CN209757895U

CN209757895U - wafer carrying box

Info

Publication number: CN209757895U
Application number: CN201920433437.2U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 邱铭隆; 陈延方
Original assignee: CHUNG KING ENTERPRISE Co Ltd
Current assignee: CHUNG KING ENTERPRISE Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-04-01
Filing date: 2019-04-01
Publication date: 2019-12-10
Anticipated expiration: 2029-04-01

Abstract

A wafer carrier box includes a housing and a position limiting unit. The shell comprises a base and an upper cover which can be separately covered on the base, and the upper cover is provided with a first guide part. The limiting unit comprises an upper holding piece arranged on the upper cover and a cassette piece detachably arranged on the base, and the upper holding piece and the cassette piece are suitable for limiting a plurality of wafers together. The cassette piece is provided with a second guide part which is matched with the first guide part so as to guide the upper cover and the cassette piece to be mutually aligned in the process of covering the upper cover and the base. Therefore, the upper cover of the wafer carrying box is guided in the covering process to ensure that the upper retaining piece is aligned with the wafer, so that the risk of damage or breakage of the wafer is reduced, and the upper cover and the base are relatively easy to align and cover.

Description

Wafer carrying box

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a container for storing and transporting articles, and more particularly to a wafer carrying box for storing and transporting wafers.

background

A wafer carrier cassette for transporting wafers in the semiconductor industry generally includes a base and a lid covering the base. The inner side of the upper cover is provided with an upper holding piece, and the base is provided with a detachable cassette piece. The clamping box part is provided with a plurality of grooves for inserting the wafers, the upper holding part is provided with a plurality of elastic arms respectively corresponding to the grooves, gaps are arranged between the adjacent elastic arms, and grooves are arranged on the elastic arms. Through the grooves of the cassette part, the elastic arms and the grooves of the upper holding part, a plurality of wafers can be kept and positioned, and the wafers cannot collide with each other. When loading the wafer into the wafer cassette, the wafer is usually placed in each groove of the cassette, then the cassette is placed on the base, and finally the top cover is aligned with the base to cover the wafer. Ideally, during the process of covering the upper cover and the base, the elastic arms of the upper holder and the grooves thereon will correspond to the top of each wafer to hold and position the wafer.

However, when the cassette containing the wafer is placed in the base, the position of the cassette may vary within a tolerance range, so that the upper holder may slightly deviate from the position of the top end of the wafer during the process of covering the upper cover on the base, and therefore, after the upper cover is covered on the base, the top end of the wafer is often not correctly accommodated in the groove of the upper holder, and the wafer is crushed by the side wall of the groove and is broken. In addition, the thickness of the wafers is thinner and thinner, and the thickness of some thinned wafers is even as low as below 100 μm, so that the thinned wafers are not only easily damaged, but also the thinner wafers have a wider gap with the groove after being placed in the groove of the cassette, so that the thinned wafers are easily inclined, and the top ends of the thinned wafers are easily inserted into the gap between the elastic arms of the upper holder and damaged.

Disclosure of Invention

One of the objectives of the present invention is to provide a wafer carrying box capable of improving the mutual alignment accuracy between the upper retaining member and the wafer, and reducing the risk of damage or breakage of the wafer.

The wafer carrying box of the present invention comprises a housing and a position limiting unit in some embodiments. The shell comprises a base and an upper cover which can be separately covered on the base, and the upper cover is provided with a first guide part. The limiting unit comprises an upper holding piece arranged on the upper cover and a cassette piece detachably arranged on the base, and the upper holding piece and the cassette piece are suitable for limiting a plurality of wafers together. The cassette piece is provided with a second guide part which is matched with the first guide part so as to guide the upper cover and the cassette piece to be mutually aligned in the process of covering the upper cover and the base.

In some embodiments, the cassette has two spaced apart opposing walls each having a wall body and a top flange. The wall body correspondingly forms a plurality of grooves which extend in the vertical direction and are parallel to each other, each top side flange extends from one end, close to the upper cover, of the wall body connected with the top side flange, the top side flanges of the limiting wall extend in opposite directions and away from each other, and the second guide part is formed on the top side flange.

in some embodiments, the top cover further has a top wall and a surrounding wall connecting the peripheral sides of the top wall to connect with the base. The first guide part comprises two long-strip-shaped convex blocks or convex ribs which respectively protrude from two opposite inner surfaces of the surrounding wall towards the opposite side and extend in the up-down direction, and the second guide part comprises two notches which are respectively formed on the top side flange and respectively matched with the convex blocks or the convex ribs.

In some embodiments, each of the top flanges is formed with two or more notches, and the inner side of the surrounding wall corresponding to each of the top flanges is provided with or formed with at least one of the protrusions or ribs corresponding to one of the notches.

In some embodiments, the relative positions of the first guide portion and the second guide portion are configured to interact with and guide the upper holder before the upper holder contacts the wafer during the process of covering the upper cover and the base.

in some implementations, a bottom end of the first guide portion is closer to a bottom surface of the base than a lowest portion of the upper holder.

In some implementations, the second guide is closer to the top surface of the lid than a top end of a wafer received in the cassette.

The utility model discloses have following efficiency: the second guide part is matched with the first guide part to guide the upper cover and the cassette piece to be mutually aligned in the process of covering the upper cover and the base so as to ensure that the upper retaining piece is aligned with the wafer, thereby reducing the risk of damage or breakage of the wafer and enabling the upper cover and the base to be easily aligned and covered.

Drawings

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a wafer carrier box of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the upper cover of the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the base and cassette of this embodiment;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the cover and the cassette of this embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along section line V-V in FIG. 1; and

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken along section line VI-VI in fig. 1.

Detailed Description

Referring to fig. 1 to 4, an embodiment of the wafer pod of the present invention is shown. The wafer carrier 100 includes a housing 10 and a position limiting unit 30. The housing 10 includes a base 1 and an upper cover 2 detachably covering the base 1. The position limiting unit 30 includes an upper holder 3 disposed on the upper cover 2 and a cassette 4 detachably disposed on the base 1, wherein the upper holder 3 and the cassette 4 are adapted to limit a plurality of wafers 5.

The internal structure of the base 1 cooperates with the bottom side structure of the cassette member 4 to allow the cassette member 4 to be positioned relative to the base 1 when mounted to the base 1. In practice, due to manufacturing tolerances and operational convenience considerations, the position of the cassette member 4 when placed in the base 1 will typically vary slightly within a predetermined tolerance.

The upper cover 2 has a top wall 21 and a surrounding wall 22 connecting the peripheral side of the top wall 21 to the base 1. The upper retaining member 3 is provided inside the top wall 21 and comprises a plurality of pairs of side-by-side resilient pressing arms 31. Each resilient arm 31 is typically formed with a recess or groove for receiving the upper end of a wafer 5, and each pair of resilient arms 31 is used to press against the two sides of the upper end of the wafer 5.

The cassette member 4 has two spaced apart stop walls 41 opposite to each other. The retaining walls 41 each have a wall body 411 and a top flange 412. The bottom sides of the wall bodies 411 of the two limiting walls 41 are abutted against the base 1, and a plurality of grooves 413 which respectively extend in an up-down direction and are arranged side by side are correspondingly formed.

The positions of the grooves 413 on the wall bodies 411 of the two retaining walls 41 correspond to each other to respectively receive a wafer 5, and also correspond to the positions of the elastic pressing arms 31 of the upper holder 3, more specifically, the positions of the notches or grooves of the elastic pressing arms 31, so as to commonly retain the wafer 5 after the upper cover 2 and the base 1 are closed.

The top flange 412 of each of the limiting walls 41 is connected to one end of the corresponding wall body 411 close to the upper lid 2, and the top flanges 412 of the limiting walls 41 extend in opposite directions away from each other. In other words, the top flange 412 of each of the limiting walls 41 extends from the top end of the corresponding wall body 411 toward the outside of the cassette 4.

Referring to fig. 4 to 6, the upper cover 2 further has a first guide portion 23. The first guiding portion 23 includes two elongated protrusions 231 (see fig. 2) or ribs protruding from two opposite inner surfaces of the surrounding wall 22 toward opposite sides, respectively, and extending from the top wall 21 toward the base 1 along the up-down direction. In the present embodiment, the elongated bump 231 is taken as an example for illustration.

In order for the first guide portion 23 to function, the cassette member 4 has a second guide portion 42 that cooperates with the first guide portion 23. The second guiding portion 42 includes two notches 421 (see fig. 3) formed on the top flange 412 and corresponding to the protrusions 231 of the first guiding portion 23. Thus, the second guiding portion 42 cooperates with the first guiding portion 23 to guide the upper cover 2 and the cassette 4 to align with each other during the process of covering the upper cover 2 and the base 1.

In the process of closing the upper cover 2 to the base 1, when the upper cover 2 moves toward the base 1 and the base 1 is not completely closed, the bottom end of each bump 231 inside the upper cover 2 meets the corresponding notch 421. Then, each projection 231 extends into and slides along the corresponding notch 421 during the remaining stroke of the movement of the upper cover 2 toward the fully closed position.

Thus, the movement of the upper cover 2 is guided and limited by the matching of the notch 421 of the second guiding portion 42 and the projection 231 of the first guiding portion 23, so that the upper cover 2 and the cassette 4 can be correctly aligned without any deviation. Thereby ensuring that the location of the notches or grooves in the resilient pressing arms 31 of the upper holder 3 is aligned with the location of the wafer 5 in the cassette 4.

Due to this mechanism, the elastic pressing arm 31 is not misaligned with the wafer 5. Therefore, after the top cover 2 is completely covered on the base 1, the side edge of the wafer 5 can be correctly received by the notch or groove on the elastic pressing arm 31, so that the side edge of the wafer 5 is not pressed by the force beyond the capability of the wafer, or is clamped in the gap between the adjacent elastic pressing arms 31 to be damaged or even broken.

More preferably, the relative positions of the first guiding portion 23 and the second guiding portion 42 are configured to interact and guide before the upper holder 3 contacts the wafer 5 during the process of covering the upper cover 2 and the base 1.

Specifically, the relative relationship between the first guiding portion 23 and the second guiding portion 42 may be that the bottom end of the first guiding portion 23 is closer to the bottom surface of the base 1 than the lowest position of the upper holder 3, or the second guiding portion 42 is closer to the top surface of the upper cover 2 than the top end of the wafer 5 accommodated in the cassette 4.

in any relative relationship, it is necessary to satisfy the premise that the first guide portion 23 and the second guide portion 42 act before the upper holder 3 contacts the wafer 5 in the process of closing the upper cover 2 to the base 1. In the present embodiment, the two relative relationships exist at the same time, so that the first guide portion 23 and the second guide portion 42 are ensured to contact and act with each other before the upper holder 3 contacts the wafer 5.

Therefore, the second guiding portion 42 and the first guiding portion 23 cooperate to guide the top cover 2 and the cassette 4 to be aligned correctly during the process of covering the top cover 2 and the base 1, so as to prevent the elastic pressing arm 31 and the wafer 5 from being misaligned, and reduce the risk of damage or breakage of the wafer 5. Moreover, the upper cover 2 and the base 1 can be easily aligned and covered.

In an alternative embodiment, two or more notches 421 may be formed on each top flange 412, and at least one protrusion 231 or rib corresponding to one notch 421 is disposed or formed on the inner side of the surrounding wall 22 corresponding to each top flange 412.

That is, there may be a plurality of indentations 421 on each top flange 412, but there may be the same or fewer number of bumps 231 or ribs on the surrounding wall 22. However, even if there are few protrusions 231 or protruding ribs, as long as there is at least one protrusion 231 or protruding rib on each side corresponding to any one of the indentations 421 on the same side, the guiding effect can be achieved together.

In summary, the second guiding portion 42 and the first guiding portion 23 cooperate to guide the cover 2 and the cassette 4 to align with each other during the process of covering the cover 2 and the base 1, so as to ensure that the upper holder 3 is aligned with the wafer 5, thereby reducing the risk of damage or breakage of the wafer 5, and making it easier to align and cover the cover 2 and the base 1.

The above description is only an example of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention should not be limited thereby, and all the simple equivalent changes and modifications made according to the claims and the description of the present invention are still within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A wafer carrier box, comprising: a housing and a limit unit; the shell comprises a base and an upper cover which can be separately covered on the base; the limiting unit comprises an upper holding piece arranged on the upper cover and a cassette piece detachably arranged on the base, and the upper holding piece and the cassette piece are suitable for limiting a plurality of wafers together; the method is characterized in that:

The upper cover is provided with a first guide part, the cassette piece is provided with a second guide part, and the second guide part is matched with the first guide part so as to guide the upper cover and the cassette piece to be mutually aligned in the process of covering the upper cover and the base.

2. A wafer shipper as in claim 1, wherein: the clamping box piece is provided with two limiting walls which are opposite to each other and spaced from each other, each limiting wall is provided with a wall body and a top side flange, the wall bodies correspondingly form a plurality of grooves which extend in the vertical direction and are parallel to each other, each top side flange extends from one end, close to the upper cover, of the wall body connected with the top side flange, the top side flanges of the limiting walls extend in the opposite directions and the directions away from each other, and the second guide part is formed on the top side flanges.

3. A wafer shipper as in claim 2, wherein: the upper cover is also provided with a top wall and a surrounding wall which is connected with the peripheral side of the top wall and is connected with the base, the first guide part comprises two long-strip-shaped convex blocks or convex ribs which respectively protrude from two opposite inner surfaces of the surrounding wall to the opposite side and extend in the up-down direction, and the second guide part comprises two gaps which are respectively formed on the top side flange and are respectively matched with the convex blocks or the convex ribs.

4. A wafer shipper as in claim 3, wherein: two or more notches are formed on each top flange, and at least one lug or convex rib corresponding to one of the notches is arranged or formed on the inner side of the surrounding wall corresponding to each top flange.

5. a wafer shipper as in claim 1, wherein: the relative positions of the first guide part and the second guide part are configured to be interacted and guided before the upper holding piece is contacted with the wafer in the covering process of the upper cover and the base.

6. A wafer shipper as in claim 5, wherein: the bottom end of the first guide part is closer to the bottom surface of the base than the lowest part of the upper retaining piece.

7. A wafer shipper as in claim 5, wherein: the second guide portion is closer to the top surface of the upper cover than the top end of the wafer accommodated in the cassette.