A workholding apparatus for components having complex geometries or surfaces, which components are difficult constrain for the purpose of inspection, addresses the problem of adequately constraining such components in a convenient and cost-effective manner so that they do not move during inspection, while also making all or most critical features accessible to the inspection instruments being used. A method teaches how to eliminate setup changes between different components through the use of inexpensive modular attachments. These attachments are in the form of a single piece thermoplastic part which is affixed to each component having also reference features that can be interlocked into a common base fixture for more efficient inspection operations.

A workholding apparatus for components having complex geometries or surfaces, which components are difficult constrain for the purpose of inspection, addresses the problem of adequately constraining such components in a convenient and cost-effective manner so that they do not move during inspection, while also making all or most critical features accessible to the inspection instruments being used. A method teaches how to eliminate setup changes between different components through the use of inexpensive modular attachments. These attachments are in the form of a single piece thermoplastic part which is affixed to each component having also reference features that can be interlocked into a common base fixture for more efficient inspection operations.

An electropermanent magnet array is provided. The electropermanent magnet array includes one or more of a plurality of electropermanent magnets, arranged in a parallel fashion, a plurality of switching circuits, each switching circuit coupled to a different electropermanent magnet of the plurality of electropermanent magnets, and a control circuit, coupled to the plurality of switching circuits. The control circuit is configured to receive commands to control the plurality of switching circuits to demagnetize the plurality of electropermanent magnets, magnetize the plurality of electropermanent magnets to produce a first magnetic field with a strength and an attraction distance and magnetize the plurality of electropermanent magnets to produce a second magnetic field with a lower strength and greater attraction distance than the first magnetic field.

Described are electrostatic chucks that are useful to support a workpiece during a step of processing the workpiece, the electrostatic chuck including embossments that are made of multiple deposited layers, the layers including diamond-like carbon layers and layers that contain silicon-based materials such as silicon carbide layers.

Described are electrostatic chucks that are useful to support a workpiece during a step of processing the workpiece, the electrostatic chuck including embossments that are made of multiple deposited layers, the layers including diamond-like carbon layers and layers that contain silicon-based materials such as silicon carbide layers.

A dampening system combined between a mounting bracket and a block oriented along an x-axis. An electrical connector of a pair of electrical connectors combined to the block for relative movement about a y-axis and a z-axis to combine with the other electrical connector on the magnetic chuck of a pallet changing system.

An electrostatic chuck device comprising a mounting table having a mounting surface, a focus ring; and a cooling element, wherein the mounting table has a holding portion surrounding the mounting surface, the holding portion has an annular groove portion having a through-hole, the holding portion has inner and outer peripheral surfaces which hold the focus ring and are located on both sides of the groove portion, the holding surface satisfies conditions (i) and (ii), (i) a straight line connecting a first point corresponding to an innermost periphery of the holding surface and a second point corresponding to an outermost periphery of the holding surface has a positive or a negative inclination from the innermost periphery toward the outermost periphery, wherein a difference between a height of the first point and a height of the second point is 0 μm to 10 μm, and (ii) leak areas of the inner peripheral surface and the outer peripheral surface are less than 0.7 mm.sup.2.

An electrostatic chuck device comprising a mounting table having a mounting surface, a focus ring; and a cooling element, wherein the mounting table has a holding portion surrounding the mounting surface, the holding portion has an annular groove portion having a through-hole, the holding portion has inner and outer peripheral surfaces which hold the focus ring and are located on both sides of the groove portion, the holding surface satisfies conditions (i) and (ii), (i) a straight line connecting a first point corresponding to an innermost periphery of the holding surface and a second point corresponding to an outermost periphery of the holding surface has a positive or a negative inclination from the innermost periphery toward the outermost periphery, wherein a difference between a height of the first point and a height of the second point is 0 μm to 10 μm, and (ii) leak areas of the inner peripheral surface and the outer peripheral surface are less than 0.7 mm.sup.2.

A prefabricated vehicle may include a body module providing a vehicle body; a platform module having a battery and a driving wheel, and selectively fastened to the body module; a connecting portion that includes a magnetic module provided in any one of the body module and the platform module and an armature provided in a remaining one of the body module and the platform module, the connecting portion being configured such that the magnetic module and the armature face each other when the body module and the platform module are fastened to each other; and a controller connecting the body module and the platform module to each other to be easily replaceable by applying power to the magnetic module to allow the magnetic module and the armature to be connected to each other by a magnetic force.

An apparatus includes a chuck having an upper surface configured to support a substrate; a fixing unit configured to generate chucking force to fix the substrate to the chuck in a first perpendicular direction and applying the chucking force to the substrate; and a controller configured to divide the chuck into a plurality of zones on a plane perpendicular to the first direction, based on reference overlay distribution corresponding to a degree of overlay deterioration when the substrate is fixed to the upper surface of the chuck, and individually control respective magnitudes of the chucking force applied to each of the plurality of zones. The controller is configured to reduce a magnitude of chucking force applied to a zone including a region having a high degree of overlay deterioration, among the plurality of zones, in the reference overlay distribution.