51051results about "Positioning apparatus" patented technology

A means and method for inserting drivers into a surgical stapling cartridge, including a pallet that holds the cartridge firmly. The pallet has a central slot and laterally positioned lip members that are biased toward the slot. The cartridge is positioned in the slot and the lip members are released to extend their lips over the lateral flanges on the cartridge, thereby holding the cartridge in position. A finger extends into a recess formed at one end of the cartridge, thereby positively positioning the cartridge in the slot. The cartridge is released for removal by a tongue inserted between the lip members, thereby separating them by displacement.

To provide a glass substrate-holding tool which is capable of avoiding scratching to the deposition surface of a glass substrate and dusting thereby caused as well as scratching and deposition of foreign substances at a center portion of the rear surface of the substrate and which is capable of suppressing dusting from the holding tool itself at the time of forming a multi-layered reflection film and an absorptive layer.A glass substrate-holding tool having, formed on a surface of a flat base, a catching portion for catching and holding by van der Waals forces, wherein the catching portion is in contact with only the periphery of the glass substrate.

By wafer holder including a chuck top for mounting a wafer and a supporter supporting the chuck top and having flatness of at most 0.1 mm, a heater unit for a wafer prober and the wafer prober using the wafer holder, a wafer holder and a wafer prober apparatus hardly deformable even under high load and capable of effectively preventing contact failure, and capable of preventing temperature increase in a driving system when a semiconductor wafer having semiconductor chips with minute circuitry that requires high accuracy is heated can be provided. In the wafer holder of the present invention, the flatness of the supporter is preferably at most 0.05 mm, and more preferably at most 0.01 mm.

Embodiments of the present invention provide a cost effective electrostatic chuck assembly capable of operating over a wide temperature range in an ultra-high vacuum environment while minimizing thermo-mechanical stresses within the electrostatic chuck assembly. In one embodiment, the electrostatic chuck assembly includes a dielectric body having chucking electrodes which comprise a metal matrix composite material with a coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) that is matched to the CTE of the dielectric body.

According to one embodiment of the invention, a system for fabricating a part includes a computer operable to control the fabrication of a three-dimensional part using a solid CAD model, a deposition station operable to deposit successive two-dimensional layers of material to fabricate the three-dimensional part, and a machining station operable to remove at least a portion of one or more of the deposited two-dimensional layers of material. The deposition station includes a substrate on which to fabricate the three-dimensional part, a welding-based deposition system having a welding torch, a laser-based deposition system having a laser head, a plasma powder cladding system having a plasma torch, and a multi-axis robot operable to, when directed by the computer, utilize one of the welding-based deposition system, laser-based deposition system, and plasma powder cladding system to deposit any of the two-dimensional layers of material. The machining station includes a multi-axis milling machine and an automatic tool changer. The milling machine is operable to, when directed by the computer, select from a plurality of machining tools associated with the automatic tool changer for use in the milling machine.

Substrate processing method and apparatus are disclosed. The substrate processing apparatus includes a non-contact air bearing chuck with a vacuum preload.

A holder for a bit is disclosed. The bit may include a first locking element. The holder may include a housing; a base assembly including a first hole; a second locking element partially disposed within the first hole and configured to move between a locking position in which the second locking element engages the first locking element to prevent removal of the bit, and an unlocking position in which the second locking element is spaced from the first locking element allowing the bit to be removed; and a follower assembly contained within the housing and configured to move relative to the housing and base assembly between a first position in which the follower assembly supports the second locking element in the locking position, and a second position in which the follower assembly allows the second locking element to move from the locking position to the unlocking position.

The present disclosure provides a substrate support assembly includes a substrate pedestal having an upper surface for receiving and supporting a substrate, a cover plate disposed on the substrate support pedestal, and two or more lift pins movably disposed through the substrate support pedestal and the cover plate. The cover plate includes a disk body having a central opening. The two or more lift pins are self supportive. Each of the two or more lift pins comprises one or more contact pads, and the contact pads of the lift pins extend into to the central opening of the cover plate to receive and support a substrate at an edge region of the substrate.

In one embodiment, a substrate support bushing for a lift pin used in a semiconductor processing chamber is provided. The bushing includes an elongated housing sized to guide the lift pin in a substrate support pedestal. The housing has a longitudinal bore formed through the housing. The housing includes at least one passageway slot extending and open to substantially the entire length of the bore. In another embodiment, a method for transferring a substrate from a substrate support pedestal is provided. The method includes displacing a lift pin through a central bore toward a substrate disposed on a substrate support pedestal. The bore has at least one slot extending substantially along and open to the central bore. The method further includes spacing the substrate from the substrate support pedestal on the lift pin.

The systems and methods described herein include hexapod systems, Stewart platform systems and other mechanical movement systems, in which a set of independently moveable trucks support legs that couple to a working surface capable of holding a machine tool or other end-effector, and preferably wherein the trucks travel across a reference surface, such as around the circumference of a circle or along some other pre-defined geometrical pattern or track. For example, as described herein, the systems include Stewart platform machines that have six supportive legs each of which connects to a truck that can travel independently along a track. By coordinating the movement of these six trucks, the working surface can be moved in three dimensional space and can be oriented about three axes, providing control of roll, pitch and yaw.

An electrostatic chuck device includes an electrostatic chuck member and a temperature controlling base member. The electrostatic chuck member has a ceramic plate having a mounting surface on which a plate-shaped sample is mounted, and an electrode for electrostatic attraction provided on the other surface on the side opposite the mounting surface of the ceramic plate. The temperature controlling base member is disposed on the surface on the side opposite the ceramic plate side of the electrode for electrostatic attraction and cools the electrostatic chuck member. The ceramic plate has a dike portion which extends to the temperature controlling base member side and surrounds the electrode for electrostatic attraction, the temperature controlling base member has a groove portion accommodating an end part of the dike portion, and a space between the groove portion and the dike portion is filled with a filling part formed of a resin material.

An elastic tube alignment system for the mating of components utilizing the principle of elastic averaging. A plurality of geometrically separated elastic tube (male) alignment features are disposed on a first component, while a plurality of one-to-one corresponding aperture (female) alignment features are provided on a second component. During the mating of the components, each elastic tube and its respective aperture provide elastic deformation, which, on average, precisely aligns the components.

In accordance with the embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a susceptor which includes an annular first susceptor portion for supporting the peripheral portion of a silicon wafer and further includes a second susceptor portion provided in contact with the peripheral portion of the first susceptor portion and covering the opening of the first susceptor portion. The second susceptor portion is disposed so that, when the silicon wafer is supported on the first susceptor portion, a gap of a predetermined size is formed between the silicon wafer and the second susceptor portion, and so that another gap of a size substantially equal to the predetermined size and directly connected to the above gap is formed between the first susceptor portion and the second susceptor portion.

A medical device includes a polymer scaffold crimped to a catheter having an expansion balloon. The scaffold is crimped to the catheter by a multi-step process for increasing scaffold-catheter yield following a crimping sequence. Damage reduction during a crimping sequence includes modifying blades of a crimper, adopting a multi-step crimping sequence, and inflating a supporting balloon to support the scaffold during crimping.

A method of forming an assembly including a first workpiece having a surface provided with a mortise and a second workpiece provided with a tenon inserted into the mortise joining the workpieces together in which the second workpiece is disposed in a certain orientation relative to the first workpiece to provide a certain disposition of the workpieces when joined together, generally consisting of providing identifying marks on the surface of the first workpiece and the tenon of the second workpiece at locations assuming a certain disposition when the second workpiece is disposed in a certain orientation and the tenon is registered with the mortise; positioning the second workpiece relative to the first workpiece wherein the second workpiece is disposed in the certain orientation relative to the first workpiece, the tenon is registered with the mortise and the marks are disposed in the certain mark disposition; and displacing the second workpiece toward the first workpiece and inserting the tenon into the mortise.

A method of modifying an electrostatic chuck that electrostatically attracts a processing object is provided. The method includes a gas supplying step of supplying a gas containing hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) into a chamber accommodating the electrostatic chuck having a surface that is fluorinated; and a modifying step of turning the gas supplied to the chamber into plasma using a high frequency power, exposing the electrostatic chuck to the plasma, and modifying the fluorinated surface of the electrostatic chuck.

A power system includes a gas turbine engine, which may include a gear box. The gear box may include a pipe connection configured to receive a removable pipe. The power system may also include a moveable support configured to fasten to the pipe connection to at least partially support the gear box.