Patent ID: 7900311

Claim:
A method for supporting a wafer comprising: introducing an edge of the wafer between a sloped first and second guide surface of a side-contact roller; contacting the wafer directly with at least one of the first and second guide surfaces; wherein the first and second guide surfaces include a low-friction material adapted to facilitate sliding the wafer edge between the sloped first and second guide surfaces; and contacting edge-adjacent regions of the wafer with a first friction ring of a first frictional planar surface and a second friction ring of a second frictional planar surface of the side-contact roller after the wafer edge is introduced between the first and second guide surfaces, wherein the first friction ring and the second friction ring are separately formed from the first and second guide surfaces of the side-contact roller; wherein the first and second guide surface material is low-friction relative to the first and second frictional planar surfaces of the side-contact roller.