Patent ID: 7226055

Claim:
A chuck assembly for use in a spin, rinse, and dry (SRD) module, the chuck assembly comprising: a chuck yoke configured to rotate; a plurality of arm assemblies connected to the chuck yoke on a first end, each of the plurality of arm assemblies including a spring, an opening, and a pin, the opening having an open position and a closed position, the pin being defined in the open position in the opening, wherein an initial rotation of the chuck yoke applies a force onto the plurality of arm assemblies causing the plurality of arm assemblies to move and a secondary rotation of the chuck yoke causes each of the plurality of the springs to compress moving the pin from the open position to the closed position; and a plurality of gripper assemblies, a second end of each of the arm assemblies being connected to a respective one of the plurality of gripper assemblies, the chuck yoke being capable of rotating to move each of the plurality of arm assemblies and respective plurality of gripper assemblies into a closed position, wherein a compression force from each of the linkage springs is applied to a substrate when the gripper assemblies are moved to the closed position, wherein each arm assembly includes, a linkage arm including an outer shell, the outer shell including a chamber, the linkage arm further including a linkage arm opening defined along a portion of the outer shell; a yoke arm having a yoke arm body, a front portion of the yoke arm body being defined within the chamber, the yoke arm body including a yoke arm opening, the yoke arm opening configured to be aligned with the linkage arm opening; said spring disposed between the yoke arm and the linkage arm, the spring configured to be wrapped around the front portion of the yoke arm; and said pin disposed within the linkage arm opening and the yoke arm opening, the pin configured to move between the open position and the closed position so as to limit the compression of the spring.