Samsung patents chip washer that weighs wafers to check fluid coverage
Samsung has been granted a patent for a machine that measures the weight of a silicon wafer immediately after it is wetted with a fluid. The device uses a sensor inside a controlled chamber to detect the weight change, which helps verify that the fluid was applied correctly before the wafer is dried.
In the filing’s own words
A substrate processing apparatus includes a wetting apparatus that supplies a fluid onto a substrate, a substrate weight measurement apparatus that measures a weight of the substrate which has passed through the wetting apparatus, and a drying apparatus that dries the substrate which has passed through the substrate weight measurement apparatus. The substrate weight measurement apparatus includes a measurement chamber providing a measurement space, a measurement stage in the measurement chamber, and a weight sensing sensor that senses the weight of the substrate disposed on the measurement stage.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A substrate processing apparatus comprising: a wetting apparatus configured to supply a fluid onto a substrate; a substrate weight measurement apparatus configured to measure a weight of the substrate which has passed through the wetting apparatus and which has thereon fluid from only the wetting apparatus; and a drying apparatus configured to dry the substrate which has passed through the substrate weight measurement apparatus, wherein the substrate weight measurement apparatus comprises: a measurement chamber providing a measurement space which is maintained at a pressure in a certain range; a measurement stage in the measurement chamber; and a weight sensing sensor configured to sense the weight of the substrate disposed on the measurement stage while the measurement space is maintained at the pressure in the certain range.
Facts
- Company
- Samsung (SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.)
- Official title
- Substrate weight measurement apparatus, a substrate processing apparatus including the same, and a method of processing a substrate using the substrate processing apparatus
- Patent number
- US12769211B2
- Application number
- 18076591
- Filed
- Dec 7, 2022
- Granted
- Oct 20, 2026
- Inventors
- 3
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G03F 7/30 Physics & computingG03F 7/40 Physics & computingG03F 7/70608 Physics & computingG01G 19/40 Physics & computingG01L 13/00 Physics & computingMore from Samsung in Chips & hardware
- Samsung patents chip that combines camera and screen Oct 13, 2026
- Samsung patents faster chip testing using machine learning Sep 1, 2026
- Samsung patents radar method to pinpoint target direction more accurately Sep 1, 2026
- Samsung patents memory chip that searches data by content, not address Sep 1, 2026
- Samsung patents chip design that skips empty data to speed up AI Sep 1, 2026
Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.