Container

Details Container Container

2000-02-24

2001-02-13

Foster, Jim (Department: 3728)

Special receptacle or package

Holder for a removable electrical component

For a semiconductor wafer

C206S454000, C417S217000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06186331

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a container for receiving and transporting an article such as a substrate necessary to be kept under the condition of high cleanliness during being transported. There is described hereunder a container in relation to a semiconductor substrate such as a silicon wafer or a liquid crystal substrate as the above article, in particular a silicon wafer as an example, however, the present invention is not limited to the above article. The container of the present invention is applicable to any kind of article necessary to be kept under the condition of high cleanliness during being transported.
2. Background of the Invention
The semiconductor substrate, in particular silicon wafer is contaminated when dust or vaporized organic compounds (hereinafter referred to as “dust”) are attached thereto, thus leading to a lower productivity, i.e., the rate of producing products with high-quality is low. It is therefore necessary to maintain high cleanliness in the surroundings of the silicon wafer when the silicon wafer is transported. More specifically, the silicon wafer is one of the articles necessary to be kept under the condition of high cleanliness during transported (hereinafter referred to as a “detesting dust article”).
In general, the silicon wafer is worked in a room where cleanliness is high (hereinafter referred to as a “high cleanliness room”), i.e., so called a clean room. On the other hand, when the silicon wafer is transported, the silicon wafer is received in an airtightly sealed container, the inside of which is kept under the condition of high cleanliness (hereinafter referred to as a “container”), and then, the container with the silicon wafer received therein is transported. Thus, the silicon wafer can be transported through a room in which the degree of cleanliness is low or outdoor (hereinafter referred to as a “low cleanliness room”), avoiding the silicon wafer from being contaminated by dust or the like during transported.
There is disposed a loader having an opening portion, which opening portion can be closed, in the border portion between the high cleanliness room and the low cleanliness room. The silicon wafer is moved through the above loader from the inner space of the container with high cleanliness to the high cleanliness room, then worked therein (hereinafter referred to as “loading”). In addition, the silicon wafer is moved through the loader from the high cleanliness room to the inner space of the container with high cleanliness, then transferred to another treatment step (hereinafter referred to as “unloading”).
More specifically, the silicon wafer is loaded or unloaded through the above opening portion of the loader. The container has a cover (i.e., lid) in a direction to the opening portion of the loader, which cover is opened when the silicon wafer is loaded or unloaded.
When the silicon wafer is not loaded or unloaded, the opening portion of the loader is kept closed so as to prevent dust from floating into the high cleanliness room from the low cleanliness room. A door may be disposed in the opening portion so that the opening portion can be opened or closed by the door.
In this case, the door may be large enough to completely close the opening portion of the loader. In addition, the door may be the size in which the door is about 5 mm smaller in each side than the respective side of the opening portion of the loader in such manner that there is provided aperture (open space) between the door and the opening portion of the loader, while the air pressure in the high cleanliness room is kept higher than that in the lower cleanliness room, thus air flows through the aperture from the high cleanliness room to the low cleanliness room.
The following standards for the above container and loader are proposed and applied: SEMI (Semiconductor Equipment and Material International) Standard E47.1 [Box/Pod (FOUP)], E15.1[Tool Load Port], E57[Kinematic Coupling], E62[Front-Opening Interface Standard (FIMS), E63 [Box/Opener to Tool Standard (BOLTS) and the like (hereinafter referred to as “Standard”).
RELATED ART
An example of the conventional container is described in
FIG. 1
as for reference.
There is formed an opening portion
103
at the frontal portion of the container
102
, which opening portion
103
is opened and closed by a cover
105
. There is fixed a part named as a teeth
109
on the inner wall of the container, which holds a plurality of silicon wafers
107
in parallel and horizontally within the container
101
.
There is formed key holes
111
on the outer surface of the cover
105
, to which an opener mechanism disposed on the loader is applied. More specifically, keys of the opener mechanism are inserted into the key holes
111
and turned to cause the lock mechanism disposed in the cover
105
to operate. As a result, four locking pawls
115
in the lock mechanism, which protrude from four window portions
113
provided in the frame portion of the opening portion
103
, move backward in such manner that the locking pawls are released from recessed portions
117
provided on the frame portion of the container in the opening portion
103
, thus the locking is disengaged. Then, the cover
105
is removed from the frame portion of the container in the opening portion
103
.
However, according to the conventional container, when the lock mechanism comprising gears, cams and the like is operated, dust is generated to flow out of the window portions
113
in the frame portion of the cover
105
. The thus generated dust flows into the inside of the container by the air stream generated at the instant when the locking pawls
115
are disengaged and the cover
105
is released, thus contaminating the silicon wafer
107
in the container. More specifically, there is caused to occur the difference in air pressure between the high cleanliness room and the inside of the container
101
by the positive pressure applied to the high cleanliness room at the instant when the cover
105
is released, thus producing the air stream. The dust is carried by the air stream toward the inside of the container
101
and then contaminates the inside thereof.
There is described the structure around the hitched portion
117
in more detail with reference to FIG.
1
(B). The frame portion of the container
101
in the opening portion
103
protrudes forward so as to form flange
119
. More specifically, the front end of the flange
119
forms the front end of the frame portion of the container in the opening portion
103
. The recessed portion which is the hitched portion
117
is formed on the inner surface of the flange
119
. Accordingly when the lock mechanism is operated to be engaged, both of the locking pawls
115
and windows portions
113
are located inward of the front end of the flange
119
. The air stream is separated at the front end of the flange
119
into two streams comprising an outer stream (lower stream) and an inner stream (upper stream), as shown in FIG.
1
(B) by arrows. The inner stream passes along the inner surface of the flange
119
to carry the dust discharged from the window portions
113
through the space between the frame portion of the cover
105
and the flange
119
to the inside of the container, thus contaminating the inside of the container
101
.
Furthermore, in addition to the dust generated in the lock mechanism, the dust generated by the friction between the locking pawl and the hitched portion
117
also contaminates the inside of the container.
Furthermore, when the inner surface of the flange
119
in the opening portion
103
is scraped by the frame portion of the cover
105
, dust is generated, thus contaminating the inside of the container
101
.
The present invention is proposed to solve the above problems in the conventional container. The purpose of the present invention is therefore to provide a container for receiving and transporting the detesting dust article which can remarkably reduce the dus

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