Heating – Heating or heat retaining work chamber structure – Door – cover or port
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-18
2002-07-16
Wilson, Gregory (Department: 3749)
Heating
Heating or heat retaining work chamber structure
Door, cover or port
C432S253000, C049S373000, C049S464000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06419482
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an opening and closing apparatus of an opening and closing lid of an accommodation box for an object to be processed and a processing system using such an opening and closing apparatus and, more particularly, to an opening and closing apparatus of an opening and closing lid of an accommodation box for accommodating an object to be processed such as a semiconductor wafer in a sealed state and a processing system using such an opening and closing apparatus.
BACKGROUND ART
Generally, in order to fabricate a semiconductor integrated circuit such as an IC or an LSI, a film deposition process, an oxidation and diffusion process, an etching process, etc., are repeatedly performed with respect to a semiconductor wafer. Since these processes are preformed by separate processing apparatuses, the semiconductor wafer must be transported between the processing apparatuses. When transporting a semiconductor wafer, adhesion of foreign materials onto the surface of the semiconductor wafer and formation of a natural oxidation film must be prevented so to maintain the yield. Accordingly, the semiconductor wafer is transported while being accommodated in an accommodation box of an object to be processed.
As shown in FIG.
1
and
FIG. 2
, the accommodation box
2
of an object to be processed has a box container
6
, which has an opening part
4
formed on one side thereof and has a semicircular shape on the other side. A plurality of support protrusions
8
are provided on an inner wall surface of the box container
6
so as to support the fringe of semiconductor wafers W. The semiconductor wafers W are accommodated in a multistep state at equal intervals in the vertical direction in a state in which the semiconductor wafers W are supported by the support protrusions
8
.
Normally, twenty-five or thirteen wafers W can be accommodated in a single box
2
. An opening and closing lid
10
formed of a hollow square plate is attached to the opening part
4
of the box container
6
. The opening and closing lid
10
can maintain the box container
6
in a sealed state in a state in which the opening and closing lid
10
is attached to the opening part
4
of the box container, thereby preventing the accommodated wafers W from contacting an atmosphere.
The opening and closing lid
10
is provided with two locking mechanism
12
so that the opening and closing lid
10
can be fixed to the box container
6
. Additionally, by releasing the locking mechanism
12
, the opening and closing lid
10
can be removed from the opening part
4
. Specifically, the locking mechanism
12
has a lock plate
16
rotatably mounted to the opening and closing lid
10
at a substantially middle position in the direction of height via a bearing
14
, as also shown in
FIG. 3A
to
FIG. 5. A
key groove
18
having an elongated concave shape, which fits to a key member described later, is formed on the lock plate
16
. The front of lock plate
16
is covered by a lock plate covering member
22
that has a key insertion hole
20
at a position corresponding to a position of the key groove
18
when it is locked.
The lock plate
16
is engaged with an arm
23
, as also shown in
FIGS. 3A and 3B
and
FIG. 4
, so as to form a crank mechanism, which converts a circular arc motion into a liner motion. The arm
23
extends in a vertical direction, and a pin
24
is connected to each end of the arm
23
. That is, each pin
24
is moved in the vertical direction by rotating the lock plate
16
by 90 degrees in the normal or reverse direction.
An end of each pin
24
is inserted into a pin hole
28
of the upper edge and the lower edge defining the opening part
4
as shown in
FIG. 2
(only the upper edge is shown in
FIG. 2
) so that the opening and closing lid
10
does not separate from the opening part
4
when it is locked. It should be noted that each pin
24
is provided so as to extend vertically through the interior of the hollow opening and closing lid
10
. Accordingly, as shown in
FIG. 4
or
FIG. 5
, an unlocked state can be achieved by fitting the key member
26
in the key groove
18
and turning the key member
26
by 90 degrees from the locked state as shown in
FIG. 3A
so as to move the pin
24
backward to remove the pin
24
from the pin hole
28
(refer to FIG.
2
).
Generally, the accommodation box
2
is automatically transported in a processing system provided with an automatic transporting mechanism of the accommodation box and a stock area temporarily storing the accommodation box. Additionally, the key member
26
is operated by an automatic device having the key member
26
so that the opening and closing lid
10
is automatically detached from and attached to the accommodation box
2
according the above-mentioned procedures. However, since the key member
26
is loosely fit in the key groove
18
, there is a play between the key member
28
and the key groove
18
. Accordingly, when the opening and closing lid
10
is unlocked so as to remove the opening and closing lid
10
from the opening part
4
and support the opening and closing lid
10
by the key member
26
, the opening and closing lid
10
may be displaced by being inclined with respect to the key member
26
. Accordingly, there is a problem in that the opening and closing lid
10
cannot be completely attached to the opening part
4
due to its disposition when closing the accommodation box
2
by attaching the opening and closing lid
10
to the opening part
4
after the process of the wafer is completed.
In order to solve such a problem, positioning holes
30
are provided to the opening and closing lid
10
so that positioning pins (not shown in the figure), which moves forward and backward together with the key member
26
, can be inserted into the positioning holes
30
so as to support the opening and closing lid
10
by sharing the load of the opening and closing lid
10
with the positioning pins. However, since the positioning pins are designed so as to be loosely fitted in the positioning holes
30
, the displacement of the opening and closing lid
10
cannot be completely eliminated. Thus, in order to prevent the opening and closing lid
10
from being displaced when the opening and closing lid
10
is removed, a vacuum pad that moves forward and backward together with the key member
26
is provided so as to hold the opening and closing lid
10
in a state in which the front surface of the opening and closing lid
10
is attracted by vacuum. However, in this case, there is a problem in that the opening and closing mechanism of the opening and closing lid
10
becomes complex due to the addition of the vacuum pad mechanism.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved and useful opening and closing apparatus of an opening and closing lid of an accommodation box of an object to be processed and a processing system in which the above-mentioned problems are eliminated.
More specific object of the present invention is to provide an opening and closing apparatus of an opening and closing lid of an accommodation box of an object to be processed and a processing system, which can prevent a displacement of the opening and closing lid when the opening and closing lid is removed.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned objects, there is provided according to one aspect of the present invention an opening and closing apparatus for opening and closing an opening and closing lid which closes an opening part of an accommodating box for accommodating an object to be processed and is locked by a locking mechanism,
characterized in that the opening and closing apparatus comprises:
a base table;
a key member mounted to the base table via a bearing mechanism in a state in which the key member is rotatable with respect to the base table and movable in a vertical direction with respect to a front surface of the base table;
a key member turning mechanism which turns the key member in either a normal or reverse directions;
key member turning mechanism mo
Ogawa Masahiro
Sakata Kazunari
Tanifuji Tamotsu
Pillsbury & Winthrop LLP
Wilson Gregory
LandOfFree
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