ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 23 -- United States Patent no. 12,424,480, issued on Sept. 23, was assigned to Lam Research Corp. (Fremont, Calif.).
"Detecting wafer status in a wafer chuck assembly" was invented by Aaron Louis LaBrie (Sherwood, Ore.) and Claudiu Valentin Puha (Aloha, Ore.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Some examples provide a vacuum wafer chuck assembly for supporting a wafer. An example chuck assembly comprises a chuck hub and a centering hub disposed within the chuck hub. Chuck arms are mounted to the chuck hub, with each chuck arm extending radially between a proximal end adjacent the chuck hub, and a distal end remote therefrom. At least one vacuum pad is provided for supporting ...