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Samsung patents chip-making stage with adjustable ring to control etching

Patent drawing
Patent drawing from the official filing.

This filing describes a machine used to make computer chips that has a ring around the edge of the platform where the chip sits. The ring is made of the same material as the chip and can move to change how much of it is exposed during the manufacturing process.

Why it mattersIt is a specific technical improvement to semiconductor manufacturing equipment that helps control how materials are removed from chips, which is a routine part of making modern electronics.

In the filing’s own words

A substrate processing apparatus includes a chamber defining a processing space, a stage in the processing space and having an upper surface on which a substrate is loaded, an auxiliary ring extending along an edge of the upper surface of the stage, and an actuator configured to adjust an exposed area of the auxiliary ring in a plan view. The substrate may include an etch target, and the auxiliary ring may include the same material as the etch target of the substrate.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A substrate processing apparatus comprising: a chamber defining a processing space; a stage in the processing space and having an upper surface on which a substrate is loaded; an auxiliary ring extending along an edge of the upper surface of the stage; and an actuator configured to adjust a size of an exposed area of the auxiliary ring in a plan view, wherein the substrate comprises an etch target, and the auxiliary ring comprises a same material as the etch target of the substrate.

Facts

Company
Samsung (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.)
Official title
AUXILIARY RING IN SUBSTRATE PROCESSING APPARATUS
Publication number
US20260314327A1
Application number
19573826
Filed
Mar 20, 2026
Published
Oct 8, 2026
Inventors
2
Claims
20

Classified under

H10P 72/7611 Electricity & electronicsH10P 72/0421 Electricity & electronicsH01J 37/32623 Electricity & electronicsH01J 2237/334 Electricity & electronics
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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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.