ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 3 -- United States Patent no. 12,787,678, issued on Nov. 3, was assigned to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (Hsinchu, Taiwan).
"Dynamic exhaust for chemical processing" was invented by Yi-Chang Chen (Hsinchu City, Taiwan) and Yao Hwan Kao (Hsinchu County, Taiwan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The present disclosure describes a processing system that includes a stage configured to hold a substrate thereon and an exhaust system. The exhaust system can include a perforated plate with exhaust holes and an exhaust port. The perforated plate can be positioned between the substrate and the exhaust port. Each of the exhaust holes includes a shutter."
The patent was ...