ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 28 -- United States Patent no. 12,696,716, issued on July 28, was assigned to ETEL S.A. (Motiers, Switzerland).
"Z-rotary wafer positioning stage comprising a lift-pin mechanism" was invented by Eric Sivignon (Motiers, Switzerland).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A Z-rotary wafer positioning stage includes a stationary unit, a Z-unit actuatable upwardly and downwardly relative to the stationary unit, a rotary unit having a wafer chuck rotatably mounted in the Z-unit, a rotary motor for rotating the rotary unit relative to the Z-unit, and a lift-pin mechanism including lift-pins aligned with through-holes extending through the wafer chuck. The lift-pin mechanism can be togg...