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US 4,817,556 AGranted
Apparatus for retaining wafers
AssigneeVarian Associates, Inc.
InventorsEric L. Mears, Richard J. Hertel, Robert V. Brick
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
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AssigneeVarian Associates, Inc.
InventorsEric L. Mears, Richard J. Hertel, Robert V. Brick
Estimating the term…
A device for releaseably holding a workpiece includes a resilient collet which is pivotally attached to a base. Several fingers for holding the workpiece extend from the collet. The fingers are pivoted by actuating a member which elastically deforms the collet and causes the fingers to pivot from a position for engaging the workpiece to a position for releasing the workpiece and vice-versa. In one application, the base is a platen for supporting a wafer in a semiconductor processing system and a plurality of such platens and a corresponding plurality of the holding devices are arranged around the periphery of the disk. A counterweight ring is attached to the ring-shaped collet to counter-balance the moment generated by the centrifugal force of the wafer pressing against the fingers as the disk is rotated.
A device for releasably holding a workpiece, said device comprising:
A device as in claim wherein said resilient member is a simple closed loop.
A device for releaseably holding a workpiece, said device comprising:
A device for releasably retaining a flat surface of a semiconductor wafer in contact with a flat surface of a platen having a central axis normal to the flat surface of said platen, said device comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.