Systems and methods for supporting and conveying a substrate
AssigneeKateeva, Inc.
InventorsDigby Pun, Cormac McKinley Wicklow
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system may include a support surface for supporting a substrate, a plurality of first passages arranged to distribute flows of a first gas to establish a gas bearing to float the substrate above the support surface, and a plurality of second passages arranged to distribute flows of a second gas to convey the substrate along the support surface. A method may include floating a substrate above a support surface of a substrate support apparatus via a gas bearing; and while floating the substrate, conveying the substrate along the support surface by flowing gas toward a surface of the substrate and in a nonperpendicular direction relative to the surface of the substrate.
Claims22
A system, comprising:
- a printing system comprising a printhead assembly arranged to dispense a material for deposition onto a substrate;
- a substrate support apparatus having a support surface, the substrate support apparatus comprising a plurality of first passages arranged in the support surface to distribute flows of a first gas to establish a gas bearing to float the substrate above the support surface;
- and
- a conveyance system comprising a plurality of second passages arranged in the support surface to distribute flows of a second gas relative to the support surface so as to convey the substrate along the support surface,
- wherein the plurality of first passages comprises a plurality of first nozzles, and wherein the plurality of second passages comprises a plurality of second nozzles, each of the first nozzles and the second nozzles having a nozzle head that is pivotable relative to the support surface and rotatable relative to an axis of the nozzle head normal to the support surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.