JP2011166065A - Reticle pod - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a reticle pod in which a plurality of support members having elasticity are disposed at contact locations with a reticle. <P>SOLUTION: The reticle pod comprises an upper lid body, a lower lid bode, and a plurality of support components arranged on the four corners of the lower lid body. The support component comprises a seat body which is made by integral and mutual coupling by a vertical method and which has a fastening fixture on both ends thereof; a pair of elastic members each arranged on the seat body, and extending one step part in the vertical direction of the seat body and thereafter further extending another step part along the inward lateral direction of the seat body; a pair of guiding members each coupled with the lateral-direction extending step part of the elastic member, further extending a protrusion part in the vertical direction and forming a first inclined surface and a second inclined surface on the side surface of the protrusion part inside the seat body; and a support bottom plate whose first end and second end are coupled with the second inclined surface of the guiding member and on whose third end position a support post is arranged. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

    The present invention relates to a reticle pod (POD), and more particularly to a reticle pod in which a plurality of support members are arranged in a reticle pod.

    Circuits on the reticle used in the exposure process because modern advanced wafer foundries (Fabry) or semiconductor manufacturers (Fab.) Have already advanced to the manufacturing process of 90 nanometers or less in the wafer manufacturing process. The pattern (pattern) needs to be reduced, and the line width in the pattern is very small. This greatly increases the manufacturing cost of the reticle. Due to the very high cost of reticles, modern advanced wafer foundry or semiconductor manufacturers are forced to extend the useful life of the reticle to reduce manufacturing costs. In particular, it is a memory manufacturing foundry or a semiconductor manufacturer.

Depending on manufacturing demand, the reticle must always travel back and forth between the Storage Box and the exposure tool (Lithography tool), so by placing the reticle in the reticle pod, particles ( particle) to the reticle. Since the reticle pod has to be transported, there are always two issues to consider when putting the reticle into the reticle pod. The first is to ensure that the reticle is securely fastened to avoid damaging the reticle due to friction between the reticle and the case body, or a fastener or support, when the reticle is poorly secured. It is. Second, the contact area between the reticle and the fastener or support must be reduced, which is to reduce the electrostatic discharge caused by friction, and in particular to contact only the peripheral area without the reticle patterning. This is because damage caused by contact or friction between the reticle and the fastener or the support material can be avoided.
For this reason, proposals relating to the design of the support material have already been made by many patents, and the reticle is fixed. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, Patent Document 1 discloses a structure and arrangement method of a support material in a reticle pod, and when the reticle is placed in the reticle pod, only the peripheral area of the reticle is an inclined surface of the support material. In contact. However, there are two problems with this support material. First, since the support material is integrally molded and fixed to the chickle pod, each support material becomes a rigid body, so there is no cushion. However, when the reticle pod collides or falls, the impact force is directly transmitted to the reticle through the support member, and there is a possibility that the reticle is locally damaged or crushed. Secondly, when the reticle is put into the case body by an individual support material design, there is no appropriate guide mechanism, so that a positional shift occurs and damage or the like is likely to occur.

    Thereby, about the support material in a reticle pod, the damage which arises when a reticle is conveyed or accommodated can be effectively reduced by making these support materials have the design which comprises elasticity. At the same time, by having a good guide design, the reticle must be automatically guided into place in the process of entering the reticle pod. For this reason, this invention provides the structure of a support material. An elastic design is provided at a place where the support material and the reticle are in contact with each other, and a guide design is provided so that the reticle can be accurately placed in a predetermined position. Besides, when the semiconductor factory goes to the high-end manufacturing process due to the progress of the manufacturing process, in addition to electrostatic discharge, electromagnetic interference (EMI) in the semiconductor factory also harms the reticle, especially the reticle is stored In the present invention, a reticle pod made of a polymer material is used on the premise that damage to the reticle is prevented from electrostatic discharge (ESD) and electromagnetic interference (EMI) because the surrounding environment cannot be predicted at the time or when exposed. In addition to providing, examples of metal reticle pods are also provided. This metal reticle pod not only effectively locks the reticle and blocks contact between the reticle and the atmosphere, but also uses a metal reticle pod to prevent damage to the reticle from electrostatic discharge (ESD) and electromagnetic interference (EMI). it can.

Chinese Patent No. I227210

    A main object of the present invention is to provide a reticle pod in which a plurality of support materials are provided that have an elastic design at a contact portion between the support material and the reticle using the support material.

    Another main object of the present invention is to provide a reticle pod in which a plurality of support members that accurately place a reticle in a predetermined position by using a guide member of the support member.

    Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a metal reticle pod that utilizes a metal reticle pod to prevent damage to the reticle from electrostatic discharge (ESD) and electromagnetic interference (EMI).

    Furthermore, another main object of the present invention is to provide a reticle pod having an airtight effect that blocks the reticle contained in the reticle pod from the outside air, thereby extending the service life of the reticle.

    The support parts of the substrate are integrally interconnected by a vertical method from one end of both support arms, and a seat body in which a fastener is disposed at the other end of the both support arms, and each elastic member is disposed on each of the support arms. After extending one step from the longitudinal direction of the support arm, a pair of elastic members extending the other step along the inner lateral direction of the support arm, and a laterally extending step of each elastic member A pair of guide members that further extend the protruding portion in the vertical direction to form a first inclined surface and a second inclined surface on the side surface inside the support arm of the protruding portion, and the first surface And a second surface facing the other side of the first surface, the first surface of the first end and the first surface of the second end are connected to the second inclined surface of the guide member, respectively, And a support bottom plate on which support pillars are arranged at locations adjacent to the third ends of the two surfaces.

    Based on the above object, the reticle pod provided by the present invention comprises a combination of an upper lid and a lower lid, and support parts for supporting and fixing the reticle are arranged at each corner of the lower lid of the reticle pod. In addition, at least one fastening member is disposed on one side of the reticle pod to integrally connect the upper lid and the lower lid. A feature of the reticle pod is that each support component is integrally interconnected from one end of both support arms in a vertical manner, and a fastener is disposed at the other end of each support arm, and each support arm is provided with each support arm. A pair of elastic members that are arranged and each elastic member extends one step from the longitudinal direction of the support arm and then extends another step along the inner lateral direction of the support arm, and each elastic member A pair of guides that are further extended in the longitudinal direction to form a first inclined surface and a second inclined surface on the side surface inside the support arm of the protruding portion. A first surface and a second surface facing the other side of the first surface, and the first end and the first surface of the second end are respectively connected to the second inclined surface of the guide member; A support base plate in which a support column is disposed at a location adjacent to the third end of the second surface of the third end; Including.

    Next, the metal reticle pod further provided by the present invention comprises a combination of a metal upper lid and a metal lower lid, and support parts for supporting and fixing the reticle to each corner of the metal lower lid of the reticle pod. At least one fastening member is disposed to integrally connect the metal upper lid and the metal lower lid to one side of the metal reticle pod. The feature of the metal reticle pod is that each support component is integrally interconnected from one end of both support arms by a vertical method, and a fastener is disposed at the other end of each support arm, and each support arm is provided with each support arm. A pair of elastic members that are arranged and each elastic member extends one step from the longitudinal direction of the support arm and then extends another step along the inner lateral direction of the support arm, and each elastic member A pair of guides that are further extended in the longitudinal direction to form a first inclined surface and a second inclined surface on the side surface inside the support arm of the protruding portion. A first surface and a second surface facing the other side of the first surface, and the first end and the first surface of the second end are respectively connected to the second inclined surface of the guide member; A support base plate in which a support column is arranged at a location adjacent to the third end of the second surface of the third end Including the.

    The present invention provides a function of preventing electrostatic discharge (ESD) and electromagnetic interference (EMI), as well as allowing the reticle to be easily smoothed and introduced into the reticle pod, and to effectively fix the reticle. In addition, the reticle pod of the present invention can provide an airtight space for protecting the reticle, and has a function of avoiding noise to the reticle, thereby extending the service life of the reticle.

It is a figure which shows the reticle pod of a prior art. It is a figure which shows the solid of a support component. It is a figure which shows the case where a hollow stud is arrange | positioned at a support component. It is a figure which shows the case where the support component is arrange | positioned to the reticle pod. It is a figure which shows the reticle pod which has arrange | positioned the several support component which concerns on this invention. It is a three-dimensional view of an upper lid or a lower lid of a reticle pod in which a plurality of support parts according to the present invention are arranged. It is a three-dimensional view of the reticle pod of the present invention.

The present invention is to disclose a reticle pod in which a plurality of support materials are arranged, and the main improvement is in the support material portion. As a result, detailed manufacturing or processing processes for some other reticles or reticle pods that are utilized are achieved by current technology.
This includes a reticle pod made of a polymer material and a metal reticle pod made of a metal.
For this reason, in the following description, a detailed description of the detailed manufacturing or processing process of the reticle or reticle pod is not provided. Moreover, since the following drawings are also based on actual relevant dimensions, complete drawing is not performed, and the use only expresses a conceptual diagram related to the features of the present invention.

First, a description will be given with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a view showing a support component arranged in the reticle pod of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 2, the support component 100 includes both support arms 110. One end of each of the support arms 110 is integrally interconnected by a vertical method, and a fastener 120 is connected to the other end of each of the support arms. Includes one seat.
The fastener 120 can be formed by a geometric method such as a rectangle, a polygon, or a cylinder. In the embodiment of the present invention, the cylindrical fastener 120 is used, and at the same time, a through hole 121 is further formed at the center of the column of the cylindrical fastener 120, and the reticle pod can be connected through the through hole 121.
As shown in FIG. 3, the hollow stud 123 was further arrange | positioned especially in the through-hole 121 of the fastener 120 of this invention. The material of the hollow stud 123 can be, for example, a metal material such as stainless steel, aluminum alloy, or magnesium alloy.

In addition, in order to strengthen the structure of the support component 100, a flange 160 can be further formed at the vertical joint portion of the both support arms 110.
Next, a pair of elastic members 130 are respectively disposed on both support arms 110, and after each elastic member 130 extends one step portion 131 from the longitudinal direction of the support arms 110, the elastic members 130 further extend in the lateral direction inside the support arms 110. The other step 133 is extended along.
After the pair of guide members 140 are connected to the laterally extending step 133 of the elastic member 130, the protruding portions are further extended in the vertical direction. A first inclined surface 141 and a second inclined surface 143 are formed on the side surface inside the support arm of the protruding portion.
During the process in which the first inclined surface 141 puts the reticle into the reticle pod, the reticle can be naturally introduced into a predetermined position via the first inclined surface 141.
After the reticle is introduced into a predetermined position, the second inclined surface 143 can be used as a limiting member for limiting the movement of the reticle.
Thereby, since the reticle can be naturally introduced and fixed at a predetermined position, the angle between the inclined surface of the first inclined surface 141 and the seat body plane is in the range of 50 degrees to 75 degrees. In a preferred embodiment, the angle between the inclined surface of the first inclined surface 141 and the seat body plane is 65 degrees.
The angle between the inclined surface of the second inclined surface 143 and the seat plane is in the range of 70 to 90 degrees, and in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the angle between the inclined surface of the second inclined surface 143 and the seat plane is The angle between them was 80 degrees.

Next, one support bottom plate 150 includes a first surface and a second surface facing the other side of the first surface.
The support bottom plate 150 has a geometric shape such as a rectangle, a polygon, or a triangle.
In the embodiment of the present invention, since the support bottom plate 150 has a triangular structure, the first end and the first end of the support bottom plate 150 are connected to the second inclined surface 143 of the guide member 140, respectively. The support pillar 153 is disposed on the second surface of the third end 150 and adjacent to the third end.
The support pillar 153 and the cylindrical fasteners 120 on both sides thereof are not flush with each other. More specifically, since the support columns 153 are shorter than the cylindrical fasteners 120 on both sides thereof, the support columns 153 are suspended after the support component 100 is fixed to the reticle pod via both cylindrical fasteners 120 (this A diagram showing the state will be described in FIG. 6).
Therefore, a pair of elastic members 130 can be provided as an elastic interface after a single reticle is placed in the reticle pod.
When a vertical displacement occurs when the pair of elastic members 130 support the support reticle, the displacement distance in the direction can be controlled through the suspension distance formed from the support column 153.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the suspension distance of the support column 153 can be in the range of 0.5 mm to 1.5 mm. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the suspension distance of the support column 153 is 1 mm.
Accordingly, the purpose of forming the suspension design of the support column 153 is to protect the support component 100, and in the reticle or in the conveyance process, excessive elastic displacement occurs due to dropping, and the elastic member 130 is broken, so that the reticle is This is to prevent the reticle from being damaged due to collision and friction with other parts in the reticle pod.
Next, the convex rib 151 is further formed on the first surface of the support bottom plate 150 of the present invention. Its main function is to provide a contact point for the reticle.
Since there is a design of the convex rib 151 on the support bottom plate 150, the reticle is introduced to an accurate position by the inclined surface 141 of the pair of guide members 140 and the second inclined surface 143 is limited, and then the convex rib 151 is appropriately Through this design, the contact position between the convex rib 151 and the reticle can be secured.
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the position of the convex rib 151 can be arranged in the vicinity of both the second inclined surfaces 143, and it is clear that the convex rib 151 and the support column 153 can maintain an appropriate distance at the relative position.

In addition, the support component 100 of the present invention is formed using a polymer material in order to reduce friction between the convex ribs 151 and the reticle and avoid generation of foreign matter and static electricity. Use PEEK material.
Next, the support component 100 of the present invention is also manufactured by the method of embedding injection, and the main body of the support component 100 (that is, excluding the convex rib 151) is formed first, and then the convex rib 151 is supported by another injection molding method. The part 100 can be formed at an appropriate position.
In this case, the material forming the main body of the support component 100 can be a plastic material, and only the convex rib 151 can be a PEEK material, which can reduce the manufacturing cost of the support component 100.
As a matter of course, if there is consideration due to special factors, the support component 100 and the convex ribs 151 thereon can be formed of a plastic material, and the present invention is not limited thereto. For this reason, in the constituent material of the support component 100 of the present invention, the same material or two kinds of materials can be formed.

Next, an implementation method for placing the support component 100 in the reticle pod will be described.
The main feature of the present invention is to improve the structure of the support component 100. It will be described that various methods of placing the support component 100 in the reticle pod can be implemented with the support component 100.

Next, a description will be given with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a view showing a case where the support component 100 of the present invention is arranged in a reticle pod.
The reticle pod 10 of the present invention is a rectangular case body, and includes at least one upper lid body 11, one lower lid body 12, and the upper lid body 11 and the lower lid body 12 connected by a rivet joining method. And a support component 100 disposed at each of the four corners of the upper lid body 11 and the lower lid body 12.
Each support component 100 is fastened to the fastening hole 111 and the fastening member 125 on the reticle pod 10 via the hollow studs 123 on the fasteners 120 at both ends of the seat body.
In the preferred embodiment, the clamping member 125 is a rivet. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, each support component 100 of the present invention integrally tightens the hollow studs 123 at both ends of the seat body and the fastening holes 111 on the reticle pod 10 via two rivets (for example, After the rivet is inserted from the outside of the upper lid body 11 and the lower lid body 12 and passes through the fastening holes 111 on the upper lid body 11 and the lower lid body 12 and the hollow stud 123 on the support component 100 in the order, Furthermore, the fixing purpose can be achieved by pressing one end of the rivet by a pressing method to widen the rivet), and each supporting component 100 can be firmly connected integrally to the upper lid body 11 and the lower lid body 12. it can.
In addition, the fastening member 15 used as the rivet joining method for the upper lid body 11 and the lower lid body 12 in this embodiment is a hinge mechanism. This is a rivet in which a hinge mechanism is arranged on the same side of the upper lid body 11 and the lower lid body 12, the upper lid body 11 and the lower lid body 12 are integrally connected, and the upper lid body as an axis through this hinge mechanism. 11 and the lower lid 12 can be opened or closed.

Next, when the upper lid body 11 and the lower lid body 12 are closed, an accommodation space can be formed between the upper lid body 11 and the lower lid body 12. This accommodation space can be provided for reticle accommodation.
When a single reticle is placed in the reticle pod 10, the reticle first comes into contact with the support components 100 disposed at the four corners of the lower lid 12, and the support component 100 has the design of the guide member 140. After the reticle is introduced to the correct position via the inclined surface 141 on 140 and constrained from the second inclined surface 143, the reticle can actually be brought into contact with the convex rib 151 on the support component 100. .
Further, the convex rib 151 is brought into contact with a small portion of the reticle periphery by an appropriate position of the convex rib 151, and the second inclined surface 143 is restricted so that the reticle is not excessively displaced so that the reticle is worn and static. Does not cause such problems.
Next, when the upper lid body 11 and the lower lid body 12 of the reticle pod 10 are closed, the supporting parts 100 on the four corners of the upper lid body 11 can come into contact with the other surface of the reticle, and the reticle in the reticle pod 10 can be contacted. Since the upper cover 11 and the lower cover 12 are supported and fixed by the support components 100 on the four corners, the safety of the reticle can be ensured. Further, as shown by the dotted line in the reticle pod three-dimensional view of FIG. 6, the support component 100 is provided with a design of the elastic member 130 and the support column 153, and in particular, the support column 153 is a suspended design (for example, the support column 153). And a suspension distance between the upper lid body 11 and the lower lid body 12 is 1 mm).
For this reason, when the reticle 10 falls during the conveyance or transmission process, the elastic member 130 absorbs excessive displacement, and at the same time, the displacement of the elastic member 130 due to the suspension distance between the support column 153 and the upper lid 11 or the lower lid 12. Limit. Since the excessive impact force is absorbed through the design of the elastic member 130 and the support column 153, good support and protection for the reticle can be provided.

Next, a description will be given with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is another preferred embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 7, when the accommodation space of the reticle pod 10 needs to be airtight, the reticle pod 10 of the present invention further includes an airtight member 13 on the rectangular periphery of the upper lid 11 or the lower lid 12. In addition, when the upper lid body 11 and the lower lid body 12 are closed, the accommodation space of the reticle pod 10 can be blocked from the outside air by the compression to the airtight member 13.
The airtight member 13 in the present embodiment is an annular or rectangular shape, and is an elastic airtight member 13 made of elastic rubber or polymer resin (for example, epoxy resin or conductive rubber).
Thereby, since the elastic airtight member 13 can be brought into close contact with each other by closing the upper lid body 11 and the lower lid body 12, thereby achieving the effect of ensuring airtightness, the reticle and the water vapor or dust in the outside air can be achieved. The contact life of the reticle can be blocked, and the reticle can be used to increase the service life of the reticle by preventing haze or contamination of the reticle.

In addition, in the reticle pod 10 of the present invention, at least one locking member 14 for integrally engaging the upper lid body 11 and the lower lid body 12 with the upper lid body 11 and the lower lid body 12 is disposed. Can do.
In addition, the elastic airtight member can be brought into close contact with the locking member 14, thereby achieving the effect of ensuring airtightness. The locking member 14 is disposed on the other side facing the fastening member, and the material of the locking member 14 can be formed of plastic or metal depending on the design demand.

It should be emphasized here that the main feature of the present invention is the improvement of the support component 100, which is arranged at the four corners of the upper lid 11 and the lower lid 12 of the reticle pod 10. When the upper lid 11 is closed after placing one surface on the plurality of support components 100 of the lower lid 12, the other surface of the reticle is fixed by the plurality of support components 100 on the upper lid 11, thereby making the reticle robust. It can be arranged in the upper lid body 11 and the lower lid body 12.
For this reason, the reticle pod 10 absorbs excessive displacement by the elastic member 130 on the support component 100 during the conveyance or transmission process, and at the same time, the reticle pod 10 is also elastic by the suspension distance between the support column 153 and the upper lid 11 or the lower lid 12. The displacement of the member 130 is limited.
Since the excessive impact force is absorbed through the design of the elastic member 130 and the support column 153, good support and protection for the reticle can be provided.
Furthermore, the reticle pod 10 of the present invention can be formed by a stamping method of a metal material or an injection molding method of an engineering plastic material. This also does not limit the present invention.
In the reticle pod 10 of the present invention, when a metal material is used as the material of the upper lid body 11 and the lower lid body 12, the structure of the metal reticle pod can be formed, and the metal reticle pod is shielded against electromagnetic interference (EMI) ( Since it has a function of shielding, damage to the reticle from electromagnetic interference (EMI) can be prevented.
In addition, in order to reinforce the ability of the metal reticle pod 10 to resist electromagnetic interference, the airtight member 13 in the present embodiment can also be an airtight member made of conductive rubber.
As a result, when the metal reticle pod 10 has an airtight member 13 made of conductive rubber therein, the entire metal reticle pod 10 becomes a single metal shielding case, and at the same time, the conductive rubber is further increased. The effect of erasing static electricity on the metal reticle pod 10 and blocking the reticle pod from outside air can be maintained through the airtight member 13 made of the above.
The material for forming the metal reticle pod of the present invention is stainless steel, aluminum alloy, magnesium alloy or the like.

    The above descriptions are only preferred embodiments of the present invention, and do not limit the claims of the present invention. At the same time, those skilled in the art can understand and implement the above description. Therefore, it goes without saying that various improvements and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Reticle pod 11 Upper cover body 12 Lower cover body 13 Airtight member 14 Locking material 15 Fastening member 100 Supporting part 110 Support arm 111 Fastening hole 120 Fastener 121 Through hole 123 Hollow stud 125 Rivet 130 Elastic member 131 Longitudinal direction extension Stepped portion 133 Horizontally extending stepped portion 140 Guide member 141 Inclined surface 143 Second inclined surface 150 Guide member 151 Convex rib 153 Support column 160 Flange

Claims (1)

A reticle pod comprising a combination of an upper lid and a lower lid, wherein support parts for supporting and fixing the reticle are arranged at each corner of the lower lid of the reticle pod, and the reticle pod Disposing at least one fastening member for integrally connecting the upper lid and the lower lid on the same side of the upper lid and the lower lid;
The support component includes
A seat body that is integrally interconnected by a vertical method from one end of both support arms, and a fastener is disposed on the other end of each of the support arms;
Each of the elastic members is arranged on both the support arms, and after each elastic member extends one step from the longitudinal direction of the support arm, the other elastic member further extends another step along the inner lateral direction of the support arm. A pair of elastic members;
Each of the elastic members is connected to the laterally extending stepped portion, and then the protruding portion is further extended in the vertical direction, and the first inclined surface and the second inclined surface are formed on the side surfaces of the protruding portion inside the support arm. A pair of guide members forming
A first surface and a second surface facing the other side of the first surface, and the first end and the first surface of the second end are connected to the second inclined surface of the guide member, respectively. A reticle pod comprising a support bottom plate on which a support column is disposed at a location adjacent to the third end of the second surface of the third end.

Images