Compliant substrate holding assembly
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsPAUL E. LESTER, Anthony J. Senn
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods and apparatus for holding substrate in a compliant substrate holding assembly are provided. In one embodiment, an apparatus for a compliant substrate holding assembly includes a base plate, a finger disposed on the base plate having a V-shaped slot formed thereon, and two arms disposed on opposite ends of the base plate and each arm having V-shaped slot formed therein. In another embodiment, a method for holding a substrate on a compliant substrate holding assembly includes inserting a substrate into a holding assembly having at least three substrate supporting members and detecting a change in position of one of the substrate supporting structures.
Claims24
A compliant substrate holding assembly comprising:
- a base plate;
- two arms disposed on opposite ends of the base plate and each arm having a substrate receiving slot;
- and
- a resilient finger disposed on the base plate between the arms and having a substrate receiving slot, wherein the slots define a first substrate holding position.
A compliant substrate holding assembly comprising:
- at least a pair of opposing substrate receiving structures;
- a substrate supporting structure disposed between the pair of receiving structures, the substrate supporting structure biased to a first position;
- and
- a sensor arranged to detect a change in position of the substrate supporting structure when a substrate is positioned in the pair of receiving structures and on the supporting structure.
A compliant substrate holding assembly comprising:
- a base plate having at least two arms extending upward from opposite sides of the base plate, each arm having at least one V-shaped substrate receiving structure;
- a resilient finger having a V-shaped substrate receiving structure disposed between the arms;
- and
- a sensor arranged to detect a change in position of the finger.
A method for holding a substrate on a compliant substrate holding assembly, comprising:
- inserting a substrate in a holding assembly having at least three substrate supporting structures;
- and
- detecting a change in position of one of the substrate supporting structures.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.