Apparatus for neutralizing charged body
US5596478A · kind A · utility
Assignees
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 24, 1994 |
| Grant date | Jan 21, 1997 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 24, 2014 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG21K1/14
- WIPO fieldElectrical machinery, apparatus, energy
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
An apparatus which can neutralize charge bodies such as processed substrates for semiconductor device and for flat display, free from electromagnetic noise, impurity contamination, and residual potentials. To process in a prescribed way a wafer(5) to be processed, the wafer(5) is, for example, moved from a pretreatment chamber(2) to a low pressure reaction chamber(3). In this case, a gas, which does not react on the wafer, such as nitrogen and argon, is introduced into the pretreatment chamber(2), and is kept under a predetermined pressure by a vacuum pump(15). Then, ultraviolet rays are projected in the pretreatment chamber(2) from an ultraviolet rays lamp(11) constituting a means for generating neutralization charge, and positive and negative floating charged particles(electrons and positive ions) are generated by exiting the atmosphere in the chamber(2). Since the charges are removed by projecting the ultraviolet rays from the outside of a case(1) and the case(2) and moreover in a non-contact way, no electromagnetic noise is generated and the residual potentials are vanished too.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.