Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100096087 | Apparatus For Aligning Electrodes In A Process Chamber to Protect An Exclusion Area Within An Edge Environ Of A Wafer - Positional relationships are established in a process chamber. A base is configured with a lower electrode surface to support a wafer, and an upper electrode has a lower surface. A drive mounted on the base has a linkage connected to the upper electrode. A fixture placed on the lower surface moves into a desired orientation of the lower electrode. With the upper electrode loosely connected by the linkage to the drive, the fixture transfers the desired orientation to the upper electrode. The linkage is tightened to maintain the desired orientation, the fixture is removed and a process exclusion insert is mounted to the upper electrode. The drive moves the upper electrode and the insert to define an inactive process zone between the upper electrode and the wafer on the lower electrode to protect a central area of the wafer during etching of a wafer edge environ around the central area. | 04-22-2010 |
20110165779 | METHOD OF ORIENTING AN UPPER ELECTRODE RELATIVE TO A LOWER ELECTRODE FOR BEVEL EDGE PROCESSING - Methods for orienting an upper electrode relative to a lower electrode are provided. The lower electrode is configured to have a desired existing orientation in a process chamber to define active and inactive process zones in the process chamber for processing a wafer. The method includes configuring each electrode with a reference surface, where a lower electrode reference surface is in the desired existing orientation and an upper electrode reference surface to be oriented parallel to the lower electrode reference surface. Then, temporarily holding the upper electrode reference surface oriented parallel to the lower electrode reference surface, and securing the upper electrode to a drive to mount the upper electrode reference surface parallel to the lower electrode reference surface. Other method configurations are also disclosed and illustrated. | 07-07-2011 |
20110214687 | CONFIGURABLE BEVEL ETCHER - A device for cleaning a bevel edge of a semiconductor substrate. The device includes: a lower support having a cylindrical top portion; a lower plasma-exclusion-zone (PEZ) ring surrounding the outer edge of the top portion and adapted to support the substrate; an upper dielectric component opposing the lower support and having a cylindrical bottom portion; an upper PEZ ring surrounding the outer edge of the bottom portion and opposing the lower PEZ ring; and at least one radiofrequency (RF) power source operative to energize process gas into plasma in an annular space defined by the upper and lower PEZ rings, wherein the annular space encloses the bevel edge. | 09-08-2011 |
20120045897 | Wafer Electroless Plating System and Associated Methods - A dry-in/dry-out system is disclosed for wafer electroless plating. The system includes an upper zone for wafer ingress/egress and drying operations. Proximity heads are provided in the upper zone to perform the drying operations. The system also includes a lower zone for electroless plating operations. The lower zone includes an electroless plating apparatus that implements a wafer submersion by fluid upwelling method. The upper and lower zones of the system are enclosed by a dual-walled chamber, wherein the inner wall is a chemically inert plastic and the outer wall is a structural metal. The system interfaces with a fluid handling system which provides the necessary chemistry supply and control for the system. The system is ambient controlled. Also, the system interfaces with an ambient controlled managed transfer module (MTM). | 02-23-2012 |
20130280917 | Method and Apparatus for Wafer Electroless Plating - A semiconductor wafer electroless plating apparatus includes a platen and a fluid bowl. The platen has a top surface defined to support a wafer, and an outer surface extending downward from a periphery of the top surface to a lower surface of the platen. The fluid bowl has an inner volume defined by an interior surface so as to receive the platen, and wafer to be supported thereon, within the inner volume. A seal is disposed around the interior surface of the fluid bowl so as to form a liquid tight barrier when engaged between the interior surface of the fluid bowl and the outer surface of the platen. A number of fluid dispense nozzles are positioned to dispense electroplating solution within the fluid bowl above the seal so as to rise up and flow over the platen, thereby flowing over the wafer when present on the platen. | 10-24-2013 |
20140038418 | BEVEL ETCHER WITH VACUUM CHUCK - A bevel etcher incorporating a vacuum chuck used for cleaning the bevel edge and for reducing the bending curvature of a semiconductor substrate. The bevel etcher includes a vacuum chuck and a plasma generation unit which energizes process gas into a plasma state. The vacuum chuck includes a chuck body and a support ring. The top surface of the chuck body and inner periphery of the support ring form a vacuum region enclosed by the bottom surface of a substrate mounted on the support ring. A vacuum pump evacuates the vacuum region during operation. The vacuum chuck is operative to hold the substrate in place by the pressure difference between the top and bottom surfaces of the substrate. The pressure difference also generates a bending force to reduce the bending curvature of the substrate. | 02-06-2014 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090088630 | Surgical navigation tracker, system and method - An adapter can be easily used to assist a surgical navigation system to determine the effector axis or the effector plane of a surgical device. The adapter has a body with a geometrical feature, the geometrical feature has a known relation with a navigation tracker device that can be attached to the adapter. When the adapter is held against a surgical device in a non-fixed manner, the effector axis or the effector plane of the device can be tracked by the surgical navigation system. The method includes a calibration method to determine the known relation between the effector axis or the effector plane and the location of the navigation tracker. | 04-02-2009 |
20100039506 | System for and method of visualizing an interior of body - A navigation system includes a display monitor, a CPU, and a camera, wherein the camera is mounted to a back side of the display monitor to form a monitor unit. One or more reference units are placed on a body while acquiring an image data set, and are tracked during a surgical operation by the monitor unit to register and correlate a position of a visual image of an exterior surface of the body with the image data set including information concerning internal structures of the body. The image data set is displayed on the display monitor superimposed in registration over the visible image of the exterior of the body with an angle of view and aperture in accordance with the actual position of the camera, whereby the display monitor displays the internal structures corresponding to the line-of-sight of the camera and the observer. | 02-18-2010 |
20110069867 | TECHNIQUE FOR REGISTERING IMAGE DATA OF AN OBJECT - A technique of registering image data of an object | 03-24-2011 |
20120078236 | Surgical Navigation System - A surgical navigation system is disclosed including a camera that is fixedly attached to a patient. The camera space merges with the patient space and thereby eliminates the need for a separate patient tracker. The surgical navigation system calculates the position of a surgical tool with a tracking device in view of the camera and shows on a display device the position of the surgical tool with respect to the patient superimposed and in correlation with a scan image of the patient. | 03-29-2012 |
20130066192 | Axial Surgical Trajectory Guide, and Method of Guiding a Medical Device - A surgical trajectory guide to guide a medical device to a pivot point has a base that can be attached to a patient, an axial guide member connected with the base and aligned with a pivot point along a first axis in fixed relation to the base and a second axis perpendicular to the first axis. The guide member has a longitudinal axis, and is connected to the base such that the longitudinal axis always passes through the pivot point, and the axial guide member is prevented from rotating around the longitudinal axis. The guide further has at least one electronic angle sensor that can automatically sense a first angle of the axial guide member relative to the local gravity vector about the first axis and a second angle of the axial guide member relative to the local gravity vector about the second axis without having to level the base. | 03-14-2013 |
20130066232 | Axial Surgical Trajectory Guide - A medical trajectory guide includes a base a configured for alignment with a coordinate system of an imaging device, first and second guide members rotatably attached to the base, a guide sleeve in contact with the first and second guide members, and a locking mechanism attached to the guide sleeve and configured to allow separate movement of the first guide member and the second guide member. The first and second guide members are rotatable about a first and second axis, respectively. The guide sleeve includes a longitudinal axis about which the guide sleeve is prevented from rotating. | 03-14-2013 |
20130066334 | Axial Surgical Trajectory Guide - A medical trajectory guide includes a base a configured for alignment with a coordinate axis, a first guide member rotatably attached to the base, a guide sleeve guided by the first guide member, and a motor coupled to the first guide member and configured to rotate the first guide member in relation to the first axis. The first guide member is rotatable about a first axis. | 03-14-2013 |
20140135617 | Surgical Navigation Method - A surgical navigation system is disclosed including a camera that is fixedly attached to a patient. The camera space merges with the patient space and thereby eliminates the need for a separate patient tracker. The surgical navigation system calculates the position of a surgical tool with a tracking device in view of the camera and shows on a display device the position of the surgical tool with respect to the patient superimposed and in correlation with a scan image of the patient. | 05-15-2014 |
20140135746 | Surgical Navigation System - A surgical navigation system is disclosed including a camera that is fixedly attached to a patient. The camera space merges with the patient space and thereby eliminates the need for a separate patient tracker. The surgical navigation system calculates the position of a surgical tool with a tracking device in view of the camera and shows on a display device the position of the surgical tool with respect to the patient superimposed and in correlation with a scan image of the patient. | 05-15-2014 |