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US 7,452,637 B2Granted
Method and apparatus for clean photomask handling
AssigneeIntel Corporation
InventorPei-yang Yan
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Some embodiments of the present invention include protecting a photomask from particle defects by heating the photomask to initiate a thermophoretic force.
Claims10
A method comprising;
- disposing a photomask on a photomask holder;
- and
- applying a radiation to the photomask, wherein the radiation heats the photomask to a temperature greater than a temperature of a surrounding gas to create a thermophoretic force to repel particles, wherein the photomask holder comprises a carrier, at least a portion of the carrier is substantially transparent to the radiation, and the radiation is applied through the portion of the carrier that is substantially transparent to the radiation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.