Flat surface air bearing assembly
AssigneeCorning Incorporated
InventorsDouglas E. Brackley, David Lee Drum, Paul J. McCarthy
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An air bearing assembly includes: an upper portion having a plurality of air supply and vacuum holes therethrough; a lower portion; and a plurality of spacers disposed between and maintaining the upper and lower portions in spaced relation, wherein a density of the air supply and vacuum holes is high enough to provide an air bearing for a substrate, but low enough such that at least one of: (i) a sufficient number of the spacers are employed, and (ii) the spacers are located in close enough proximity, to maintain a substantially uniform flatness of the upper portion relative to the lower portion.
Claims11
-20. (canceled)
A method of processing a substrate, comprising:
- supporting a substrate using an air bearing produced via an air bearing assembly, the air bearing assembly including:
- (i) an upper portion having a plurality of air supply and vacuum holes therethrough;
- (ii) a lower portion;
- and (iii) a plurality of spacers disposed between and maintaining the upper and lower portions in spaced relation, where a density of the air supply and vacuum holes is of a magnitude, and a proximity and number of the spacers is sufficient, to provide the air bearing for the substrate such that a substantially uniform flatness of the upper portion relative to the lower portion is ensured;
- and
- performing one or more manufacturing processing operations on the substrate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.