Abstract: PLanar articles such as silicon wafers 40 are removably mounted onto a flat microcellular polyurethane surface layer 48 of a carrier 30 to permit an exposed surface 42 of each wafer 40 to be polished.To retain the wafers 40 against lateral polishing forces on the carrier 30 the surface of the layer 48 is treated with a dilute organic acid prior to mounting the wafers 40. The treatment involves contacting the surface of the layer 48 with the acid selected from the group consisting of citric, propionic, formic and acetic acids. The surface of the layer 48 is thoroughly wetted with the acid after which all excess acid is scraped from the surface. The wafers 40 are then manually placed upon the surface while it is still wet.

Abstract: To eliminate the manual handling of individual articles associated with loading and unloading conventional treating apparatus, a plurality of articles are simultaneously treated in the carriers which are used for batch handling prior to and subsequent to the treating operation. In a disclosed embodiment, wafer-shaped articles are held in mutually spaced substantially parallel relationship in a plurality of slots in a first carrier having an open face through which the wafers can be inserted and removed. The open face of the first carrier is abutted to the open face of an empty second carrier having at least a corresponding plurality of slots, such that the slots of the first carrier are aligned with the slots of the second carrier. The abutted carriers, with the wafers contained therein, are submersed in a treating medium and rotated about an axis running through the abutted faces of the carriers.

Abstract: In making semiconductor devices such as integrated circuits, semiconductor wafers are often sorted according to both their thickness and their resistivity. To so sort the wafers they are moved successively along a first track to a thickness determining device which produces a signal indicative of the thickness of each wafer. This signal is stored by a computer. Continued successive movement of the wafers brings them to a resistivity determining device. This device, which is rendered effective by the stored thickness signal, produces a signal indicative of the resistivity of each wafer. The resistivity signal is stored by the computer. The successive movement of the wafers is continued along the first track to move them onto a second track. Each article is moved successively along the second track. And, in response to the stored signals, each article is moved into a preselected position associated with both the thickness and the resistivity of each article.

Abstract: To eliminate the manual handling of individual articles associated with loading and unloading conventional treating apparatus, a plurality of articles are simultaneously treated in the carriers which are used for batch handling prior to and subsequent to the treating operation. In a disclosed embodiment, wafer-shaped articles are held in mutually spaced substantially parallel relationship in a plurality of slots in a first carrier having an open face through which the wafers can be inserted and removed. The open face of the first carrier is abutted to the open face of an empty second carrier having at least a corresponding plurality of slots, such that the slots of the first carrier are aligned with the slots of the second carrier. The abutted carriers, with the wafers contained therein, are submersed in a treating medium and rotated about an axis running through the abutted faces of the carriers.