Patent ID: 8398875

Claim:
A method of orienting an upper electrode relative to a lower electrode having a existing orientation in a process chamber to define active and inactive process zones in the process chamber for processing a wafer, the method comprising the operations of: configuring each electrode with a reference surface, a lower electrode reference surface being in the existing orientation and an upper electrode reference surface to be oriented parallel to the lower electrode reference surface; temporarily holding the upper electrode reference surface oriented parallel to the lower electrode reference surface; and securing the upper electrode to a drive to mount the upper electrode reference surface parallel to the lower electrode reference surface; wherein the holding operation spaces the upper electrode reference surface from the lower electrode reference surface by a fixture thickness, the fixture thickness being equal to the sum of a thickness of the wafer and a thickness of the inactive process zone and a thickness of a process exclusion insert to be secured to the upper electrode reference surface for processing the wafer.