Patent ID: 8320099

Claim:
A method for repairing a severed electrical connection within a balancing circuit of an electrostatic chuck assembly, comprising: determining the resistance between a substrate spacing mask disposed on the upper surface of an electrostatic chuck and a conductive tubing extending from the lower surface of the electrostatic chuck and axially aligned with a metallically lined aperture extending through the electrostatic chuck; evaluating the determined resistance to determine whether the electrical connection between the conductive tubing and the substrate mask has been severed; and repairing the severed connection by restoring a conductive path between the conductive tubing and the substrate spacing mask by using a welding technique to re-melt and re-fuse conductive material located between the metallically lined aperture and the conductive tubing, wherein the welding technique is selected from the list consisting of electron beam welding, laser welding, and micro plasma welding.