Patent ID: 7900373

Claim:
A method for conditioning semiconductor wafers and/or hybrids comprising: preparing a space which is essentially enclosed by a container and has a wafer/hybrid chuck which is located therein and has the purpose of holding a semiconductor wafer and/or hybrid applied to the wafer/hybrid chuck; pre-cooling a dry fluid in a single heat exchanger outside the space; conducting the pre-cooled fluid out of the single heat exchanger into the wafer/hybrid chuck via a first line, and then through the wafer/hybrid chuck to cool the wafer/hybrid chuck; conducting at least a portion of the fluid having been conducted through the wafer/hybrid chuck back to the single heat exchanger via a second line out of the wafer/hybrid chuck to the single heat exchanger; and heating the portion, by using a residual coldness of the portion to cool the single heat exchanger to contribute to the pre-cooling of the fluid in the single heat exchanger, wherein the heated portion is conducted via a third line from the single heat exchanger into the space, before being allowed to flow out within the space to condition the atmosphere in the space, and wherein the same single heat exchanger both: pre-cools and conducts the fluid to the wafer/hybrid chuck, and receives back the fluid from the wafer/hybrid chuck to contribute to the pre-cooling of the fluid.