Apparatus for controlling the temperature of a wafer located at a pre-alignment stage
US6370793B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 1, 2000 |
| Grant date | Apr 16, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 1, 2020 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S414/136
- WIPO fieldSemiconductors
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Apparatus for controlling the temperature of a wafer in a wafer pre-alignment stage has an air injection member for injecting cooling air towards a chucked wafer and an air guide for guiding a predetermined amount of the injected air towards a portion of the wafer adjacent the edge sensor to compensate for a relatively high temperature condition existing at the region of the edge sensor due to the operation thereof. The air injection member is connected with an air supplier and includes an air injection head having a bottom plate through which a plurality of injection holes extend. The air guide is a flow rate controlling plate which is disposed within the air injection head. The air introduced received by the air injection head is guided towards the region of the edge sensor by the flow rate controlling plate. By maintaining the surface temperature of a wafer uniform in the wafer pre-alignment stage, semiconductor device defects otherwise caused by the physical thermal expansion of wafers can be markedly reduced.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.