Substrate sticking and breakage mitigation

A substrate contact-ring to support a substrate, the substrate contact-ring comprising:

• a peripheral structure sized and configured to support the substrate within the substrate contact-ring, the peripheral structure comprising:
• a substantially flat ring-section;
• and
• a spaced array of contact fingers mechanically coupled to the substantially flat ring-section, each of the spaced array of contact fingers being resiliently movable to engage an edge of the substrate supported within the substrate contact-ring, a proximal end of each of the contact fingers being mechanically coupled to the substantially flat ring-section of the substrate contact-ring, a distal end of each of the contact fingers being resiliently movable radially inwardly and outwardly of the substrate contact-ring to alternatively engage and release the edge of the substrate when the substrate is alternatively supported within the substrate contact-ring and removed from the substrate contact-ring, the distal end of each contact finger further being bent to define a support surface for the substrate within the substrate contact-ring, wherein the distal end of each of the contact fingers is integral with a corresponding one of the contact fingers;
• a length of each of the support surfaces being substantially the same length and in a range of greater than about 1.0 mm to about 1.7 mm.