Christopher Michael Burkhart, 51Tracy, CA

6602346, Aug 5, 2003

Aug 22, 2000

09/643523

Lawrence A. Gochberg - Menlo Park CA
Christopher W. Burkhart - Los Gatos CA

Novellus Systems, Inc. - San Jose CA

H01L 21306

118715, 118733, 15634532

A vacuum valve assembly for use in a vacuum processing chamber includes a seat defining an opening in the vacuum valve, with the seat having a sealing face adjacent the opening and normal to the direction of the opening; and a gate having a sealing face adapted to mate with the seat sealing face, the gate being movable toward and away from the seat sealing face to seal and open the vacuum valve opening. A continuous elastomeric seal extends around the vacuum valve opening between the gate sealing face and the seat sealing face of sufficient size such that when the gate is positioned to seal the vacuum valve opening, there exists a gap between the gate sealing face and the seat sealing face. A purge gas port system, disposed in the seat or in the gate, has an inlet for a purge gas, an essentially continuous outlet extending around the vacuum valve opening and adjacent the elastomeric seal and gap, and a manifold system connecting the inlet and the outlet. When a purge gas is introduced through the inlet, the manifold distributes the gas to the outlet which evenly distributes the gas to the vicinity of the continuous elastomeric seal around the vacuum valve opening in the gap between the gate sealing face and the seat sealing face.

6682295, Jan 27, 2004

Jun 21, 2001

09/886803

Richard M. Blank - Sunnyvale CA
Christopher W. Burkhart - Los Gatos CA

Novellus Systems, Inc. - San Jose CA

B65G 4724

414757, 414433, 414781, 414936

A device for aligning a flatted object to a desired orientation. The flatted object has a substantially circular perimeter and a flatted chord portion and may be a silicon wafer or a cover for an electrostatic chuck. The device includes multiple conically shaped rollers that center and rotationally align the object, each roller having a bottom lip for supporting the object. Centering rollers are mounted so that they contact the circular perimeter of the object when it is in the desired orientation. Rotational alignment rollers are mounted so that they contact the flatted chord portion of the object when it is in the desired orientation. When placed on the alignment device, the flatted object passively moves to the desired orientation under the force of gravity.

6722665, Apr 20, 2004

Feb 4, 2002

10/067489

Christopher W. Burkhart - Los Gatos CA
Keith Wood - Sunnyvale CA

Novellus Systems, Inc. - San Jose CA

F16J 1502

277637, 277630, 277613

A sealing assembly is provided for sealing retractable opposing planar surfaces of processing modules each having sealable cavities for the fabrication of semiconductor wafers. The sealing assembly may include an inner frame adapted to be concentrically positioned within a central opening of an outer frame. The outer frame may include lifting tabs attached to an upper portion such that the lifting tabs are graspable to removably position the sealing assembly between the opposing planar surfaces of the processing modules. An O-ring, which may include an elastomeric material, is adapted to fit about a circumference of the inner frame. The opposing surfaces of the processing modules define an opening therebetween which accepts the sealing assembly. The opposing surfaces of the modules are retractably movable towards one another thereby coupling the O-ring between the opposing planar surfaces to provide a seal.

7585370, Sep 8, 2009

Dec 20, 2007

11/961459

Lawrence A Gochberg - Menlo Park CA, US
Christopher W Burkhart - Los Gatos CA, US

Novellus Systems, Inc. - San Jose CA

H01L 21/00
C23C 16/00
C23C 14/00

118715, 118732, 118733, 15634532, 15634531

A vacuum valve assembly for use in a vacuum processing chamber includes a seat defining an opening in the vacuum valve, with the seat having a sealing face adjacent the opening and normal to the direction of the opening; and a gate having a sealing face adapted to mate with the seat sealing face, the gate being movable toward and away from the seat sealing face to seal and open the vacuum valve opening. A continuous elastomeric seal extends around the vacuum valve opening between the gate sealing face and the seat sealing face of sufficient size such that when the gate is positioned to seal the vacuum valve opening, there exists a gap between the gate sealing face and the seat sealing face. A purge gas port system, disposed in the seat or in the gate, has an inlet for a purge gas, an essentially continuous outlet extending around the vacuum valve opening and adjacent the elastomeric seal and gap, and a manifold system connecting the inlet and the outlet. When a purge gas is introduced through the inlet, the manifold distributes the gas to the outlet which evenly distributes the gas to the vicinity of the continuous elastomeric seal around the vacuum valve opening in the gap between the gate sealing face and the seat sealing face.

7754014, Jul 13, 2010

Aug 4, 2009

12/534948

Lawrence A Gochberg - Menlo Park CA, US
Christopher W Burkhart - Los Gatos CA, US

Novellus Systems, Inc. - San Jose CA

H01L 21/00
C23C 14/00
C23C 16/00

118715, 118732, 118733, 15634532, 15634531

A vacuum valve assembly for use in a vacuum processing chamber includes a seat defining an opening in the vacuum valve, with the seat having a sealing face adjacent the opening and normal to the direction of the opening; and a gate having a sealing face adapted to mate with the seat sealing face, the gate being movable toward and away from the seat sealing face to seal and open the vacuum valve opening. A continuous elastomeric seal extends around the vacuum valve opening between the gate sealing face and the seat sealing face of sufficient size such that when the gate is positioned to seal the vacuum valve opening, there exists a gap between the gate sealing face and the seat sealing face. A purge gas port system, disposed in the seat or in the gate, has an inlet for a purge gas, an essentially continuous outlet extending around the vacuum valve opening and adjacent the elastomeric seal and gap, and a manifold system connecting the inlet and the outlet. When a purge gas is introduced through the inlet, the manifold distributes the gas to the outlet which evenly distributes the gas to the vicinity of the continuous elastomeric seal around the vacuum valve opening in the gap between the gate sealing face and the seat sealing face.

2004000, Jan 15, 2004

May 27, 2003

10/447446

Christopher Burkhart - Los Gatos CA, US
Lawrence Gochberg - Menlo Park CA, US

Novellus Systems, Inc. - San Jose CA

C23F001/00
H01L021/306
C23C016/00

118/733000, 156/345100

A vacuum valve assembly for use in a vacuum processing chamber includes a seat defining an opening in the vacuum valve, with the seat having a sealing face adjacent the opening and normal to the direction of the opening; and a gate having a sealing face adapted to mate with the seat sealing face, the gate being movable toward and away from the seat sealing face to seal and open the vacuum valve opening. A continuous elastomeric seal extends around the vacuum valve opening between the gate sealing face and the seat sealing face of sufficient size such that when the gate is positioned to seal the vacuum valve opening, there exists a gap between the gate sealing face and the seat sealing face. A purge gas port system, disposed in the seat or in the gate, has an inlet for a purge gas, an essentially continuous outlet extending around the vacuum valve opening and adjacent the elastomeric seal and gap, and a manifold system connecting the inlet and the outlet. When a purge gas is introduced through the inlet, the manifold distributes the gas to the outlet which evenly distributes the gas to the vicinity of the continuous elastomeric seal around the vacuum valve opening in the gap between the gate sealing face and the seat sealing face.

2010029, Nov 25, 2010

Apr 28, 2010

12/769486

VINAY K. SHAH - San Mateo CA, US
Navdeep Gupta - Vinayak Nagar, IN
Satish Sundar - Bangalore CA, US
Andrea Baccini - Treviso, IT
Christopher Burkhart - Los Gatos CA, US
Rohit Dey - Brookefield, IN
Christian Zorzi - Treviso, IT

APPLIED MATERIALS, INC. - Santa Clara CA

B65G 47/91
B25J 15/06
B25J 11/00

414589, 294 641, 414800, 901 40

Embodiments of the present invention provide an end effector for a substrate handling robot. In one embodiment, the end effector comprises one or more Bernoulli chucks surrounded by a plurality of suction cup devices. In one embodiment, the suction cup devices are configured in the form of a bellows to provide both cushioning and lateral stability to the substrate. In one embodiment, the suction cup devices further include an air pressure device to provide light positive pressure to the substrate during release. Embodiments of the end effector described herein provide a small vacuum pressure over a large area of ultra-thin substrates to minimize damage during handling.

5645625, Jul 8, 1997

Feb 23, 1995

8/394128

Bart J. van Schravendijk - Sunnyvale CA
Christopher W. Burkhart - San Jose CA
Tito H. Santiago - San Mateo CA
Charles E. Pomeroy - Santa Clara CA
Jeffrey W. Lind - Santa Cruz CA

Novellus Systems, Inc. - San Jose CA

B01D 1900

95 46

An apparatus and a method for delivering a liquid are disclosed. The liquid contained in a vessel is subjected to a pressurized gas. Any pressurized gas dissolved in the liquid is removed in a degas module by passing the liquid through a gas permeable tube subjected to a pressure differential. Then the liquid is dispensed by a liquid mass flow controller.