Vacuum pencil having a short tip with an abutment means
 The invention provides a vacuum pencil having an abutment pin which limits the distance the tip of the vacuum pencil can extend past the edge of a wafer thus reducing scratches on the device sides of adjacent wafers. The vacuum pencil has a relatively flat tip connected to a body. The tip has a flat top side for engaging a wafer. The top side of the tip has channels for delivering a vacuum to seal against the wafer against the tip. The top side of the tip also has an pin mounted between the channels and the body. A passage for delivering a vacuum runs through the body and the channel is connected to the channel in the tip. The pin can be a pentagon shaped pin which is about 1 mm high. 
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd.
Y H
Y10T H01L
additional inventional
Dean E. Chien K. Chih M.
Lin Chou Chen