A fixture and a method of operating the fixture are disclosed for repositioning a workpiece disposed on the fixture to correct an offset between the centerline of the workpiece and an indexing position on the fixture. The fixture includes one or more linear actuators that linearly move vacuum grippers on their outboard ends into contact with surfaces of the workpiece. Vacuum is applied to the vacuum grippers, which enables the vacuum grippers to grip the surfaces of the workpiece. The linear actuators are driven to reposition the workpiece on the fixture to reduce the offset between the two below a threshold value. When in position, the fixture secures the workpiece in place for subsequent machining operations that may be performed on the workpiece.

A work table for laser processing includes an upper plate including a plurality of cell regions and at least one groove region that divides the plurality of cell regions. The upper plate includes a plurality of absorption holes that fix a substrate in the plurality of cell regions. A plurality of suction holes collect particles generated during a cutting process performed on the substrate. A lower plate is disposed under the upper plate. The lower plate forms an absorption path that is coupled to the plurality of absorption holes. A suction path is coupled to the plurality of suction holes by combining the lower plate with the upper plate.

Disclosed are a wafer loading bracket, a wafer loading system and a wafer mounting method. The wafer loading bracket, which can lift, and a polishing head including a plurality of pressure medium cavities are used. In a wafer loading process, arc-shaped deformation occurs, under pressure, on an attachment film of the polishing head; a wafer on a wafer-bearing base of the wafer loading bracket is lifted to a loading position, and comes into contact with the attachment film, a pressure medium cavity which is in contact with the attachment film is vacuumized; and the wafer and the attachment film, under vacuum conditions, are attached to the polishing head, and the wafer is transferred to the polishing head to complete loading.

A processing apparatus includes a chuck table, a processing unit that has a spindle, a spindle housing, and a mount section fixed to a lower end portion of the spindle, a processing feeding mechanism that puts the processing unit into processing feeding, a processing chamber cover that has an opening penetrable by the mount section and that is able to cover the chuck table and the mount section, an extendable cover section having an annular lower connection section detachably connected to a peripheral portion of the opening, an annular upper connection section fixed to the spindle housing, and a tubular bellows section that connects the upper and lower connection sections and that is able to shrink and extend following movement of the processing unit, and a gas flow forming unit that forms a flow of gas from the upper connection section toward the lower connection section inside the bellows section.

Disclosed is a substrate displacing assembly so as to improve its durability during a semiconductor processing. In one embodiment, a semiconductor manufacturing system, includes, a substrate holder, wherein the substrate holder is configured with a plurality of pins; and a substrate displacing assembly for displacing a substrate on the substrate holder in a first direction perpendicular to the top surface of the substrate holder through the plurality of pins, wherein the substrate displacing assembly comprises a pair of load forks, a coupler and a driving shaft, wherein the pair of load forks comprises a fork region and a base region, wherein the coupler is mechanically coupled to the base region through at least one first joining screw extending in the first direction, wherein the coupler is further mechanically coupled to the driving shaft through a second joining screw extending in the first direction.

A hot plate in which holes are formed in proximity pins. The holes of the proximity pins are connected to vacuum holes to suppress generation of air flow during substrate heat treatment. A substrate heat-treating apparatus including the hot plate, and a method of fabricating the hot plate. The hot plate includes: a body with a heater; a plurality of first holes pass through the body in a downward direction; a plurality of proximity pins formed on the body support the substrate such that the substrate does not contact the top of the body. A plurality of second holes formed in at least some of the proximity pins and pass through the proximity pins in the downward direction from surfaces of the proximity pins. The first and second holes are connected to each other, and a vacuum is created inside the first and second holes to fix the substrate.

An apparatus and method for uniformly holding a substrate without flexure or bending of the substrate, thereby enabling accurate shape measurements of the substrate such as wafer curvature, z-height values and other surface characteristics. Techniques include using a liquid as a supporting surface for a substrate thereby providing uniform support. Liquid used has a same specific gravity of a substrate being supported so that the substrate can float on the liquid without sinking. Uniform support of the substrate enables precision metrology.

Described herein is a technique capable of improving a film uniformity on a surface of a substrate and a film uniformity among a plurality of substrates including the substrate. According to one aspect thereof, there is provided a substrate processing apparatus including: a substrate retainer including: a product wafer support region, an upper dummy wafer support region and a lower dummy wafer support region; a process chamber in which the substrate retainer is accommodated; a first, a second and a third gas supplier; and an exhaust system. Each of the first gas and the third gas supplier includes a vertically extending nozzle with holes, wherein an upper of an uppermost hole and a lower end of a lowermost hole are arranged corresponding to an uppermost and a lowermost dummy wafer, respectively. The second gas supplier includes a nozzle with holes or a slit.

A method for unloading a substrate from a support table configured to support the substrate, the method including: supplying gas to a gap between a base surface of the support table and the substrate via a plurality of gas flow openings in the support table, wherein during an initial phase of unloading the gas is supplied through at least one gas flow opening in an outer region of the support table and not through any gas flow opening in a central region of the support table radially inward of the outer region, and during a subsequent phase of unloading the gas is supplied through at least one gas flow opening in the outer region and at least one gas flow opening in the central region.

A suction device for retaining and/or transporting objects, comprising a main supporting body (2) and at least one operating plate (3) provided with suction holes (7) connected to and suction means, in which the operating plate (3) is removably associated with the main supporting body (2) and has a second connecting face (5) coupled to a first connecting face (4) of the main supporting body (2), and in which the device also comprises one or more magnets (13) and one or more ferromagnetic bodies (14), each ferromagnetic body (14) being magnetically coupled to one or more magnets (13) when the operating plate (3) is associated with the main supporting body (2) for keeping the operating plate (3) fastened to the main supporting body (2), each magnet (13) and the ferromagnetic body (14) magnetically coupled to it being constrained respectively one to the operating plate (3), the other to the main supporting body (2).