Co-axial motorized wafer lift

A heating and lifting mechanism (50) for positioning a semiconductor wafer within a processing chamber (54) is provided including a pedestal (58) for supporting the wafer within the process chamber, a drive shaft (64) extending downwardly from a lower region of the pedestal and exhibiting a lead screw (98) at a distal portion thereof, and a drive mechanism (90), which is coaxial with the drive shaft, for providing linear vertical translation of the shaft and pedestal. The device also includes a CONFLAT® assembly (66) located between the pedestal and drive shaft. The CONFLAT® assembly includes upper and lower substantially flat planar plates (68,70) removably connected to one another. The upper plate is connected to a lower region of the pedestal, and the lower plate is connected to an upper end of the drive shaft. The CONFLAT® assembly permits removal of the heater pedestal without removing the entire lift assembly.