Method of determining a dechucking voltage which nullifies a residual electrostatic chuck and a wafer.

摘要

The disclosure relates to a method of determining an optimum de-chucking voltage for nullifying residual electrostatic forces on a wafer (101) in an electrostatic chuck (111 to 114) for removal of the wafer from the chuck, including holding the wafer on the electrostatic chuck by applying an electrostatic potential (260) to the chuck, reducing the electrostatic potential of the chuck while observing a rate of leakage of the gas from between the wafer and the chuck, and recording as the optimum dechucking voltage the value of the electrostatic potential obtaining when the rate of leakage exceeds a predetermined threshold. <IMAGE>