Appeal No. 2006-2344
Application No. 10/408,890
Wafer table system 14 may be a wafer table system of an Abacus IIID-
SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT Die Bonder of Texas instruments Incorporated. Wafer table
system 14 includes wafer table 50, adhesive surface 52, and silicon wafer 54. Wafer table 50
comprises a programmable controller that receives the wafer center coordinates from wafer
center computing system 38 and then calculates the continuous wafer edge coordinates from
the wafer center coordinates. Wafer table 50 also comprises suitable motive elements and is
operable to move in an "X" direction and a "Y" direction, as shown in FIG. 1, in response to
control signals received from wafer table interface system 28. Wafer table 50 moves relative
to the fixed die removal position, such that the die removal position may be controllably
located at any coordinate location of wafer table 50. Adhesive surface 52 comprises an
adhesive material that is used to hold silicon wafer 54. As previously noted, silicon wafer 54
moves relative to adhesive surface 52 during cutting operations.
With the above discussion in mind, we find that the combination of APA, Akimoto and
Subramanian teaches the claimed invention. We find that APA teaches a measuring equipment
having a wafer table equipped with a rotary drive. APA also teaches a vacuum suction
mechanism that aligns the interior of the wafer table is used to hold the wafer in place during
rotation of the drive. APA further teaches a notch detector to determine the position of the wafer
and its notch, as well as a notch aligner, which aligns the wafer by means of its notch in the
wafer edge. Additionally, APA teaches aligning the coordinates of the wafer and the
measurement system with a notch detector and a notch aligner in order to carry out
measurements at precise locations of the wafer. Next, we find that Akimoto teaches a substrate
unit (33) having a first and second cuplike wafer tables (34, 35), one laid on top of the other,
each including a support base and a support means that allow the substrate unit to move up and
down suitably to place the substrate on an empty table, thereby allowing the substrate to wait for
processing. Column 3, lines 20-24. Next, we find that Subramanian teaches an adhesive
material (52) as a substitute for a suction device (44) to secure in place a wafer inside of a wafer
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