JP2007142192A - Thin-plate body storage container - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable downsizing by reducing the number of components, and reducing manufacturing cost. <P>SOLUTION: A thin-plate body storage container comprises a container body 20 having an opening 26 for containing a plurality of semiconductor wafers W therein, and for taking in and out the semiconductor wafers W; a lid body 100 for covering the opening 26 so as to be openable and closable; a sealing material 105 for tightly sealing the container body 20 when the lid body 100 covers the opening 26; and thin plate supports 30 which are formed on inner surfaces of sides 22, 23, to separate the semiconductor wafer W in the thickness direction and arrange and support them in parallel. The container body 20 and the thin plate supports 30 for supporting the semiconductor wafers W are integrally molded by using polybutylene terephthalate. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a thin plate container for storing, storing, and transporting a thin plate such as a semiconductor wafer, a storage disk, and a liquid crystal glass substrate, and to a device that can reduce manufacturing costs.

Thin plate containers are used for transporting semiconductor wafers, storage disk (hard disk) substrates, liquid crystal glass substrates, etc., which must absolutely suppress the generation of dust, etc., in these manufacturing processes. It is used as a carrier. As such a thin plate container, various forms are known (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).
No. 6-13114 Japanese Patent No. 3538204

  The thin plate container described above has the following problems. That is, an inexpensive polycarbonate material is used for the container body, and a non-chargeable or conductive polybutylene terephthalate having a low friction coefficient is used for the mounting portion that comes into direct contact with the thin plate body. However, when the container is formed of a plurality of different materials, an extra part space is required due to an increase in the number of parts, and there is a problem that the whole container is increased in size and the manufacturing cost is increased.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a thin plate container that can be reduced in size by reducing the number of parts and can be reduced in manufacturing cost.

  In order to solve the above problems and achieve the object, the thin plate container of the present invention is configured as follows.

  A plurality of thin plate bodies are housed therein, and a bottomed rectangular tube-shaped container body having an opening for taking in and out the thin plate body, a lid body for opening and closing the opening portion, and a lid body. Formed on the inner surfaces of a pair of side surfaces facing each other of the container body, and sealing the plurality of thin plate members in the thickness direction; And a thin plate body support portion arranged and supported in parallel, and the thin plate body support portion is provided with a convex portion that is placed on the surface side of the thin plate body and protrudes in the laminating direction of the thin plate body. A thin plate body support rib and a wall portion provided between the thin plate body support rib portions and formed to be spaced apart from each other at a substantially constant interval with the outer peripheral portion of the thin plate body, and the container body and the thin plate The body support portion is integrally formed of the same material.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the size by reducing the number of parts, and it is possible to reduce the manufacturing cost.

  A case will be described as an example for explaining the thin plate container of the present invention. A semiconductor wafer was used as the thin plate. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a thin plate container 10 and a semiconductor wafer W according to an embodiment of the present invention. The thin plate container 10 is a container suitable for use as a container for storing, storing, and transporting thin plates such as a storage disk and a liquid crystal glass substrate in addition to the semiconductor wafer W. The size of the semiconductor wafer W is handled from 150 mm or less to 300 mm or more.

  The thin plate container 10 includes a bottomed rectangular tube-shaped container body 20 that houses a plurality of semiconductor wafers W and a lid body 100 that covers the opening 26 of the container body 20. Further, inside the container body 20, a pair of thin plate body support portions 30 that are provided on the opposite side walls 23 and 24 in the container body 20 and support the semiconductor wafer W accommodated therein from both sides are provided. ing.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the container body 20 is formed in a bottomed rectangular tube shape. As the constituent material, a thermoplastic polymer material that can be generally used for injection molding, such as polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), polycarbonate (PC), polypropylene (PP), or ABS resin, can be used.

  The container body 20 includes four side wall portions 21 to 24, a bottom plate portion 25, and an opening portion 26 that serve as surrounding walls in a vertically placed state (the opening portion 26 faces upward). Reinforcing reinforcing ribs 21a, 22a, 23a, 24a are provided on the side wall portions 21, 22, 23, 24, respectively. The bottom plate portion 25 is formed with reinforcing grooves (bottom ribs) 25a corresponding to the number of semiconductor wafers W stored therein. When the container body 20 is attached to a kinematic pin (not shown) of a mechanical processing device (external device) in a production line or the like of the semiconductor wafer W, the container body 20 is placed horizontally (the opening 26 is directed horizontally).

  As shown in FIG. 3, a positioning mechanism 40 for the thin plate container 10 is provided on the outside of the side wall portion 21 that becomes the bottom portion in the horizontally placed state. The positioning mechanism 40 is constituted by three sets of coupling grooves 41. Each coupling groove 41 is finished with precise dimensional accuracy according to the standard. Further, the surface has a fine concavo-convex structure for improving lubricity, and an irregular concavo-convex structure (texture), a fine prism structure, a fine hemispherical structure, or the like is used. Each coupling groove 41 of the positioning mechanism 40 is fitted to a fitting protrusion (not shown) on the mounting table side, whereby the thin plate container 10 is placed at an accurate position, and the semiconductor wafer W is moved by the wafer transfer robot. Is to be taken in and out.

  Further, an info pad portion 42 for displaying history information and the like of the semiconductor wafer W or the thin plate container 10 with or without the info pad 43 is integrally formed in the bottom of the coupling groove 41. ing. The formation area of the infopad is also determined by the standard. As shown in FIG. 4, the info pad 43 is formed to be removable from the info pad portion 42. In addition, as shown in FIG. 5, it is good also considering the area | region formed surrounded by the some pad part 44 which can be cut | disconnected with the info pad part 42 as an info pad. At this time, the coupling groove 41 is formed at a place sandwiched between the info pad portions 42.

  FIG. 6 is a side view showing the side wall portion 22. A flange mounting plate 50 for detachably mounting a top flange (not shown) is provided at the central portion of the side wall portion 22 so that the top flange is inserted and mounted. The top flange is a portion that is gripped by the arm portion of the transport device when the thin plate container 10 is transported by the transport device.

  FIG. 7 is a side view showing the side wall portion 23. In addition, since the side wall part 23 and the side wall part 24 are symmetrical, description of the side wall part 24 is abbreviate | omitted. The side wall 23 is provided with a handle mounting plate 60 for detachably mounting a carrying handle (not shown). The carrying handle is a handle that is gripped when the operator holds the thin plate container 10 by hand. Even when the handle is not attached, it is possible to carry the container by grasping the gripping ribs 61 and 62 by hand. Therefore, the rib 61 has a taper and a step so that the gap with the rib 62 can be adjusted so that the gripping force can be adjusted.

  The inner edge of the opening 26 is provided with a fitted portion 26a for fitting the lid locking claw 103a of the simple attachment / detachment mechanism 103 and fixing the lid 100 to the container body 20 side.

  FIG. 8 is a plan view of the inside of the bottom surface viewed from the opening 26 of the container body 20. The thin plate body support portion 30 is integrally formed of the same material with respect to the container body 20. A plurality of thin plate body support portions 30 are arranged in parallel at regular intervals, and are provided on each thin plate body support rib portion 31 and each thin plate body support rib portion 31 that supports each semiconductor wafer W by one piece. And a convex portion 32 projecting in the stacking direction of the semiconductor wafer W and a V-shaped groove (concave portion) 33 provided on the innermost side.

  The V-shaped groove 33 is constituted by a V-shaped bottom, and when the container body 20 is placed vertically, the semiconductor wafer W is guided by the inclined surface 33a of the V-shaped groove 33 and dropped into the groove bottom 33b. In the innermost part, the thin plate body support ribs 31 are supported at the center of each other. This prevents interference between adjacent semiconductor wafers W. The convex portion 32 is formed so as to contact the semiconductor wafer W with a minimum area when the thin plate container 10 is placed horizontally.

  Further, the surface (surface on the semiconductor wafer W side) of each thin plate member support rib portion 31 is formed to be curved in an arc shape along the peripheral edge of the circular semiconductor wafer W. Thereby, the thin plate body support rib portion 31 is supported in a state of being slightly overlapped along the periphery of the semiconductor wafer W, and the adverse effect on the surface of the semiconductor wafer W is minimized. Furthermore, a wall portion 34 is formed in the interval between the thin plate body support rib portions 31 so as to be close to the thin plate with a substantially constant interval to prevent the thin plate from falling off due to vibration or the like.

  The thin plate support rib portion 31 is formed in a shape that allows the forming die to be removed in a direction orthogonal to the stacking direction of the semiconductor wafers W. That is, it is set so that the convex portion 32 is not provided in the direction in which the mold is removed.

  The container main body 20 and the thin plate body support portion 30 are made of a synthetic resin excellent in moldability that is finished with high dimensional accuracy, for example, non-chargeable polybutylene terephthalate or conductive polybutylene terephthalate. Since this polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) has a small coefficient of friction of the material itself, the lubricity with respect to the semiconductor wafer W can be improved. In order to make it non-chargeable or conductive, an antistatic agent such as a surfactant and a conductive filler such as a metal filler or carbon fiber are kneaded in the PBT.

  The lid 100 includes a rectangular plate 101, a rising wall 102 over the entire periphery of the plate 101, a simple attachment / detachment mechanism 103 for detachably fixing the lid 100 to the container body 20, and a semiconductor wafer. A thin plate body supporting portion 104 that supports the peripheral edge portion of W and a sealing material 105 that is provided on the rising wall 102 and keeps the container body 20 airtight while the lid body 100 covers the container body 20 are provided. The sealing material is made of an elastic polymer material and has at least one lip structure for shielding outside air. The elastic polymer material is formed of a polymer elastomer such as polybutylene elastomer, polyethylene elastomer, polyester elastomer, polyolefin elastomer, or the like.

  The lid 100 may have a structure that can be opened and closed manually in addition to a structure having a latch mechanism that can be automatically opened and closed by a mechanical processing device used in a semiconductor manufacturing process.

  In addition, the container main body 20 is provided with a breathing valve (not shown) in order to allow outside air breathing during air transportation and to prevent destruction of the container during air transportation and contamination within the container. A membrane filter that filters and removes particles with a porous fluororesin film and the like, and a chemical filter that adsorbs and removes organic gas in the gas with activated carbon and porous ceramics are attached to the inside of the breathing valve.

  The thin plate container 10 configured in this way is used as follows. That is, when the semiconductor wafer W is stored in the container main body 20, the container main body 20 is placed horizontally and the semiconductor wafer W is inserted from the opening 26 by the wafer transfer robot. At this time, as shown in FIG. 11, the semiconductor wafer W is inserted between the thin plate body support rib portions 31 of the thin plate body support portion 30 and placed on the thin plate body support rib portion 31.

  When the semiconductor wafer W is stored and transported, the lid 100 is attached to the opening 26. At this time, as shown in FIG. 12, the semiconductor wafer W is pushed to the back side of the container body 20. At this time, the peripheral edge (right side in FIG. 12) of the semiconductor wafer W is guided by the slope 104a of the thin plate support 104 and falls into the groove bottom 104b, and the peripheral edge of the semiconductor wafer W located on the opposite side (FIG. 12). Similarly, the middle left side is guided by the slope 33a of the V-shaped groove 33 and falls into the groove bottom 33b. Thus, the semiconductor wafer W is supported and fixed at the center between the thin plate body support rib portions 31. This reliably prevents interference between the semiconductor wafers W.

  Next, the lid locking claw 103 a of the simple attachment / detachment mechanism 103 is fitted into the fitted portion 26 a of the container main body 20, and the lid 100 is fixed to the container main body 20. In this state, the thin plate container 10 is conveyed. Remove the top flange and carrying handle as necessary.

  As described above, the thin plate container 10 can reduce the number of parts by integrally forming the container main body 20 and the thin plate support 30 with the same material. For this reason, an extra part space can be omitted, the storage container can be miniaturized, and the manufacturing cost of the product can be reduced. Further, by using polybutylene terephthalate as the material, it is possible to obtain a storage container that satisfies all of the mechanical strength, air tightness, lubricity, moldability, and the like of the storage container.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, the semiconductor wafer W has been described as an example. However, when other thin plates such as a storage disk and a liquid crystal glass substrate are used, the same operations and effects as the above embodiment can be obtained. In addition to polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), a thermoplastic polymer material that can be generally used for injection molding, such as polycarbonate (PC), polypropylene (PP), or ABS resin, may be used as the constituent material. . Further, a non-chargeable polymer material or a conductive material which is a composite material having a finely mixed region of polybutylene terephthalate and polycarbonate may be used. Thereby, it can be set as the container with the characteristic of both PC and PBT. That is, it is possible to impart properties such as impact resistance, chemical resistance, transparency, workability, heat resistance, and low friction resistance.

  The thin plate container also has the same operation and effect when used for a wafer carrier used for chemical processing or cleaning in a production line of the semiconductor wafer W in addition to a shipping container for storing and shipping semiconductor wafers. be able to. Of course, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

1 is a perspective view showing a thin plate container and a semiconductor wafer W according to an embodiment of the present invention. Sectional drawing which shows the same thin-plate body storage container. The side view which shows the same thin-plate body storage container. The perspective view which shows the info pad part integrated in the same thin-plate body storage container. The front view which shows the modification of the info pad part. The side view which shows the same thin-plate body storage container. The side view which shows the same thin-plate body storage container. The top view which shows the opening part of the same thin-plate body storage container. The perspective view which shows the principal part of the thin plate body support part of the same thin plate body storage container. The perspective view which shows the cover body integrated in the same thin-plate body storage container. Explanatory drawing which shows the relationship between a semiconductor wafer and a wafer support part in the state which the cover body of the same thin-plate body storage container opened. Explanatory drawing which shows the relationship between a semiconductor wafer and a wafer support part in the state which the cover body of the same thin plate body storage container closed.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Thin plate body storage container, 20 ... Container main body, 30 ... Thin plate body support part, 40 ... Positioning mechanism, 100 ... Cover body.

Claims (10)

A container body having a bottomed rectangular tube shape having an opening for taking in and out the thin plate body, while storing a plurality of thin plate bodies therein,
A lid for freely opening and closing the opening;
A sealing material that hermetically seals the container body when the opening is covered with the lid;
A thin plate body support portion that is formed on the inner surfaces of a pair of opposing side surface portions of the container body, separates the plurality of thin plate bodies in the thickness direction, and supports the arrangement in parallel;
The thin plate body support portion is placed between the thin plate body support rib portion and the plate-like thin plate body support rib on which the surface side of the thin plate body is placed and the convex portion protruding in the stacking direction of the thin plate body is provided. Provided with an outer peripheral portion of the thin plate member and a wall portion formed in close proximity to each other at a substantially constant interval,
The thin plate body storage container, wherein the container main body and the thin plate body support portion are integrally formed of the same material.   2. The thin plate container according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the wall portions are arranged on an arc in the vicinity of the outer peripheral end of the thin plate.   2. The thin plate container according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of bottom ribs formed at the same pitch as the thin plate support ribs are formed on the bottom surface of the container main body.   The thin plate container according to claim 1, wherein a coupling groove for coupling with an external device is formed in the container body.   2. The thin plate container according to claim 1, wherein a fine concavo-convex structure for reducing a friction coefficient is formed at a sliding portion of the coupling groove with the external device.   5. An infopad portion for displaying history information of the thin plate member or the storage container by the presence or absence of a removable infopad is integrally formed in at least one of the coupling grooves. 2. A thin plate container according to 1.   2. The thin plate container according to claim 1, wherein the material is non-chargeable or conductive polybutylene terephthalate.   2. The thin plate container according to claim 1, wherein the material is a non-chargeable polymer material or a conductive material which is a composite material having a finely mixed region of polyethylene terephthalate and polycarbonate.   The thin plate member storage container according to claim 1, wherein the thin plate member support rib has a shape in which a forming die can be removed in a predetermined direction orthogonal to the stacking direction.   2. The thin plate container according to claim 1, wherein the wall portion is textured.

Images