MICROMACHINED SILICON ELECTROSTATIC CHUCK FOR IC CHIP MANFACTURE Sandia National Laboratories has patented an electrostatic chuck featuring a micromachined silicon face that is expected to be less expensive to produce than devices that are currently in use. The chuck has small, easily patterned and produced, nonconductive islands of silicon dioxide etched onto its face. These islands support the in-process wafer and provide an insulating barrier so that a strong electric clamping field can be applied between the chuck face and the wafer. The islands also create space for a helium gas layer that provides thermal contact between the chuck face and the back of the clamped wafer. Since the chuck face is fabricated using standard silicon and silicon compounds, rather than a sprayed-on composite material coating, the possibility of introducing contaminants into wafer processing is minimized. This feature is also expected to permit much higher operating temperatures than would be tolerated by a resistive composite coating. And, since the operation of this chuck does not rely on electrical leakage through the coating layer, clamping and release times are almost instantaneous. Sandia developed the silicon electrostatic chuck in conjunction with a SEMATECH cooperative research project. SEMATECH members can contact Sandia or Chris Daverse at SEMATECH; e-mail: chris.daverse@sematech.org. Sandia is making the silicon electrostatic chuck available to companies interested in partnering with Sandia to optimize the design of the chuck to best fit their products. This partnering can take the form of cooperative research efforts with Sandia, and licensing of the intellectual property on terms up to, and including exclusive licenses in applicable fields of use. For further information, please respond to Joanne Trujillo not later than August 14 1998, at: Sandia National Laboratories, MS 1380, P.O. Box 5800, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185-1380. FAX: 505-843-4163. Please indicate the date and title of this CBD notice and the type of partnering agreements your company would be most interested in pursuing with Sandia. E-MAIL: Joanne Trujillo, jmtruji@sandia.gov.

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