Wafer holding apparatus for holding a wafer.

摘要

A wafer holding apparatus for holding a wafer stationary includes a main body (10) and a plate member (11) detachably placed on the main body (10). The main body (10) includes a cavity (14) having an open end at the upper surface of the main body (10) and includes a passageway (15) extending from the cavity (14) to communicate the cavity (14) with a vacuum pump (16). The plate member (11) is placed on the main body (10) to plug the open end of the cavity (14) and supports on its upper surface a wafer (12) to be processed. The plate member (11) has a number of through bores (17) arranged in a predetermined arrangement matched for the arrangement of micromachined sections of the wafer (12) where micromachines (13) or integrated circuits are to be formed. Before processing of the wafer (12), the plate member (11) is selected for the wafer (12) in such a manner that the through bores (17) of the plate member are deviated from the micromachined sections of the wafer (12) where the micromachines (13) are to be formed. This results in the micromachined sections being protected from the suction force caused by the vacuum pump (4), thereby making it possible to enhance the productivity of the wafer (12).