ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,557,596, issued on Feb. 17, was assigned to Toto Ltd. (Fukuoka, Japan).
"Electrostatic chuck" was invented by Masafumi Ikeguchi (Kitakyushu, Japan), Tetsuro Itoyama (Kitakyushu, Japan), Shuichiro Saigan (Kitakyushu, Japan) and Jun Shiraishi (Kitakyushu, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An electrostatic chuck includes a base plate and a ceramic dielectric substrate. The ceramic dielectric substrate has a first major surface. The first major surface includes at least a first region and a second region. At least one first gas introduction hole connected to at least one of multiple first grooves. The first grooves include a first boundar...