CN117174629B

CN117174629B - Tray carrier and SMIF pod loading apparatus

Info

Publication number: CN117174629B
Application number: CN202311447422.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 沈捷; 吴红星
Original assignee: Nanchang Medium And Micro Semiconductor Equipment Co ltd; Advanced Micro Fabrication Equipment Inc Shanghai
Current assignee: Nanchang Medium And Micro Semiconductor Equipment Co ltd; Advanced Micro Fabrication Equipment Inc Shanghai
Priority date: 2023-11-02
Filing date: 2023-11-02
Publication date: 2024-04-19
Anticipated expiration: 2043-11-02
Also published as: CN117174629A

Abstract

The invention discloses a tray carrier and SMIF box loading equipment, the tray carrier includes: the bottom surface of the bottom plate is used for limiting and fixing with a base in the SMIF box; the tray rack is arranged on the bottom plate and comprises a supporting plate, the supporting plate is arranged on one side of the bottom plate, and a tray limiting device is horizontally arranged on the supporting plate and used for placing the tray, so that the tray can be detachably placed on the tray limiting device. When the tray carrier is used, trays with different wafer sizes can be directly taken and placed in the SMIF box, compared with the wafer carrier which can only take and place wafers with fixed sizes in the prior art, the tray carrier avoids particulate matter pollution caused by the need of manually taking and placing the trays in the atmosphere environment.

Description

Tray carrier and SMIF pod loading apparatus

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of semiconductor device manufacturing technology, and in particular, to a tray carrier and a SMIF pod loading apparatus.

Background

Semiconductor wafers are subjected to a hermetic and dust-free condition from production to transportation. Conventionally, wafers are produced in a clean room by placing production equipment in the clean room.

In order to increase production efficiency and reduce the construction and operating costs of the fab, standard mechanical interface (SMIF, standard Mechanical Interface) technology is applied and generalized.

SMIF consists of three parts: a container for enclosing and transporting boxed semiconductor wafers during manufacture, i.e., SMIF pods (Pod); input/output means for opening a SMIF Pod (Pod), i.e., SMIF load port (SMIF I/O); and a clean room with load port integration achieved by the process system. The conventional SMIF wafer box (Pod) comprises a box cover, a wafer placing rack and a chassis, wherein a clamping groove is formed in the box cover, a clamping claw is arranged on the chassis, and in the carrying process, the clamping claw is inserted into the clamping groove, so that the SMIF wafer box is kept airtight.

In the prior art, SMIF pods are commonly used to place standard 6 or 8 inch wafers (wafer). As described in patent document TW200736127a, a wafer carrier for a SMIF pod is provided, in which wafers are placed by providing limit grooves on the left and right sides. In addition, patent document CN101496157B also discloses a substrate storage plate for a SMIF pod (i.e., a SMIF pod), which is provided in a basket in the SMIF pod so as to be movable up and down, and similarly, which places a substrate by way of plate stoppers on both left and right sides.

However, the above solution results in that the wafer size of the wafer carrier in the SMIF pod capable of being fixedly placed is fixed and unique, which reduces the applicability of the wafer carrier of the SMIF pod to wafers with different sizes. Moreover, the lower robot is configured to directly pick and place wafers, and a tray (e.g., a flat plate structure in CN 101496157B) for placing wafers in a process equipment host can be manually picked and placed or a nonstandard FOUP (front opening standard box, e.g., a Standardized Mechanical Interface (SMIF) box 52 in TW200736127 a) can be designed for the tray. Wherein, the problem of pollution to the tray and/or wafer easily exists in the manual picking and placing tray. The design of nonstandard FOUPs requires the design of molds, and the like, and has the problems of high cost and long development period.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a tray carrier and SMIF box loading equipment, which can automatically take out a tray from a process equipment host on the basis of reducing cost.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is realized by the following technical scheme:

A tray carrier, comprising: the bottom surface of the bottom plate is used for limiting and fixing with a base in the SMIF box; the tray rack is arranged on the bottom plate and comprises a supporting plate, the supporting plate is arranged on one side of the bottom plate, and a tray limiting device which is horizontally arranged is connected to the supporting plate and used for placing the tray, so that the tray can be detachably placed on the tray limiting device.

Optionally, the tray limiting device comprises a limiting ring and is used for limiting and fixing the placed tray in a matched mode.

Optionally, the top surface of tray stop device is equipped with the tray flange for to the spacing fixed of tray on the tray stop device.

Optionally, the tray flange is annular.

Optionally, the tray stop device is a plurality of, and follows the vertical direction interval setting of backup pad.

Optionally, a plurality of tray limiting devices are coaxially arranged.

Optionally, a limiting edge is arranged on the bottom surface of the bottom plate; the limiting ribs are used for limiting the first degree of freedom of the base plate when the base plate is placed on a base in the SMIF box.

Optionally, a supporting edge is arranged on the bottom surface of the bottom plate, and the supporting edge is arranged close to the supporting plate.

Optionally, the base plate is provided with a first limit groove recessed toward the top surface of the base plate, and the first limit groove is used for limiting the second degree of freedom of the base plate when the base plate is placed on the base in the SMIF box.

Optionally, the bottom plate is provided with a second limiting groove recessed towards the top surface of the bottom plate, and the first limiting groove and the second limiting groove are arranged at intervals and are used for restraining at least the third degree of freedom of the bottom plate when the bottom plate is placed on the base in the SMIF box.

Optionally, the lengths of the first limit groove and the second limit groove are different, so that when the bottom plate is placed on the base in the SMIF pod, at least redundant constraint is performed on the second degree of freedom of the bottom plate.

Optionally, a limit flange is arranged at the edge of the bottom plate, and extends towards the direction away from the top surface of the bottom plate; when the bottom plate is placed on the base in the SMIF box, the limit flange is clamped with a boss structure arranged on the edge of the base.

Optionally, the limit flange is disposed at an end remote from the support plate.

Optionally, the tray limiting device comprises a connecting plate, wherein one end of the connecting plate is fixedly provided with a limiting ring, and the other end of the connecting plate is fixedly connected with the supporting plate.

Optionally, a plurality of hollowed-out holes are formed in the connecting plate.

Optionally, the backup pad includes both sides side the fixed plate that the tray rack extends, the connecting plate both sides are equipped with fixed part, the fixed plate with fixed part fixed connection.

Optionally, the width of the connecting plate decreases from the fixing portion to the stop collar.

Optionally, one end of the connecting plate, which is close to the limiting ring, is of a concave arc structure, and the arc structure at least partially wraps the outer wall of the limiting ring.

Optionally, a hollow groove is formed in the supporting plate.

Optionally, the hollowed-out groove and the tray limiting device are arranged at intervals.

Optionally, the hollow groove is strip-shaped.

Optionally, on a tray limiting device, the side wall of the limiting ring is higher than the connecting plate.

In another aspect, the present invention also provides a SMIF pod loading apparatus, including: an equipment frame; the opening and closing device is arranged in front of the equipment frame and used for opening the SMIF box;

a SMIF pod provided on the apparatus frame; the robot arm is arranged in the equipment frame and can be used for taking and placing the tray; the SMIF pod includes a base; a tray carrier as described above, placed on the base; and a lid for holding the tray in the tray carrier in a closed environment consisting of the base and the lid.

The invention has at least one of the following technical effects:

according to the invention, the tray can be freely taken and placed on the tray carrier through the tray carrier, and the supporting plate is arranged on one side of the bottom plate, so that the tray limiting device is horizontally extended on the supporting plate, namely, the tray limiting device does not have double-sided clamping limit in the radial direction, and therefore, trays with different wafer sizes can be placed on the tray carrier. The tray can be directly taken and placed instead of the wafer, so that the pollution of particles caused by the need of manually taking and placing the tray in the atmosphere is avoided.

The tray limiting device comprises a limiting ring and is used for being matched with a placed tray to limit and fix, so that the tray is stably placed.

The tray limiting device is multiple, so that batch taking and placing of trays can be realized, and the tray taking and placing efficiency is improved.

The connecting plate is provided with the plurality of hollowed holes and the hollowed grooves formed in the supporting plate, so that the connecting plate and the supporting plate not only have enough supporting rigidity, but also can reduce the dead weight of the tray carrier. Reducing the dead weight of the tray carrier is beneficial to reducing the motion inertia of the tray carrier and improving the stability and reliability of the tray carrier.

The SMIF box loading device provided by the invention automatically takes out the tray from the process equipment host through the robot arm arranged on the device, and places the tray on the tray carrier in the SMIF box or places the tray on the tray carrier in the SMIF box in the process equipment host. The SMIF box loading device solves the problem that the tray is easy to be polluted when the tray is manually taken and placed. The purpose of automatically taking out the trays with different or same wafer sizes from the process equipment host without additionally designing a nonstandard FOUP is achieved.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a front view of a tray carrier according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an overall structure of a tray carrier according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a base structure of a tray carrier according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 4 is a schematic structural view of a SMIF pod loading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic structural view of a SMIF pod loader according to an embodiment of the present invention without a lid;

Fig. 6 is a top view of a base of a SMIF pod loading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Reference numerals illustrate:

40-tray carrier; 41-a tray limiting device; 400-bottom plate; 401-supporting plates; 402-a limiting ring; 403-tray flange; 404—support ribs; 405-limiting edges; 406-a limit flange; 407-a first limit groove; 408-a second limit groove; 410-a fixed plate; 411-connecting plates; 412-hollowed holes; 413-routing grooves; 4101-paired openings; 2-SMIF pod; 21-a box cover; 20-a base; 10-a device frame; 30-a first limit protrusion; 31-a second limit protrusion; 32-clamping and extruding a limiting piece; 33-boss structure.

Detailed Description

A tray carrier and SMIF pod loading apparatus according to the present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and detailed description. The advantages and features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description. It should be noted that the drawings are in a very simplified form and are all to a non-precise scale, merely for the purpose of facilitating and clearly aiding in the description of embodiments of the invention. For a better understanding of the invention with objects, features and advantages, refer to the drawings. It should be understood that the structures, proportions, sizes, etc. shown in the drawings are for illustration purposes only and should not be construed as limiting the invention to the extent that any modifications, changes in the proportions, or adjustments of the sizes of structures, proportions, or otherwise, used in the practice of the invention, are included in the spirit and scope of the invention which is otherwise, without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof.

As shown in fig. 1, the tray carrier 40 provided in this embodiment includes: a bottom plate 400, the bottom surface of which is used for limiting and fixing with a base (shown as reference numeral 20 in fig. 4) in the SMIF pod 2; the tray rack is arranged on the bottom plate 400, and comprises a supporting plate 401 and a tray limiting device 41, wherein the supporting plate 401 is arranged on one side of the bottom plate 400. The tray limiting device 41 is connected with the supporting plate 401 and is horizontally arranged. The tray limiting device 41 is used for placing a tray, so that the tray can be detachably placed on the tray limiting device 41.

In this embodiment, the tray may be freely taken and placed on the tray carrier by the tray carrier provided with the tray stopper 41 horizontally extends on the support plate 401 because the support plate 401 is disposed on one side of the bottom plate 400, that is, the tray stopper 41 does not have double-sided pinching limitation in the radial direction, so that trays with different wafer sizes may be placed on the tray carrier. The tray can be directly taken and placed instead of the wafer, so that the pollution of particles caused by the need of manually taking and placing the tray in the atmosphere is avoided.

With continued reference to fig. 1, the tray limiting device 41 includes a limiting ring 402, which is used for cooperating with a placed tray to limit and fix the tray, so as to realize stable placement of the tray.

With continued reference to fig. 1, a tray flange 403 is provided on the top surface of the tray limiting device 41, for limiting and fixing the tray on the tray limiting device 41.

As shown in fig. 2, in this embodiment, preferably, the tray flange 403 is in a ring shape, and is matched with a bottom annular groove of the tray, where the bottom annular groove of the tray is configured for the tray to adapt to a bottom support piece of the tray in the reaction chamber, and is a structure of the tray itself, and by providing a ring-shaped tray flange 403 matched with the bottom annular groove of the tray, the tray can be stably placed on the tray limiting device 41.

With continued reference to fig. 1 or fig. 2, in this embodiment, the tray limiting devices 41 are plural and are disposed at intervals along the vertical direction of the supporting plate 401. Therefore, batch taking and placing of the trays can be realized, and the taking and placing efficiency of the trays is improved. The number of the tray stoppers 41 can be flexibly set according to the height in the SMIF pod.

With continued reference to fig. 2, the tray limiting devices 41 are coaxially disposed to improve positioning accuracy of the picking and placing of the trays, so as to simplify a control flow of picking and placing of the mechanical arm.

As shown in fig. 2 and 3, in this embodiment, a limiting edge 405 is disposed on the bottom surface of the base 400, and the limiting edge 405 is used to place the base 400 on a base (reference numeral 20 shown in fig. 5) in the SMIF pod, and a clamping and extruding limiting member (reference numeral 32 shown in fig. 6) disposed on the base is used to insert the clamping and extruding limiting member through the limiting edge 405 to limit the first degree of freedom of the base 400.

As shown in fig. 2, for convenience of description, a three-dimensional coordinate system is established, in which the extending direction of the limiting rib 405 is taken as a Y axis, the direction perpendicular to the limiting rib 405 is taken as an X axis, and the extending direction of the support plate 401 is taken as a Z axis.

In this embodiment, the limitation of the first degree of freedom is a limitation of the X direction as shown in fig. 2.

Whereby displacement of the tray carrier 40 in the first direction on the base can be avoided. The first direction may be the X direction as shown in fig. 2.

With continued reference to fig. 3, a supporting rib 404 is disposed on the bottom surface of the bottom plate 400, and the supporting rib 404 is disposed near the supporting plate 401. Support ribs 404 are provided on the base for supporting the tray carrier 40.

The supporting rib 404 is disposed parallel to the limiting rib 405, and is used for limiting the fourth degree of freedom of the base plate 400, and limiting the fourth degree of freedom is limiting the degree of freedom of the Y-axis rotation as shown in fig. 2.

With continued reference to fig. 3, the base plate 400 is provided with a first limit groove 407 recessed toward the top surface of the base plate 400, and the first limit groove 407 may receive a first limit protrusion (reference numeral 30 shown in fig. 5) of the base plate when the base plate 400 is placed on the base in the SMIF pod, so as to limit the second degree of freedom of the base plate 400.

In this embodiment, the limitation of the second degree of freedom is limitation to the Y direction as shown in fig. 2.

With continued reference to fig. 3, the base plate 400 is provided with a second limiting groove 408 recessed toward the top surface of the base plate 400, where the first limiting groove 407 and the second limiting groove 408 are spaced apart, and the second limiting groove 408 can accommodate a second limiting protrusion (refer to reference numeral 31 in fig. 5) of the base plate when the base plate 400 is placed on the base in the SMIF pod, so as to at least restrict the third degree of freedom of the base plate 400.

In this embodiment, the third degree of freedom limit is a limit on the degree of freedom of rotation of the Z axis as shown in fig. 2.

With continued reference to fig. 3, the lengths of the first limit slot 407 and the second limit slot 408 are different, so that when the base plate 400 is placed on the base in the SMIF pod, at least the second degree of freedom of the base plate 400 is subjected to redundant constraint, so as to improve the limit stability and ensure the placement of the tray carrier 40.

With continued reference to fig. 3, a limit flange 406 is disposed at an edge of the bottom plate 400, and the limit flange 406 extends away from the top surface of the bottom plate 400; when the base plate 400 is placed on the base in the SMIF pod, the limit flange 406 is engaged with a boss structure (reference numeral 33 shown in fig. 6) provided on an edge of the base. It will be appreciated that the stop flange 406 is disposed at an end remote from the support plate 401 to mate with a boss provided on the edge of the base. The stop flange 406 may be semi-enclosed in a particular shape that may be continuous or may be spaced apart. The bottom plate 400 is co-located by the stop flange 406 in combination with the stop edge 405 and the support edge 404 and the stop flange 406 provides redundant restraint to the bottom plate 400 based on the semi-enclosed configuration.

Therefore, the tray carrier 40 forms a hyperstatic structure under the combined action of the limit edge 405, the support edge 404, the first limit groove 407, the second limit groove 408 and the limit flange 406, so that the stable positioning and fixing of the tray carrier 40 are realized, and any displacement in movement is avoided.

With continued reference to fig. 2, the tray limiting device 41 includes a connecting plate 411, wherein one end of the connecting plate 411 is fixed with a limiting ring 402, and the other end is fixedly connected with the supporting plate 401. The connection plate 411 positions the stop collar 402 away from the support plate 401 to improve the margin of the size of the placeable tray.

With continued reference to fig. 2, the connecting plate 411 is provided with a plurality of hollow holes 412. The hollowed-out holes 412 can improve the rigidity of the connecting plate 411 and reduce the dead weight of the connecting plate 411.

With continued reference to fig. 2, the support plate 401 includes fixing plates 410 extending toward the tray rack at two sides, fixing portions are disposed at two sides of the connecting plate 411, and the fixing plates 410 are fixedly connected with the fixing portions. Alternatively, the fixing plate 410 may be screw-fixedly coupled with the connection plate 411 by forming a pair of openings 4101 in the fixing plate. The fixing plate 410 is designed to form an installation groove with the support plate 401, so that when the tray limiting device 41 is installed, the tray limiting device 41 can be inserted into the installation groove formed by the fixing plate 410 and the support plate 401 to limit, and then screws on two sides can be fixed. The tray limiting device 41 can be pulled out after the screws are removed during the disassembly, so that the assembly and disassembly processes are simplified.

With continued reference to fig. 2, the width of the connecting plate 411 decreases from the fixing portion to the stop collar 402. Thereby further reducing the weight of the tray carrier 40.

With continued reference to fig. 2, an end of the connecting plate 411, which is adjacent to the stop collar 402, is a concave arc structure, and the arc structure at least partially wraps the outer wall of the stop collar 402. The arrangement of the arc structure can not only realize stable supporting connection with the limiting ring 402, but also further reduce the dead weight of the tray carrier 40.

With continued reference to fig. 2, the supporting plate 401 is provided with a hollow groove 413, and the hollow groove 413 can reduce the dead weight of the supporting plate 401.

Reducing the dead weight of the tray carrier is beneficial to reducing the motion inertia of the tray carrier and improving the stability and reliability of the tray carrier.

With continued reference to fig. 2, the hollow groove 413 is spaced from the tray limiting device 41. Preferably, a hollowed-out groove 413 may be formed between each two tray limiting devices 41.

Preferably, the hollow groove 413 is strip-shaped, which may be a grid shape, or other shapes.

With continued reference to fig. 1 and 2, on a tray stop 41, the side wall of the stop collar 402 is higher than the connecting plate 411 to provide a tray placement fit margin.

As shown in fig. 4 and 5, the present embodiment further provides a SMIF pod loading apparatus, including: an apparatus frame 10; an opening and closing means (not shown in fig. 4 and 5) provided in front of the apparatus frame 10, by which the SMIF pod 2 is opened; a SMIF pod 2 provided on the apparatus frame 10; a robotic arm (not shown in fig. 4 and 5) is disposed within the apparatus frame 10 and is operable to pick and place a pallet. The SMIF pod 2 includes a base 20; a tray carrier 40 placed on the base 20; and a cover 21 for holding the tray in the tray carrier 40 in a closed environment composed of the base 20 and the cover 21.

As shown in fig. 6, the base 20 is provided with a first limiting protrusion 30 and a second limiting protrusion 31, and a clamping limiting member 32 is located between the first limiting protrusion 30 and the second limiting protrusion 31. A boss structure 33 is provided on the edge of the base 20.

When the tray carrier is placed on the base 20 in the SMIF pod, the limit flange of the tray carrier is clamped with the boss structure 33. The first limiting protrusion 30 and the second limiting protrusion 31 are respectively inserted into the first limiting groove and the second limiting groove of the tray carrier correspondingly; the limiting edges of the tray carrier are clamped and fixed by the clamping and extruding limiting parts 32 on the base 20. Thereby achieving a stable placement of the tray carrier on the base 20. The tray carrier is used for carrying a tray, the tray is used for carrying wafers, and the wafers can have the same or different sizes.

The SMIF pod loading apparatus provided in this embodiment automatically takes out the tray from the process apparatus host through the robot arm provided in the apparatus itself, places the tray on the tray carrier in the SMIF pod 2, or places the tray on the tray carrier in the SMIF pod 2 in the process apparatus host. The SMIF box loading device provided by the embodiment solves the problem that the tray is easy to be polluted when the tray is manually taken and placed. The purpose of automatically taking the tray out of the process equipment host without additionally designing a nonstandard FOUP is achieved. And wafers with different or same sizes can be borne on the tray, so that the applicability of the SMIF box to wafers with different sizes is improved.

It can be appreciated that the equipment frame of the SMIF pod loader provided in this embodiment may be an existing general frame, so that detailed structural components thereof will not be described again.

The use flow of the SMIF pod loading apparatus provided in this embodiment is as follows: the SMIF pod loading apparatus is disposed at a front end of a process tool host for loading and unloading the SMIF pods 2.

When the SMIF pod loader is used to load or unload a tray, the robot arm releases the lid 21 from the base 20 and away from the tray structure by the opening and closing device.

The robot arm passes through a window formed in the equipment frame, takes and places a tray structure or a tray positioned on the opening and closing device, and then transmits the tray structure or the tray to the process equipment host or is in butt joint with the robot arm of the process equipment host, so that loading operation is completed, and unloading operation is basically opposite to loading operation.

It should be noted that, in this document, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one … …" does not exclude the presence of other like elements in a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.

It should be noted that the apparatus and methods disclosed in the embodiments herein may be implemented in other ways. The apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative, for example, flow diagrams and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of apparatus, methods and computer program products according to various embodiments herein. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems which perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

In addition, the functional modules in the embodiments herein may be integrated together to form a single part, or the modules may exist alone, or two or more modules may be integrated to form a single part.

While the present invention has been described in detail through the foregoing description of the preferred embodiment, it should be understood that the foregoing description is not to be considered as limiting the invention. Many modifications and substitutions of the present invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the foregoing. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be limited only by the attached claims.

Claims

1. A tray carrier, comprising:

the bottom surface of the bottom plate is used for limiting and fixing with a base in the SMIF box;

The tray placing rack is arranged on the bottom plate,

The tray placing rack comprises a supporting plate positioned at one side edge of the tray placing rack,

The supporting plate is vertically arranged along one side of the bottom plate,

The supporting plate is connected with a horizontally arranged tray limiting device, the tray limiting device is used for placing a tray so that the tray can be detachably placed on the tray limiting device,

The tray limiting device is arranged on the vertical surface of the supporting plate in a unidirectional horizontal extending way, and the tray limiting device is free from double-sided clamping limiting in the radial direction;

The tray limiting device comprises a connecting plate and a limiting ring, wherein a tray flange is arranged on the top surface of the limiting ring and used for being matched with a groove on the bottom surface of a placed tray to limit and fix, and the position of the limiting ring is far away from the supporting plate by the connecting plate so as to improve the size margin of the placed tray.

2. The tray carrier of claim 1, wherein the tray flange is annular.

3. The tray carrier of claim 1, wherein the tray limiting means is a plurality of and is disposed at intervals along the vertical direction of the support plate.

4. A pallet carrier as claimed in claim 3, wherein a plurality of said pallet limiting means are coaxially arranged.

5. The tray carrier of claim 1, wherein the bottom surface of the bottom plate is provided with a limit rib; the limiting ribs are used for limiting a first degree of freedom of the base plate when the base plate is placed on a base in the SMIF box, and the first degree of freedom is in a direction perpendicular to the limiting ribs on a horizontal plane.

6. The tray carrier of claim 5, wherein the bottom surface of the base plate is provided with a support rib, the support rib being disposed adjacent to the support plate.

7. The tray carrier of claim 5, wherein the base plate is provided with a first limit groove recessed toward a top surface of the base plate for limiting a second degree of freedom of the base plate when the base plate is placed on a base in the SMIF pod, the second degree of freedom being an extending direction degree of freedom of the limit rib.

8. The tray carrier of claim 7, wherein the base plate is provided with a second limit groove recessed toward a top surface of the base plate, the first limit groove and the second limit groove being disposed at intervals for restricting at least a third degree of freedom of the base plate when the base plate is placed on the base in the SMIF pod, the third degree of freedom being a degree of freedom of rotation about an extending direction of the support plate.

9. The tray carrier of claim 8, wherein the first and second limit slots are unequal in length for at least superfluous constraint of the second degree of freedom of the floor when the floor is placed on a base within the SMIF pod.

10. The tray carrier of claim 1, wherein a limit flange is provided at an edge of the bottom plate, the limit flange extending away from a top surface of the bottom plate; when the bottom plate is placed on the base in the SMIF box, the limit flange is clamped with a boss structure arranged on the edge of the base.

11. The tray carrier of claim 10, wherein the stop flange is disposed at an end remote from the support plate.

12. The tray carrier of claim 1, wherein one end of the connecting plate is fixed with a limit ring, and the other end is fixedly connected with the supporting plate.

13. The tray carrier of claim 1, wherein the connecting plate is provided with a plurality of hollowed-out holes.

14. The tray carrier of claim 1, wherein the support plate comprises fixing plates extending to the tray limiting device at two sides, fixing portions are arranged at two sides of the connecting plate, and the fixing plates are fixedly connected with the fixing portions.

15. The tray carrier of claim 14, wherein the width of the web decreases from the securing portion to the stop collar.

16. The tray carrier of claim 1, wherein an end of the connecting plate adjacent to the stop collar is a concave arcuate structure that at least partially wraps around an outer wall of the stop collar.

17. The tray carrier of claim 1, wherein the support plate is provided with hollowed-out grooves.

18. The tray carrier of claim 17, wherein the hollowed-out groove is spaced apart from the tray stop.

19. The tray carrier of claim 17, wherein the hollowed-out groove is strip-shaped.

20. The tray carrier of claim 1, wherein on a tray stop, the side wall of the stop collar is higher than the web.

21. A SMIF pod loading apparatus, comprising:

An equipment frame;

The opening and closing device is arranged in front of the equipment frame and used for opening the SMIF box;

A SMIF pod provided on the apparatus frame;

the robot arm is arranged in the equipment frame and can be used for taking and placing the tray;

The SMIF pod includes a base;

the tray carrier of any one of claims 1-20, placed on the base;

The box cover is provided with a box opening,

The box cover is used for keeping the tray in the tray carrier in a closed environment consisting of a base and the box cover.