CN110865511B

CN110865511B - Photomask box and actuating method thereof

Info

Publication number: CN110865511B
Application number: CN201811230155.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 潘咏晋; 钟承恩
Original assignee: Gudeng Precision Industrial Co Ltd
Current assignee: Gudeng Precision Industrial Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-08-27
Filing date: 2018-10-22
Publication date: 2023-08-29
Anticipated expiration: 2038-10-22
Also published as: CN110865511A; TWI685711B; TW202009597A

Abstract

The invention provides a photomask box and an actuating method thereof. The positioning module mainly comprises a body, a lever part, an actuating part and a pushing part. The invention can easily achieve the effect of positioning the photomask in the photomask box by the linkage principle of the body, the lever part, the actuating part and the pushing part and by matching the limitation of the first stop part.

Description

Photomask box and actuating method thereof

Technical Field

The invention relates to a photomask box and an actuating method thereof, in particular to a photomask box with a special actuating structure for pushing and positioning a photomask and an actuating method thereof.

Background

In the semiconductor transportation industry, the storage or transportation of various semiconductor devices or semiconductor semi-finished products has become a significant problem. In the case of an automated machine that is commonly used, how to transport the desired materials or semiconductor devices to the desired location is examined by various properties of the carrier, such as reduced generation of micro particles, antistatic properties, or air tightness.

Semiconductor devices that are often stored or transported include wafers, substrates, or reticles. Particularly, the mask size used in different semiconductor processes is different, so that carriers with different sizes are derived.

Among them, reticle Pod (Reticle Pod) is a common monolithic Reticle storage or transfer carrier. Also, since the mask is a device used in a very precise process such as photolithography and etching in a semiconductor process. Therefore, carriers for transporting or storing reticles are often required to have anti-static, anti-micro particle generation, and stable and secure positioning of the reticle stored therein, avoiding damage to the reticle due to collisions.

Particularly, for the mask positioning portion, since the operation of the mask box is mostly performed by an automated mechanical arm. In order to avoid external equipment touching the precise photomask directly, a mechanism design for automatically positioning the photomask due to opening and closing of the box cover is mostly designed in the photomask box.

Conventionally, the positioning mask mechanisms are classified into active and passive positioning modes. Passive techniques typically utilize a simple bevel geometry design to achieve the pushing effect against the mask. The active mechanism is realized by complex connecting rod, spring or spring sheet. The active mechanism has the defects of complex structural design, high cost caused by tiny particles easily generated by friction, and the like.

In this regard, there is a need for a structurally efficient and simple design for a conventional reticle pod to change the shortcomings currently faced.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a reticle pod and an actuating method thereof. The photomask box comprises an upper cover, a positioning module and a lower cover. The positioning module mainly comprises a body, a lever part, an actuating part and a pushing part.

The upper cover is provided with an inner surface, and the positioning module is arranged on the inner surface. The body comprises a first stop part, and the lever part is rotatably connected with the body. The actuating portion is connected with the lever portion, and the pushing portion is connected with the lever portion. And the lower cover is covered with the upper cover. The actuating part is arranged on one side close to the lower cover and can be detachably contacted with the lower cover, and the first stop part limits the rotation of the actuating part.

The invention further provides an actuating method of the photomask box, which mainly comprises three steps. Firstly, step (a) is performed to provide the mask box. And (c) executing the step (b), namely covering the lower cover on the upper cover, enabling the lower cover to push the actuating part, and finally executing the step (c), wherein the actuating part drives the lever part to rotate, and enabling the pushing part to push a photomask and position the photomask.

The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the several features of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention may be better understood. The summary of the invention is not an extensive overview of the invention, and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of the invention nor delineate the scope of the invention, but merely to present several concepts of the invention in a simplified manner.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a top cover structure according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a positioning module according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a positioning module according to an embodiment of the present invention after being started;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a reticle pod after activation of a positioning module according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of an actuation method embodying the present invention.

Symbol description:

photomask box 10

Upper cover 101

Inner surface 1011

Antistatic element 102

Lower cover 103

Positioning module 200

Body 201

First stop 2011

Lever portion 202

Actuating portion 203

Curved groove structure 2031

Pushing part 204

Extension 205

Fixing element 206

V-shaped recess 207

Hole 208

Second stop portion 209

Photomask R

Detailed Description

For an understanding of the technical features and practical functions of the present invention, and as can be implemented according to the content of the present specification, the following detailed description will be given with reference to the preferred embodiments shown in the drawings, in which:

first, referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a reticle pod after a positioning module is started in an embodiment of the invention. In the embodiment of fig. 4, it is explicitly shown that the reticle pod 10 of this embodiment includes an upper cover 101, a positioning module 200, and a lower cover 103. The positioning module 200 mainly includes a body 201, a lever portion 202, an actuating portion 203, and a pushing portion 204.

As can be seen from the embodiment of fig. 4, the upper cover 101 has an inner surface 1011. In this embodiment, the inner surface 1011 may not only be a simple inner structure, but also may be provided with an antistatic element 102 such as a metal cover or a metal liner, and may be adaptively mounted in the upper cover 101, which is not limited by the present invention. And the positioning module 200 is disposed on the inner surface 1011.

In this example, the positioning module 200 may also be disposed on the upper cover 101 after passing through the antistatic element 102 (metal liner). However, in other possible embodiments, the body 201 of the positioning module 200 may be integrally formed with the upper cover 101 and disposed through the antistatic element 102 of the inner surface 1011, which is not limited by the present invention.

Referring to fig. 1 and fig. 2, fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an upper cover structure according to an embodiment of the invention; fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a positioning module before starting up according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 1 and 2, in comparison with the state in which the upper cover 101 of the present embodiment is covered with the lower cover 103 in fig. 4, fig. 1 and 2 show the case where the upper cover 101 is separated from the lower cover 103.

In fig. 2, it is apparent that in the positioning module 200 of the present embodiment, the body 201 further includes a first stop 2011. And the lever portion 202 is rotatably connected to the body 201. The actuating portion 203 is connected to the lever portion 202, and the pushing portion 204 is connected to the lever portion 202. Further, the lever portion 202, the actuating portion 203 and the pushing portion 204 are integrally formed and are configured as an S-shaped sheet structure. Through the design of the S-shaped sheet structure, the use of parts can be greatly reduced, and the effect of pushing the photomask R to position can be achieved.

As can be appreciated from the disclosure of fig. 1, 2 and 4, since the lower cover 103 needs to be covered with the upper cover 101, the actuating portion 203 must be disposed on a side close to the lower cover 103 and detachably contacted with the lower cover 103, and the first stopping portion 2011 limits the rotation of the actuating portion 203, so as to achieve the effect of effectively and actively pushing the mask R to a specific position.

In this embodiment, the actuating portion 203 is further provided with a curved groove structure 2031. The curved groove structure 2031 is mainly configured to reduce the contact area between the sheet-shaped actuating portion 203 and the lower cover 103, so as to effectively prevent or reduce the risk of generation of micro particles due to excessive contact area between the actuating portion 203 and the lower cover 103 when the upper cover 101 is covered.

Referring to fig. 2 and fig. 3, fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a positioning module according to an embodiment of the invention after being started; FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a reticle pod after activation of a positioning module according to an embodiment of the invention.

As shown in fig. 2 and 3, referring to the cross-sectional views of fig. 1 and 4, it is known that in the present embodiment, the pushing portion 204 is an arc-shaped spring. In particular, in the sectional views of fig. 1 and 4, it can be seen that the pushing portion 204 is slightly bent toward the side close to the upper cover 101, forming the above-mentioned arc-shaped elastic piece. Through the shape design of the arc-shaped elastic sheet, the lever acting force generated when the upper cover 101 is pressed downwards can be effectively absorbed. The mask R is prevented from being damaged due to the fact that the pushing part 204 cannot absorb part of excessive force under the condition that the force is suddenly increased.

As can be seen from fig. 2 and 3, in this embodiment, the body 201 is further connected to at least one extension 205. Each of the two sides has an extension 205, as appropriate. The extending portion 205 is in the form of a droplet in this embodiment, which is used to adjust the distance between the positions of the main body 201 when the main body is mounted on the upper cover 101. In addition, the shape of the mask box can stabilize the body 201 from shaking from the left and right sides, so that various shaking, collision or friction problems generated during the operation of the mask box 10 of the present embodiment can be further reduced.

In this embodiment, the extension 205 is further disposed on the inner surface 1011 of the upper cover 101 through the fixing element 206. In a possible embodiment, the fixing element may fix the extension 205 to the inner surface 1011 (or the antistatic element 102 thereon), or may pass through the antistatic element 102 and then be directly fixed to the upper cover 101, which is not limited by the present invention.

As shown in fig. 2-3, the lever portion 202 of the present embodiment is further provided with two holes 208, so that the lever portion 202 can be disposed through the two holes 208, and the lever portion 202 is rotatably connected with the body 201. Further, in the present embodiment, V-shaped concave portions 207 are respectively disposed at the left and right ends of the lever portion 202, and the V-shaped concave portions 207 pass through two holes 208 to rotatably fix the lever portion 202 to the body 201.

Inevitably, when the first stop 2011 of the present embodiment is damaged, the S-shaped sheet structure in the positioning module 200 will be turned over. Therefore, in the embodiment shown in fig. 1 and fig. 3-4, the body 201 is further provided with a second stop portion 209 near the inner surface 1011 of the upper cover 101, so as to limit the rotation of the pushing portion 204. Further, when the upper cover 101 is far away from the lower cover 103, the pushing portion 204 is generally not limited by the second stopping portion 209, so as to reduce additional friction and further avoid risk of generating micro particles.

In the present embodiment, the second stop portion 209 only plays a role of safety when the first stop portion 2011 is damaged, and the S-shaped sheet structure in the positioning module 200 is continuously turned over. When the first stopping portion 2011 is damaged, the responsibility for limiting the turning of the S-shaped sheet structure is changed from the first stopping portion 2011 and the actuating portion 203 to the second stopping portion 209 and the pushing portion 204, so as to further ensure the operation of the embodiment until the user finds a problem for maintenance or replacement.

Referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a flowchart of an actuation method according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 5, the operation flow of the reticle pod 10 of the present embodiment is shown in fig. 5. Further, the operation of the reticle pod 10 of the present embodiment includes five steps. First, step (a) is performed to provide the reticle pod 10 shown in fig. 1-4.

Next, step (b) is performed, in which the lower cover 103 is closed to the upper cover 103, and the actuating portion 203 is pushed by the lower cover 103. Then, step (c) is performed, and the actuating portion 203 drives the lever portion 202 to rotate, so that the pushing portion 204 pushes the mask R to be positioned. Further, when the reticle pod 10 is about to be uncapped, step (d) is performed to separate the upper cover 101 from the lower cover 103, and step (e) is performed, wherein the rotation of the actuating portion 203 is limited by the first stop portion 2011 and is reset.

The foregoing description is only illustrative of the preferred embodiments of the present invention and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention, which is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A reticle pod, comprising:

an upper cover having an inner surface;

a positioning module disposed on the inner surface, the positioning module comprising:

a body including a first stop portion;

a lever part rotatably connected with the body;

an actuating part connected with the lever part;

the pushing part is connected with the lever part and is bent towards one side close to the upper cover to form an arc-shaped elastic sheet; and

a lower cover which is covered with the upper cover;

the lever part, the actuating part and the pushing part are integrally formed and are jointly formed into an S-shaped sheet structure; wherein the actuating part is arranged on one side close to the lower cover and can be detachably contacted with the lower cover; the first stopper restricts rotation of the actuating portion when the upper cover is separated from the lower cover.

2. The reticle pod of claim 1, wherein the actuating portion further comprises a curved channel structure.

3. The reticle pod of claim 1, wherein the body is further coupled to at least one extension, and each of the at least one extension is further disposed on the inner surface of the top cover via a fixing element.

4. The reticle pod of claim 1, wherein the body further comprises two holes, the lever portion passing through the two holes to rotatably couple the lever portion to the body.

5. The reticle pod according to claim 4, wherein the lever portion has a V-shaped recess at each of the left and right ends thereof, the V-shaped recess passing through the two holes.

6. The reticle pod of claim 1, wherein the body further comprises a second stop portion that limits rotation of the pushing portion when the first stop portion is damaged to cause the S-shaped sheet structure to continuously flip.

7. The reticle pod of claim 1, wherein the inner surface further comprises an antistatic element.

8. The reticle pod of claim 7, wherein the body is integrally formed with the top cover and the body passes through the anti-static element, the anti-static element being a metal liner.

9. A method of actuating a reticle pod, comprising:

(a) Providing the reticle pod of claim 1;

(b) The lower cover covers the upper cover, so that the lower cover pushes the actuating part; and

(c) The actuating part drives the lever part to rotate, so that the pushing part pushes a photomask to be positioned.

10. The method of actuating a reticle pod of claim 9, further comprising the steps of:

(d) Separating the upper cover from the lower cover; and

(e) The rotation of the actuating portion is restricted from homing by the first stopper portion.