Appeal No. 2003-0291 Page 5
Application No. 09/569,074
strictly via adhesive bonding with a tangential force in a tension axis of the membrane.
However, these limitations are not suggested by the applied prior art.
Hasegawa teaches a workpiece holding mechanism including a holding plate 6,
an elastic membrane 7 bonded to the bottom surface of the holding plate 6, a holding
membrane 8 bonded to the bottom surface of the elastic membrane 7 and a template 9
bonded to the holding membrane 8. A fluid confinement space 11 is formed inside the
holding plate 6. The fluid confinement space 11 includes a reservoir space 11a formed
in the bottom surface of the holding plate 6 and having a predetermined depth, a
vertical bore 11b for supplying an incompressible fluid such as water into the reservoir
space 11a and a horizontal bore 11c which communicates with the vertical bore 11b at
an intermediate position thereof. The reservoir space 11a is covered with the elastic
membrane 7 on at least the bottom side thereof. The holding membrane 8 made of
polyurethane foam which when pressed against a wafer will be held by the holding
membrane 8 as if it were sucked by the holding membrane 8. The template 9 is
provided with a hole 9a having substantially the same shape as that of the wafer W
inserted within the hole 9a and is adapted to prevent the wafer W from shifting.
Hasegawa does not teach or suggest using an adhesive on the outer surface of
the elastic membrane 7 for substantially restraining the wafer from movement in a
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