Back to results
US 7,247,084 B2Granted
Polishing head elbow fitting
AssigneeSystems on Silicon Manufacturing Co. Pte. Ltd.
InventorsMeng Fei Koh, Teck Leong Neo, Bing Wang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Loading patent…
Loading patent…
AssigneeSystems on Silicon Manufacturing Co. Pte. Ltd.
InventorsMeng Fei Koh, Teck Leong Neo, Bing Wang
Estimating the term…
An improvement is provided for a wafer carrier having an annular inflatable tube for exerting pressure on the edge of a perforated plate during wafer dechucking, and a flexible plastic tube for supplying pressure to the annular inflatable tube. The improvement comprises a fixed elbow fitting secured to said head assembly. The elbow fitting is secured to the head assembly in a predetermined orientation, said orientation being such that said flexible plastic tube will not be obstructed in its path between said fitting and the said inflatable tube and will not obstruct the bellows operation of said wafer carrier. A tool for assisting fitting the fixed orientation elbow fitting in the predetermined orientation. The tool has a planar or substantially planar rigid body with an aperture shaped to accommodate the elbow fitting in one predetermined orientation relative to the tool. Edges of the tool are shaped to bear on features of the polishing head so that at least with the aperture for the fitting in position, the tool is positively located at a predetermined orientation, which, in turn, locates a fitting placed in the aperture in a predetermined orientation, so that it can be fixed in place.
An improvement for a wafer carrier having an annular inflatable tube for exerting pressure on an edge of a perforated plate during wafer dechucking, and a flexible plastic tube for supplying pressure to the annular inflatable tube, the improvement comprising a fixed elbow fitting secured to said wafer carrier, said fixed elbow fitting including a body having a first hollow spigot for receiving one end of said flexible plastic tube and a bore extending through said body at a generally right angle to said hollow spigot between a top face of said body and a bottom face of said body, a seal sandwiched between said top face of said body and said wafer carrier, a hollow screw extending through said bore of said body for securing the fixed elbow fitting to the wafer carrier, with a seal between a head of said screw and the bottom face of said body;
A tool for assisting the fitting of a fixed orientation elbow fitting within a wafer carrier, the elbow fitting having a body with a spigot, the wafer carrier having an annular inflatable tube for exerting pressure on one or more edges of a perforated plate during wafer dechucking, and a conduit for supplying pressure to the annular inflatable tube, said tool comprising a planar or substantially planar rigid body having an aperture shaped to accommodate the elbow fitting in a predetermined orientation relative to the tool, and one or more edges shaped to engage at least a portion of the wafer carrier so that said tool may be positively located at a predetermined orientation relative to the wafer carrier, whereby the aperture of said tool is at a fixing position for fixing said elbow fitting to the wafer carrier when the one or more edges of said tool are engaged with the wafer carrier thereby positively locating the tool at the predetermined orientation relative to the wafer carrier.
A tool as claimed in 6 wherein said one or more edges that engage at least a portion of the wafer carrier comprise the edge of at least one aperture that fits over a feature of said wafer carrier.
A method of securing a fitting into a wafer carrier head assembly having an annular inflatable tube for exerting pressure on one or more edges of a perforated plate during wafer dechucking, and a conduit for supplying pressure to the annular inflatable tube, said method including the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.