during pattern exposure a substrate wafer having a front surface and a back surface, comprising the steps of:
loading said wafer onto a wafer holding face with wafer loading means, said back surface of said wafer contacting said holding face, .Iadd.said loading .Iaddend.providing lateral motion to said wafer .[.with said loading means.]. when said back surface initially contacts said holding face,
supporting said back surface of said wafer with a multiplicity of .[.regularly.]. spaced apart rigid pinpoint abutments comprising said holding face, said abutments providing a multiplicity of localized support regions all lying in one plane, each of said support regions having a maximum dimension which is less than the extent of said lateral motion of said wafer whereby dirt particles situated on said abutments are brushed off said abutments when said wafer is loaded onto said holding face,
while said wafer is so supported, evacuating a region adjacent to said back surface to create a force to hold said wafer against said holding face in a manner that ensures that said front surface exhibits a high degree of planarity, and
while said wafer is so positioned and planarized, exposing a high resolution pattern onto said front surface of said wafer.
US06/259,596 1978-01-23 1981-05-01 Apparatus and method for holding and planarizing thin workpieces Expired - Lifetime USRE31053E (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US06/259,596 USRE31053E (en) 1978-01-23 1981-05-01 Apparatus and method for holding and planarizing thin workpieces

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US87147778A 1978-01-23 1978-01-23
US05/965,304 US4213698A (en) 1978-12-01 1978-12-01 Apparatus and method for holding and planarizing thin workpieces
US06/259,596 USRE31053E (en) 1978-01-23 1981-05-01 Apparatus and method for holding and planarizing thin workpieces

Related Parent Applications (2)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US87147778A Continuation-In-Part 1978-01-23 1978-01-23
US05/965,304 Reissue US4213698A (en) 1978-01-23 1978-12-01 Apparatus and method for holding and planarizing thin workpieces

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
USRE31053E true USRE31053E (en) 1982-10-12

Family

ID=27401244

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US06/259,596 Expired - Lifetime USRE31053E (en) 1978-01-23 1981-05-01 Apparatus and method for holding and planarizing thin workpieces

Country Status (1)

Country Link
US (1) USRE31053E (en)

Cited By (28)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0244137A2 (en) * 1986-04-28 1987-11-04 AT&T Corp. Semiconductor wafer processing
EP0339595A2 (en) * 1988-04-27 1989-11-02 Anton Koukal Milling machine
US5470420A (en) * 1992-07-31 1995-11-28 Eastman Kodak Company Apparatus for label application using Bernoulli Effect
US5582703A (en) * 1994-12-12 1996-12-10 Palomar Technologies Corporation Method of fabricating an ultra-high resolution three-color screen
US5724121A (en) 1995-05-12 1998-03-03 Hughes Danbury Optical Systems, Inc. Mounting member method and apparatus with variable length supports
US6179956B1 (en) 1998-01-09 2001-01-30 Lsi Logic Corporation Method and apparatus for using across wafer back pressure differentials to influence the performance of chemical mechanical polishing
US6203407B1 (en) 1998-09-03 2001-03-20 Micron Technology, Inc. Method and apparatus for increasing-chemical-polishing selectivity
US6313567B1 (en) 2000-04-10 2001-11-06 Motorola, Inc. Lithography chuck having piezoelectric elements, and method
US6394797B1 (en) 1997-04-02 2002-05-28 Hitachi, Ltd. Substrate temperature control system and method for controlling temperature of substrate
US6464790B1 (en) 1997-07-11 2002-10-15 Applied Materials, Inc. Substrate support member
US6464795B1 (en) 1999-05-21 2002-10-15 Applied Materials, Inc. Substrate support member for a processing chamber
US6491083B2 (en) 2001-02-06 2002-12-10 Anadigics, Inc. Wafer demount receptacle for separation of thinned wafer from mounting carrier
US6513796B2 (en) * 2001-02-23 2003-02-04 International Business Machines Corporation Wafer chuck having a removable insert
USRE37997E1 (en) 1990-01-22 2003-02-18 Micron Technology, Inc. Polishing pad with controlled abrasion rate
US6650135B1 (en) 2000-06-29 2003-11-18 Motorola, Inc. Measurement chuck having piezoelectric elements and method
US6709721B2 (en) 2001-03-28 2004-03-23 Applied Materials Inc. Purge heater design and process development for the improvement of low k film properties
US20050068734A1 (en) * 2003-09-02 2005-03-31 Thayer John Gilbert Heat pipe with chilled liquid condenser system for burn-in testing
US20050067146A1 (en) * 2003-09-02 2005-03-31 Thayer John Gilbert Two phase cooling system method for burn-in testing
US20050067147A1 (en) * 2003-09-02 2005-03-31 Thayer John Gilbert Loop thermosyphon for cooling semiconductors during burn-in testing
US20050067155A1 (en) * 2003-09-02 2005-03-31 Thayer John Gilbert Heat pipe evaporator with porous valve
US20070128888A1 (en) * 2005-12-06 2007-06-07 Shigehiro Goto Substrate heat treatment apparatus
US20090031874A1 (en) * 2002-01-26 2009-02-05 Alfons Haar Maschinenbau Gmbh & Co. Method for operating a plate system for stamping presses and connection element for carrying out said method
US20100089210A1 (en) * 2007-01-27 2010-04-15 Fran Lanciaux Apparatus and method for converting insulated panels
US20120139192A1 (en) * 2010-12-02 2012-06-07 Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. Chucking device and chucking method
US20140208556A1 (en) * 2013-01-25 2014-07-31 Tokyo Electron Limited Joining device and joining system
US20140208557A1 (en) * 2013-01-25 2014-07-31 Tokyo Electron Limited Joining device and joining system
CN106671120A (en) * 2016-10-31 2017-05-17 华南理工大学 Pervasive modularized air-aspiration type robot gripper
US10610972B2 (en) * 2017-04-25 2020-04-07 Boe Technology Group Co., Ltd. Laser cutting base and laser cutting device

Citations (10)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US1121452A (en) * 1914-08-07 1914-12-15 Zoffer Plate Glass Mfg Company Glass-grinding table.
DE1286466B (en) * 1960-12-22 1969-01-02 Fezer Albert Suction head
US3627338A (en) * 1969-10-09 1971-12-14 Sheldon Thompson Vacuum chuck
US3652075A (en) * 1969-11-10 1972-03-28 Sheldon Thompson Vacuum chuck and related apparatus and methods
US3747282A (en) * 1971-11-29 1973-07-24 E Katzke Apparatus for polishing wafers
US3765289A (en) * 1971-01-15 1973-10-16 Gerber Garment Technology Inc Vacuum hold-down apparatus
US3815221A (en) * 1973-05-21 1974-06-11 Gerber Garment Technology Inc Method for holding sheet material by a vacuum holddown
US3853313A (en) * 1972-11-24 1974-12-10 Ibm Wafer interlocking transport system
US4046474A (en) * 1975-11-17 1977-09-06 Rockwell International Corporation Black-body wafer support fixture for exposure of photoresist
US4088312A (en) * 1977-09-27 1978-05-09 Nasa Variable contour securing system

Patent Citations (10)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US1121452A (en) * 1914-08-07 1914-12-15 Zoffer Plate Glass Mfg Company Glass-grinding table.
DE1286466B (en) * 1960-12-22 1969-01-02 Fezer Albert Suction head
US3627338A (en) * 1969-10-09 1971-12-14 Sheldon Thompson Vacuum chuck
US3652075A (en) * 1969-11-10 1972-03-28 Sheldon Thompson Vacuum chuck and related apparatus and methods
US3765289A (en) * 1971-01-15 1973-10-16 Gerber Garment Technology Inc Vacuum hold-down apparatus
US3747282A (en) * 1971-11-29 1973-07-24 E Katzke Apparatus for polishing wafers
US3853313A (en) * 1972-11-24 1974-12-10 Ibm Wafer interlocking transport system
US3815221A (en) * 1973-05-21 1974-06-11 Gerber Garment Technology Inc Method for holding sheet material by a vacuum holddown
US4046474A (en) * 1975-11-17 1977-09-06 Rockwell International Corporation Black-body wafer support fixture for exposure of photoresist
US4088312A (en) * 1977-09-27 1978-05-09 Nasa Variable contour securing system

Cited By (43)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0244137A3 (en) * 1986-04-28 1989-05-03 American Telephone And Telegraph Company Semiconductor wafer processing
EP0244137A2 (en) * 1986-04-28 1987-11-04 AT&T Corp. Semiconductor wafer processing
EP0339595A2 (en) * 1988-04-27 1989-11-02 Anton Koukal Milling machine
EP0339595A3 (en) * 1988-04-27 1990-05-16 Anton Koukal Milling machine
USRE37997E1 (en) 1990-01-22 2003-02-18 Micron Technology, Inc. Polishing pad with controlled abrasion rate
US5470420A (en) * 1992-07-31 1995-11-28 Eastman Kodak Company Apparatus for label application using Bernoulli Effect
US5582703A (en) * 1994-12-12 1996-12-10 Palomar Technologies Corporation Method of fabricating an ultra-high resolution three-color screen
US5724121A (en) 1995-05-12 1998-03-03 Hughes Danbury Optical Systems, Inc. Mounting member method and apparatus with variable length supports
US6394797B1 (en) 1997-04-02 2002-05-28 Hitachi, Ltd. Substrate temperature control system and method for controlling temperature of substrate
US6518548B2 (en) 1997-04-02 2003-02-11 Hitachi, Ltd. Substrate temperature control system and method for controlling temperature of substrate
US6464790B1 (en) 1997-07-11 2002-10-15 Applied Materials, Inc. Substrate support member
US6531397B1 (en) 1998-01-09 2003-03-11 Lsi Logic Corporation Method and apparatus for using across wafer back pressure differentials to influence the performance of chemical mechanical polishing
US6179956B1 (en) 1998-01-09 2001-01-30 Lsi Logic Corporation Method and apparatus for using across wafer back pressure differentials to influence the performance of chemical mechanical polishing
US6325702B2 (en) 1998-09-03 2001-12-04 Micron Technology, Inc. Method and apparatus for increasing chemical-mechanical-polishing selectivity
US6893325B2 (en) 1998-09-03 2005-05-17 Micron Technology, Inc. Method and apparatus for increasing chemical-mechanical-polishing selectivity
US6203407B1 (en) 1998-09-03 2001-03-20 Micron Technology, Inc. Method and apparatus for increasing-chemical-polishing selectivity
US6464795B1 (en) 1999-05-21 2002-10-15 Applied Materials, Inc. Substrate support member for a processing chamber
US6313567B1 (en) 2000-04-10 2001-11-06 Motorola, Inc. Lithography chuck having piezoelectric elements, and method
US6650135B1 (en) 2000-06-29 2003-11-18 Motorola, Inc. Measurement chuck having piezoelectric elements and method
US6554949B2 (en) 2001-02-06 2003-04-29 Anadigics, Inc. Wafer demount receptable for separation of thinned wafer from mounting carrier
US6491083B2 (en) 2001-02-06 2002-12-10 Anadigics, Inc. Wafer demount receptacle for separation of thinned wafer from mounting carrier
US6513796B2 (en) * 2001-02-23 2003-02-04 International Business Machines Corporation Wafer chuck having a removable insert
US6709721B2 (en) 2001-03-28 2004-03-23 Applied Materials Inc. Purge heater design and process development for the improvement of low k film properties
US7975580B2 (en) * 2002-01-26 2011-07-12 Saeta Gmbh & Co. Kg Method for operating a plate system for stamping presses and connection element for carrying out said method
US20090031874A1 (en) * 2002-01-26 2009-02-05 Alfons Haar Maschinenbau Gmbh & Co. Method for operating a plate system for stamping presses and connection element for carrying out said method
US20050067155A1 (en) * 2003-09-02 2005-03-31 Thayer John Gilbert Heat pipe evaporator with porous valve
US20050068734A1 (en) * 2003-09-02 2005-03-31 Thayer John Gilbert Heat pipe with chilled liquid condenser system for burn-in testing
US7013956B2 (en) 2003-09-02 2006-03-21 Thermal Corp. Heat pipe evaporator with porous valve
US7129731B2 (en) 2003-09-02 2006-10-31 Thermal Corp. Heat pipe with chilled liquid condenser system for burn-in testing
US7143818B2 (en) 2003-09-02 2006-12-05 Thermal Corp. Heat pipe evaporator with porous valve
US20050067147A1 (en) * 2003-09-02 2005-03-31 Thayer John Gilbert Loop thermosyphon for cooling semiconductors during burn-in testing
US20050067146A1 (en) * 2003-09-02 2005-03-31 Thayer John Gilbert Two phase cooling system method for burn-in testing
US8003919B2 (en) * 2005-12-06 2011-08-23 Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd. Substrate heat treatment apparatus
US20070128888A1 (en) * 2005-12-06 2007-06-07 Shigehiro Goto Substrate heat treatment apparatus
US20100089210A1 (en) * 2007-01-27 2010-04-15 Fran Lanciaux Apparatus and method for converting insulated panels
US8733749B2 (en) * 2007-01-27 2014-05-27 Fran Lanciaux Apparatus and method for converting insulated panels
US20120139192A1 (en) * 2010-12-02 2012-06-07 Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. Chucking device and chucking method
US9233455B2 (en) * 2010-12-02 2016-01-12 Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. Chucking device and chucking method
US20140208556A1 (en) * 2013-01-25 2014-07-31 Tokyo Electron Limited Joining device and joining system
US20140208557A1 (en) * 2013-01-25 2014-07-31 Tokyo Electron Limited Joining device and joining system
US9960069B2 (en) * 2013-01-25 2018-05-01 Tokyo Electron Limited Joining device and joining system
CN106671120A (en) * 2016-10-31 2017-05-17 华南理工大学 Pervasive modularized air-aspiration type robot gripper
US10610972B2 (en) * 2017-04-25 2020-04-07 Boe Technology Group Co., Ltd. Laser cutting base and laser cutting device

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
US4213698A (en) Apparatus and method for holding and planarizing thin workpieces
USRE31053E (en) Apparatus and method for holding and planarizing thin workpieces
US20020117792A1 (en) Wafer chuck having a removable insert
US3809050A (en) Mounting block for semiconductor wafers
US5389579A (en) Method for single sided polishing of a semiconductor wafer
US6180020B1 (en) Polishing method and apparatus
US6080042A (en) Flatness and throughput of single side polishing of wafers
US6050880A (en) Surface grinding device and method of surface grinding a thin-plate workpiece
JPS6015147B2 (en) Method for holding and flattening a substrate wafer having both front and back outer surfaces
KR20010092732A (en) Method of processing semiconductor wafers to build in back surface damage
JPH1076439A (en) Thin plate holding device
JP2006303329A (en) Thin plate working method of silicon substrate and working apparatus used for it
US9815091B2 (en) Roll to roll wafer backside particle and contamination removal
US6638391B1 (en) Wafer carrier assembly for a chemical mechanical polishing apparatus and a polishing method using the same
JPH08330401A (en) Wafer chuck
JP2538511B2 (en) Holding plate for polishing semiconductor substrates
JPH09232257A (en) Polishing and working method
WO1999000831A1 (en) Method of manufacturing semiconductor devices
JPH06132387A (en) Vacuum suction stage
JPH06224281A (en) Jig for transfer of wafer
JPH0547906A (en) Plane object holding means and equipment using the same
JP2005032977A (en) Vacuum chuck
JPS62264864A (en) Lapping method for substrate
JP3611029B2 (en) Semiconductor substrate polishing holding plate
JPH03163848A (en) Vacuum suction base

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
FEPP Fee payment procedure

Free format text: PAYOR NUMBER ASSIGNED (ORIGINAL EVENT CODE: ASPN); ENTITY STATUS OF PATENT OWNER: LARGE ENTITY