Wafer handling and placement tool

Claim 1

A wafer handling and placement tool, said tool including a pair of elongated generally parallel arms having base and spaced apart free ends, connecting means connecting said base ends together for relative swinging of said arms in generally parallel planes for movement of said free ends toward and away from each other, each of said free ends supporting an elongated jaw support member having first and second ends with the first ends thereof supported from the corresponding free ends of said arms and the second ends thereof each projecting toward the free end of the other arm, said second ends being disposed in endwise overlapped relation and including elongated jaws supported therefrom having mounted and work engaging ends with said mounted ends supported from said second ends and said work engaging ends projecting in generally the same lateral direction outwardly from said second ends, said work engaging ends including opposing jaw elements supported therefrom adapted to clampingly support opposite peripheral portions of a wafer workpiece therebetween, said jaw support members including opposing lengthwise extending guide surfaces slidingly engaged with each other, said connecting means including means applying opposite lateral forces on said arms serving to bias said support members and the guide surfaces toward each other, said jaw elements being tubular in configuration and projecting endwise outwardly from the work engaging ends of said jaws, the outer ends of said tubular jaw elements having opposing transverse notches formed therein opening into the interiors of said jaw elements, and workpiece ejecting rods reciprocal in the interiors of said tubular jaw elements and lengthwise projectible into the notched portions of said tubular jaw elements for ejecting workpiece portions engaged in said notches.