Maintaining a wafer/wafer translator pair in an attached state free of a gasket disposed
AssigneeTranslarity, Inc.
InventorsAaron Durbin, Morgan T. Johnson, Jose A. Santos
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A wafer translator and a wafer, removably attached to each other, provides the electrical connection to electrical contacts on integrated circuits on a wafer in such a manner that the electrical contacts are substantially undamaged in the process of making such electrical connections. Various embodiments of the present invention provide a gasketless sealing means for facilitating the formation by vacuum attachment of the wafer/wafer translator pair. In this way, no gasket is required to be disposed between the wafer and the wafer translator. Air, or gas, is evacuated from between the wafer and wafer translator through one or more evacuation pathways in the gasketless sealing means.
Claims14
An assembly, comprising:
- a wafer translator having an inquiry-side, a wafer-side, and a peripheral sidewall;
- a wafer having contact pads at a first side, a second side facing away from the first side, and a peripheral sidewall, the first side of the wafer facing the wafer-side of the wafer translator;
- and
- a sheet of flexible material having a first portion disposed along the second side of the wafer, a second portion disposed along the peripheral sidewall of the wafer and the peripheral sidewall of the wafer translator, and a third portion disposed along the inquiry-side of the wafer translator;
- wherein an enclosed space defined at least in part by the wafer, the wafer translator, and the sheet of flexible material is at a pressure that is lower than a pressure outside the enclosed space.
An assembly, comprising:
- a wafer translator having an inquiry-side, a wafer-side, and a peripheral sidewall;
- a wafer having contact pads at a first side, and a second side facing away from the first side, wherein the first side of the wafer faces the wafer-side of the wafer translator;
- a first substantially circular flexible support structure having a first base portion and a first upper portion, the first upper portion circumferentially and continuously contacting the wafer-side of the wafer translator to form a first sealed contact;
- a second substantially circular flexible support structure having a second base portion and a second upper portion, the second upper portion circumferentially and continuously contacting the second side of the wafer to form a second sealed contact;
- and
- a ring having an inner diameter and having:
- a first substantially circular groove positioned to receive the base portion of the first flexible support structure;
- and
- a second substantially circular groove positioned to receive the base portion of the second flexible support structure,
- wherein an evacuation pathway extends between the first and the second grooves and between the first and second flexible support structures.
An assembly, comprising:
- a wafer translator having an inquiry-side, a wafer-side, and a peripheral sidewall;
- a wafer having contact pads at a first side, and a second side facing away from the first side, wherein the first side of the wafer faces the wafer-side of the wafer translator;
- a first substantially circular flexible support structure having a first base portion and a first upper portion, the first upper portion circumferentially and continuously contacting the wafer-side of the wafer translator to form a first sealed contact;
- a second substantially circular flexible support structure having a second base portion and a second upper portion, the second upper portion circumferentially and continuously contacting the second side of the wafer to form a second sealed contact;
- and
- a ring having an inner diameter and having:
- a substantially circular groove positioned to receive the base portions of the first and the second flexible support structures,
- wherein an evacuation pathway extends through the substantially circular groove and between the first and second flexible support structures.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.