ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 2 -- United States Patent no. 12,266,557, issued on April 1, was assigned to NGK INSULATORS Ltd. (Nagoya, Japan).

"Wafer placement table" was invented by Tatsuya Kuno (Nagoya, Japan) and Seiya Inoue (Handa, Japan).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A wafer placement table includes an alumina base that has a wafer placement surface on its upper surface, and incorporates an electrode; a brittle cooling base bonded to a lower surface of the alumina base; and a ductile connection member stored in a storage hole, opened in a lower surface of the cooling base, in a state of restricted axial rotation and in a state of engaging with an engagement section of the storage hole, the duc...