US Patent 7165711 Substrate alignment method and apparatus

A substrate that is not lying flat on its substrate tray can present significant process problems when a vacuum pickup attempts to pick up the substrate and fails due to the lack of a proper bond forming between the pickup and the substrate. The substrate left behind on the substrate tray could require human intervention. Intervention slows down the manufacturing process and increases costs. A method and apparatus to ensure that substrates are lying flat when presented to the vacuum pickup pad is disclosed. A plate with protrusions is raised into a substrate tray with holes. The protrusions lift the substrates up off the bottom of the substrate tray and ensure that they are laying flat when presented to the vacuum pickup pad.