Patent ID: 7954449

Claim:
A production system comprising: a plurality of self-contained portable vacuum chucks, wherein each of the self-contained portable vacuum chucks includes a chuck body, a support structure disposed on the chuck body, the support structure including an upper wall having a support surface and defining a vacuum chamber that is disposed below the support surface, a vacuum pump mounted on the chuck body for generating a low pressure in the vacuum chamber, a thermal control system including ducts disposed on the upper wall of the support structure below the support surface, and a power supply mounted on the chuck body and coupled to the vacuum pump and the thermal control system, whereby the vacuum pump functions to generate said low pressure in the vacuum chamber and the thermal control system functions to regulate environmental aspects of the support surface in response to energy drawn from the power supply; means for loading a plurality of wafers onto said plurality of self-contained vacuum chucks such that one of said plurality of wafers is disposed on the support surface of each of said plurality of self-contained portable vacuum chucks a plurality of processing stations; and means for sequentially conveying the plurality of self-contained portable vacuum chucks between the plurality of processing stations.