JP2005162263A - Lid opening/closing mechanism for wafer transportation container - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a lid opening/closing mechanism for a wafer transportation container, which facilitates attachment/detachment of a lid to a container body and also facilitates lock and release of the lid on and from the container body to make the opening/closing of the lid efficient. <P>SOLUTION: The wafer transportation container 1 comprises the approximately box-shaped container body 2, which houses a plurality of wafers W and has an opening in one end, and the lid 3, which can be fitted removably on the opening of the container body 2. A positioning guide rib 17 is formed on the outer side of the lid 3, and a positioning rib 22, which is engaged with the guide rib 17 to position the lid 3, is formed on the outer side of the container body 2. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

The present invention relates to a lid opening / closing mechanism of a transport container for storing and transporting a wafer such as a semiconductor wafer, a storage disk, and liquid crystal glass.

Conventionally, for example, there is a semiconductor wafer as an example of a wafer, and a transfer container for storing the semiconductor wafer in a plurality of stages includes, for example, a box-shaped container body having an open top. An arcuate curved V-shaped groove portion is provided on the inner side wall of the container body, and a plurality of U-shaped groove portions are formed side by side at the bottom of the groove portion. A semiconductor wafer is accommodated by supporting the lower outer edge of the semiconductor wafer in the groove.
On the other hand, a lid can be detachably attached to the upper part of the container body, and the lower side (back side) of the lid is attached to the upper outer edge of the semiconductor wafer housed in the container body. And holding the wafer holder. In addition, opening and closing of the lid and the container body is performed by engaging and disengaging a locking tool attached to the lid (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

A wafer transfer container is also known in which the opening of the container body is directed in the lateral direction in order to automatically store the semiconductor wafer in the container body (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
WO99 / 39994 JP 2000-159288 A

However, in the conventional wafer transfer container, since there is no guide part for guiding the lid when the lid is mounted on the container body, the lid is not brought into contact with the container body after the lid is brought into contact with the container body. It was necessary to fix the lid with a locking tool after fitting into the container body.

In addition, since the positioning of the lid and the container body is performed by bringing the wafer press functioning as a cushion on the back side of the lid into contact with the wafer at the specified position, there is a problem that it takes time to attach the lid. . If the lid does not contact the container main body at the specified position, the wafer presser may not contact the wafer at the specified position.

Next, as a means for locking the lid body to the container body, in a structure in which locking tools are installed at the four corners of the lid body (see, for example, Patent Document 1), it cannot be manually opened and closed by a single operation. was there. In addition, when the lid is opened and closed with respect to the container body, the structure that elastically deforms the locking member attached to the container body (see, for example, Patent Document 2) has a problem that it takes time to open and close the lid. .

The present invention makes it easy to attach and detach a lid to and from a container body, and facilitates locking and releasing of the lid to the container body to improve the efficiency of opening and closing the lid body. The purpose is to provide a mechanism.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and the invention according to claim 1 is a substantially box-shaped container body capable of storing a plurality of wafers and having an opening at one end, and the container. A wafer transfer container having a lid that can be detachably fitted to the opening of the main body, the guide rib for positioning being provided on the outer side of the lid, and the guide rib on the outer side of the container main body A positioning rib for engaging and positioning the lid is provided.

In the invention according to claim 1 configured as described above, when the lid body is fitted to the container body in order to attach the lid body to the container body, the guide ribs of the lid body are the positioning ribs on the side surface of the container body. The fitting is performed while the movement is restricted and positioned.

For this reason, the lid can be easily closed in a state in which the relative position in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction with respect to the opening of the container body is determined. It can be easily applied to the wafer, and the work efficiency of opening and closing the lid can be improved.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a clamp mounting portion is provided on the outer side of the container main body, and the clamp mounting portion is rotatable so as to engage with and disengage from a locking portion provided on the lid. The clamp is detachably and rotatably mounted.

In the invention according to claim 2 configured as described above, when the clamp can be easily attached to the container body so as to be rotatable, and when the lid body is clamped to the container body by making the clamp rotatable. Therefore, it is not necessary to elastically deform the clamp, and the lid can be easily clamped.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the clamp has a contact portion that can contact the guide rib and that rotates together with the clamp, and is interlocked with an operation of closing the lid on the container body. The guide rib presses and rotates the contact portion to lock the clamp to the locking portion, and in conjunction with the operation of removing the clamp from the locking portion to open the lid. A contact part is provided so that the said cover body may be spaced apart uniformly from the said container main body by pushing out the said guide rib.

In the invention according to claim 3 configured as described above, when the lid is fitted to the container main body to be attached to the container main body, the guide rib of the lid presses and rotates the contact portion of the clamp. . For this reason, it is possible to automatically clamp the lid body by rotating the clamp integrated with the contact portion in the direction of clamping the lid body in conjunction with the closing operation of the lid body.

That is, the clamp operation for clamping the lid body by closing the lid body can be performed in conjunction with the closing operation without an operator, and the clamp of the lid body by the clamp is freely rotatable. Therefore, it can be performed with a small operating force without elastically deforming the clamp.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the lid is fitted to the container main body in order to attach the lid to the container main body, the position of the guide rib of the lid is regulated by the positioning rib on the side of the container main body. Thus, the lid can be easily closed in a state where the relative positions in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction with respect to the opening of the container main body are determined. As a result, the wafer presser after the cover is closed can be easily applied to the wafer at the specified position in the container body, and the work efficiency of opening and closing the cover can be improved.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an exploded perspective view of a wafer transfer container 1. In this embodiment, a semiconductor wafer W will be described as an example. The wafer transfer container 1 includes a container body 2 that can store a plurality of semiconductor wafers W, and a lid 3 for opening and closing the opening 2 a of the container body 2.

A plurality of wafer support grooves 6 for holding the semiconductor wafer W are formed on the back surfaces of the left and right side plates 4, 5 of the container body 2.

A wafer presser 7 is mounted on the back side of the lid 3, and the wafer presser 7 holds a plurality of wafer support grooves 8 that press and hold the front edge portion of the semiconductor wafer W accommodated in the container body 2. It has a cushioning property. Further, a gasket 9 for holding the airtightness of the wafer transfer container 1 is mounted on the back surface side of the lid 3.

A mounting portion (not shown) is provided on the back surface side of the bottom plate 11 of the container body 2, and the container body 2 is accurately placed at a predetermined position by attaching the mounting portions to a plurality of positioning pins 12 provided on the bottom plate 10. Fixed to. By fixing the container body 2 with the opening 2a of the container body 2 facing sideways, the lid body 3 is opened using an automatic machine (not shown), the semiconductor wafer W is stored in the container body 2, and the lid body 3 is closed. Etc. can be performed automatically.

In FIG. 2, locking portions 16 for locking clamps to be described later are provided inside the left and right side plates (outer portions) 14, 15 of the lid 3.

Further, two guide ribs 17 for positioning the lid 3 with respect to the container body 2 are provided outside the side plate 15, and a similar guide rib 17 (not shown) is also provided on the other right side plate 14. Yes. The guide rib 17 is extended so that the tip thereof faces rearward, and opposite side edges 18 are formed in parallel to each other.

3 and 5, a pair of positioning ribs 22 are provided in parallel on the outer portion 21 in the vicinity of the opening 2 a of the container body 2, and the positioning ribs 22 extend along the depth direction of the container body 2. Each is arranged. The positioning ribs 22 are positioned by regulating the guide ribs 17 as will be described later. Such positioning ribs 22 are similarly provided on the outer side portion 20 on the opposite side.

In the vicinity of the rear of the positioning rib 22, a pair of clamp mounting portions 24 having a channel shape (U shape) in a front view is disposed, and the openings of the clamp mounting portions 24 are disposed to face each other. ing. The clamp mounting portion 24 is also provided on the outer side portion 20 of the left side plate 4 in the same manner.

The clamp mounting portion 24 is for mounting the clamp 25 shown in FIG. The clamp 25 is locked to the locking portion 16 shown in FIG. 2 and clamps the lid 3 to the container body 2. A base portion of the clamp 25 is fixed to a support shaft 26, and a pair of contact portions 27 are fixed to the support shaft 26 at two locations.

That is, the clamp 25 includes the contact portion 27, and the clamp 25 and the contact portion 27 may be provided as long as they can rotate integrally without being separately fixed to the support shaft 26 as in the embodiment. May be integrally formed.

PC (polycarbonate) is used as the material for the container body 2, the lid 3, the clamp 25, etc., but PBT (polybutylene terephthalate) or PEEK (polyether ether ketone) may be used. .

The support shaft 26 is rotatably attached to the clamp mounting portion 24 as will be described later with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. The upper and lower contact portions 27 are respectively arranged at positions where the guide ribs 17 (see FIG. 2) of the lid 3 come into contact when the lid 3 is attached to the container body 2.

That is, the guide rib 17 comes into contact with the contact portion 27 and presses and rotates it so that the clamp 25 integrated with the contact portion 27 rotates in the locking direction.

A part of the lower clamp mounting portion 24 shown in FIG. 5 is shown in FIG.
FIG. 6 (b) shows a view from the opening side. Both wall plates 24a, 24b of the clamp mounting portion 24
A holding recess (holding groove) 28 is formed by the bottom plate 24c. The upper clamp mounting portion 24 is similarly formed with a holding recess 28.

The support shaft 26 is rotatably supported by fitting the wafer support groove 6 into the holding recess 28. In order to mount the support shaft 26 to the clamp mounting portion 24, the support shaft 26 can be easily mounted in a detachable manner by simply dropping it from the front side of the upper and lower clamp mounting portions 24.

The support shaft 26 attached to the clamp mounting portion 24 is held on the rear side by the gasket 9 provided on the side plates 4 and 5. Then, by making the clamp 25 rotatable, the clamping operation of the lid body 3 with respect to the container body 2 can be easily performed as will be described later.

[Action]
Next, the operation of the lid opening / closing mechanism of the wafer transfer container configured as described above will be described. First, the operation of attaching (closing) the lid 3 to the container body 2 will be described.

7 and 8, when the lid 3 is moved in the direction of the arrow 30 by the operator's manual operation with respect to the opening 2 a of the container body 2, the guide ribs 17 on both the left and right sides of the lid 3 are attached to the container body 2. The lateral movement is restricted by the outer portions 20 and 21. Further, the side edge 18 of the guide rib 17 is
As shown in FIG. 8, the movement in the vertical direction is restricted by being guided by the side portion of the positioning rib 22.

That is, the movement in the horizontal direction (X direction) and the vertical direction (Z direction) with respect to the opening 2a of the container body 2 is regulated in advance by the positioning ribs 22 and the outer portions 20 and 21 to which the positioning ribs 22 are attached. The lid 3 can be easily attached to the specified position of the container main body 2 without giving special consideration to the posture of 3.

In addition, since the lid 3 can be attached to the container body 2 in an appropriate posture, the wafer presser 7 of the lid 3 can be accurately and easily applied to the semiconductor wafer W at a specified position in the container body 2. it can. In addition, it is possible to reliably prevent misoperation of the wafer presser 7 and the semiconductor wafer W in alignment with the operator's intuition and the catch of the wafer presser 7 with respect to the semiconductor wafer W.

9 and 10 show a state immediately before the attachment is finished by further pressing the lid 3 shown in FIG. In the middle of pushing (closing) the lid 3 from the state of FIG. 7, the guide rib 17 contacts the contact portion 27 of the clamp 25 and presses and rotates the contact portion 27 as shown in FIG. 10.

That is, in conjunction with the closing operation of the lid 3, the clamp 25 integrated with the contact portion 27 is automatically rotated from the state shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 in the locking direction shown in FIGS. 9 and 10.

When the lid 3 is completely closed with respect to the container body 2 as shown in FIG. 11, the clamp 25 is automatically locked to the locking portion 16 of the lid 3. Thus, the clamp operation of the lid body 3 by the clamp 25 can be performed simultaneously with the mounting operation of the lid body 3 with respect to the container body 2.

The reason why the lid 3 can be easily clamped by the clamp 25 is the result of the clamping and releasing operation of the clamp 25 with respect to the locking portion 16 being performed by the pivoting operation of the clamp 25. This is because, unlike the conventional wafer transfer container, a component that causes elastic deformation is not used in the locking tool between the container body 2 and the lid 3.

  The above-described closing method of the lid opening / closing mechanism has three advantages.

One of them is that when the lid 3 is closed with respect to the container main body 2, the positioning of the lid 3 and the container main body 2 and the rotation of the clamp 25 in the locking direction can be performed simultaneously. The second advantage is that the contact position between the wafer holder 7 and the semiconductor wafer W is automatically determined.
The third advantage is that the lid 3 is attached to the container body 2 without deforming the clamp 25.
The mounting work can be easily performed.

  Next, the removal (opening) operation of the lid 3 from the container body 2 will be described.

When removing the lid 3 from the container body 2, the clamp 25 is manually moved to the outside (release direction) of the container body 2 while being removed from the locking portion 16. At this time, when the clamp 25 starts to rotate, the guide rib 17 that is in contact with the contact portion 27 of the clamp 25 is pushed forward, and the lid 3 rises uniformly (separates) from the container body 2. come. For this reason, the lid 3 can be easily detached from the container body 2.

The lid opening / closing mechanism opening method described above has two advantages. For example, even if the clamp 25 is removed from the locking portion 16 of the container body 2, the relative position between the lid body 3 and the container body 2 can be reduced by the guide rib 17 of the lid body 3 and the positioning rib 22 of the container body 2. Since it is determined, it is not necessary to hold the lid 3. The second advantage is that the lid 3 is uniformly lifted from the container body 2, so that an excessive contact action between the semiconductor wafer W and the wafer presser 7 and an adverse effect thereof can be avoided.

Further, since the locking and releasing operation of the clamp 25 with respect to the locking portion 16 can be performed with a small operating force, the lid opening / closing mechanism is applied to an automatic machine that automatically attaches / detaches the lid 3 to / from the container body 2. It becomes easy. And the clamp 25 provided in the container main body 2 so that rotation is possible can be easily mounted | worn to the clamp attachment part 24, without providing a special bearing etc. separately.

In the above-described embodiment, the example in which the guide rib 17 is disposed on the side surface of the lid body 3 and the positioning rib 22 and the clamp mounting portion 24 are disposed on the side surface of the container body 2 has been described. Even if the positioning rib 22 and the clamp mounting portion 24 are arranged on the side surface and the guide rib 17 is arranged on the side surface of the container body 2, the same effect can be obtained. However, the container body 2 and the lid 3
In view of the mold structure and the usage status of the wafer transfer container 1, the above-described embodiment is preferable.

In the above-described embodiment, the positioning rib 22 of the container body 2 is replaced with the guide rib 17 of the lid 3.
However, the positioning ribs 22 may be positioned outside the guide ribs 17 for guidance.

Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the positioning rib 22 is arranged on the side surface of the container main body 2, but instead of the positioning rib 22, an opening or a notch that can regulate the positioning of the guide rib 17 may be arranged. Good.

The lid opening / closing mechanism of the wafer transfer container according to the best mode for carrying out the invention described above is a substantially box-shaped container that can store a plurality of wafers (W) and has an opening (2a) at one end. A main body (2) and a lid (3) removably fitted into the opening (2a) of the container main body (2)
And a wafer transfer container (1). The wafer transfer container (1) includes the lid (3
) Are provided with positioning guide ribs (17) on the outer side portions (14, 15) of the container body (2).
) Are provided with positioning ribs (22) for engaging the guide ribs (17) to position the lid (3).

According to this configuration, in order to attach the lid (3) to the container body (2), the lid (3)
When the container body (2) is fitted, the guide rib (17) of the lid (3) is moved to the container body (2).
) And the positioning ribs (22) on the side surfaces are controlled to move while being positioned.

For this reason, the lid (3) can be easily closed in a state where the longitudinal and lateral relative positions with respect to the opening (2a) of the container body (2) are determined. The wafer presser (7) after closing can be easily attached to the wafer (W) at a specified position in the container body (2), and the work efficiency of opening and closing the lid can be improved.

Further, the lid opening / closing mechanism of the wafer transfer container according to the best mode for carrying out the present invention is provided with a clamp mounting part (24) on the outer side parts (20, 21) of the container main body (2). A rotatable clamp (25) that engages with and disengages from a locking portion (16) provided on the lid (3) is detachably and rotatably mounted on the clamp mounting portion (24).

According to this configuration, the clamp (25) can be easily attached to the container body (2) so as to be rotatable, and the lid (3) can be attached to the container body (3) by rotating the clamp (25). 2)
It is not necessary to elastically deform the clamp (25) when clamping to the lid (3), and the lid (3) can be easily clamped.

In the lid opening / closing mechanism of the wafer transfer container according to the best mode for carrying out the invention, the clamp (25) can contact the guide rib (17) and rotate integrally with the clamp (25). The guide rib (17) presses and rotates the contact portion (27) in conjunction with the operation of closing the lid (3) to the container body (2). (25) is locked to the locking portion (16), and the clamp (25) is detached from the locking portion (16) in order to open the lid (3). A contact portion (27) pushes out the guide rib (17) so that the lid (3) is uniformly spaced from the container body (2).

According to this configuration, when the lid (3) is fitted to the container main body (2) in order to attach the lid (3) to the container main body (2), the guide rib (17) of the lid (3) is attached to the clamp (25). Contact part (27)
Press and rotate. For this reason, the clamp (25) integral with the contact portion (27) is attached to the lid (3
The lid (3) can be automatically clamped by rotating in the direction of clamping the lid (3) in conjunction with the closing operation.

That is, by closing the lid (3), the operator can perform a clamping operation for clamping the lid (3) in conjunction with the closing operation without performing the clamping operation (2).
The clamp of the lid (3) according to 5) can be performed with a small operating force without elastically deforming the clamp, since the clamp (25) is rotatable.

It is a disassembled perspective view of the wafer conveyance container concerning the best form for implementing this invention. It is a perspective view of the cover body of a wafer conveyance container. It is a perspective view of the container main body of a wafer conveyance container. It is a perspective view of the clamp which a cover body clamps. It is an expansion perspective view of the positioning rib of a container main body, and a clamp attachment part. FIG. 4A is an enlarged perspective view showing a part of the clamp mounting portion and the support shaft, and FIG. 4B is a view showing an opening of the clamp mounting portion. It is an effect | action figure which shows the attachment state of the cover body with respect to a container main body. FIG. 8 is an operational diagram of guide ribs, positioning ribs, clamps, and the like at the attachment position of the lid of FIG. It is an effect | action figure which shows the state by which the cover body of FIG. 7 was pushed further into the container main body. FIG. 10 is an operational diagram of guide ribs, positioning ribs, clamps, and the like at the attachment position of the lid of FIG. It is a perspective view of the wafer conveyance container after completion | finish of attaching a cover body to a container main body.

Explanation of symbols

W Semiconductor wafer 1 Wafer transfer container 2 Container body 2a Opening 3 of container body Lid 14 and 15 Side plate (outer part) of lid
16 Lid locking portion 17 Lid guide ribs 20 and 21 Outer side 22 of container body Positioning rib 24 Clamp mounting portion 25 Clamp 27 Clamp contact portion

Claims (3)

A wafer transfer container comprising: a substantially box-shaped container body that can store a plurality of wafers and having an opening at one end; and a lid that can be detachably fitted into the opening of the container body. There,
A lid for a wafer transfer container, wherein a guide rib for positioning is provided on the outer side of the lid, and a positioning rib for positioning the lid by engaging with the guide rib is provided on the outer side of the container body. Opening and closing mechanism. A clamp mounting portion is provided on the outer side of the container body, and a rotatable clamp that engages with and disengages from a locking portion provided on the lid body is detachably and rotatably mounted on the clamp mounting portion. The lid opening / closing mechanism for a wafer transfer container according to claim 1, wherein: The clamp has a contact portion that can contact the guide rib and rotates integrally with the clamp, and the guide rib presses and rotates the contact portion in conjunction with an operation of closing the lid body on the container body. Accordingly, the contact portion pushes the guide rib in conjunction with an operation of locking the clamp to the locking portion and releasing the clamp from the locking portion to open the lid body. The lid opening / closing mechanism of a wafer transfer container according to claim 2, wherein the body is provided so as to be evenly spaced from the container main body.

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