JP2014017452A - Substrate housing container - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a substrate housing container which speeds up the work and improves the efficiency of the work when a gas in a container body is replaced.SOLUTION: A fitting hold groove 26, in which a seal gasket 40 fits, is formed, for example, at a lid 20, and a seal formation surface 16, with which the seal gasket 40 contacts, is formed at a container body 10. The seal gasket 40 comprises: a base substance 40A held in the fitting hold groove 26; an extension piece 41 which protrudes from the base substance 40A; and a first seal piece 42 and a second seal piece 43 which protrude from the extension piece 41 to the seal formation surface 16 side. The first seal piece 42 extends to the outer side of the seal gasket 40, and the second seal piece 43 extends to the inner side of the seal gasket 40.

Description

  The present invention relates to a substrate storage container, and more particularly to a substrate storage container that stores a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer.

  As this type of substrate storage container, at least a container main body in which a substrate is stored through an opening, a lid that closes the opening of the container main body, and the opening is enclosed between the container main body and the lid. It is known to have an annular sealing gasket disposed.

  The seal gasket is made of an elastically deformable material, and when the lid is closed with respect to the container body, the inside of the container body in which the substrate is accommodated can be hermetically closed by the seal gasket.

  For example, as disclosed in Patent Document 1 below, the seal gasket has a configuration in which an endless portion of a seal member is fitted into a fitting holding groove formed in a lid, for example. It is configured to include a protruding piece (seal piece) that extends substantially straight from the protruding portion to the outside of the endless portion on the container body side. When the lid is closed with respect to the container body, the projecting piece comes into contact with the seal forming surface of the container body.

  In addition, as another configuration of the seal gasket, for example, as disclosed in Patent Document 2 below, the projecting piece (seal piece) is formed in an endless portion, which has substantially the same configuration as that disclosed in Patent Document 1. ) Is configured so as to be extended toward the outer side of the endless portion on the container body side.

JP 2002-068364 A JP 2010-129765 JP

  However, the seal gaskets disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 are mainly configured to prevent particles (fine powder or the like) from flowing into the container body, and thus have the following disadvantages. It was.

  That is, when the internal pressure of the container body increases and becomes a positive pressure (a pressure higher than atmospheric pressure), the tip portion of the seal piece that is in contact with the container body, for example, is deformed by the pressure, thereby This gas has a disadvantage that it easily leaks to the outside. For example, when the air in the container main body is to be replaced with an inert gas, the internal pressure of the container main body increases, but this may cause the inert gas to leak outside in a short time. For this reason, when an attempt is made to reduce the oxygen concentration or water content in the container main body to a predetermined value by supplying the inert gas, a relatively long time is required and the efficiency of the work cannot be improved.

  In this case, if the gas replacement is operated incompletely and the operation time is reduced, problems such as deterioration of the product yield due to deterioration of the storage substrate, for example, the semiconductor wafer, occur. become.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a substrate storage container capable of speeding up work and increasing efficiency in replacing gas in the container body. There is.

  In order to achieve such an object, the present invention provides a separate projecting piece (second sealing material) in addition to the projecting piece (first sealing material) provided on the seal gasket, When positive pressure is reached, the second seal piece prevents the gas in the container body from leaking to the outside. In this case, for example, when replacing the air in the container body with an inert gas, the inert gas leaks to the outside by the second seal piece even if the internal pressure of the container body increases. Nothing will happen. For this reason, when the oxygen concentration or water content in the container body is reduced to a predetermined value by supplying the inert gas, the work can be performed in a short time, and the work efficiency can be improved. Become.

  The first sealing material of the seal gasket is configured to prevent gas outside the container body from entering the container body when the interior of the container body is at atmospheric pressure or negative pressure. .

The present invention is grasped by the following composition.
(1) The substrate storage container of the present invention surrounds the opening between the container main body in which the substrate is stored through the opening, the lid for closing the opening of the container main body, and the container main body and the lid. An annular seal gasket disposed in the substrate storage container, wherein a fitting holding groove into which the seal gasket is fitted is formed in one of the container body and the lid, A seal forming surface is formed on the other of the container main body and the lid, and the seal gasket is in contact with the base. The base is sandwiched in the fitting holding groove, and the base is extended from the base. A first seal piece and a second seal piece projecting from the extended piece to the seal forming surface side, the first seal piece extending toward the outside of the seal gasket, Said The two seal pieces are characterized by extending toward the inside of the seal gasket.
(2) In the substrate storage container of the present invention, in the configuration of (1), when the inside of the container body with the lid closed is at atmospheric pressure or negative pressure, the first seal piece is the seal The second seal piece comes into contact with the seal forming surface when the inside of the container main body, which is in contact with the forming surface and the lid is closed, becomes a positive pressure.
(3) In the substrate storage container of the present invention, in the configuration of (1), the extension piece of the seal gasket has a thickness at least equal to the thickness of the base on the substrate side, The portion having the same thickness as the thickness of the substrate has a length that is ½ or more of the length of the extension piece.

  The thus configured substrate storage container can prevent the gas in the container body from leaking to the outside even when the container body has a positive pressure. For this reason, when replacing the gas in the container body, the work can be speeded up and made efficient.

It is an expansion | deployment perspective view which shows Embodiment 1 of the board | substrate storage container of this invention. (A) shows the seal gasket formed in the surface at the container main body side of a cover, (b) has shown sectional drawing in the bb line of (a). It is a structure of the principal part of Embodiment 1 of the substrate storage container of this invention, Comprising: It is sectional drawing of the state in which the atmospheric pressure in a container main body is atmospheric pressure or a negative pressure. It is a structure of the principal part of Embodiment 1 of the substrate storage container of this invention, Comprising: It is sectional drawing of the state in which the atmospheric pressure in a container main body is a positive pressure. It is sectional drawing which shows the principal part of Embodiment 2 of the substrate storage container of this invention. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a case where a problem occurs in the configuration of the first embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention (hereinafter referred to as embodiments) will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that the same number is assigned to the same element throughout the description of the embodiment.
(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing Embodiment 1 of the substrate storage container of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the substrate storage container 1 includes a container body 10 having an opening 10A on the front surface, a lid 20 that closes the opening 10A of the container body 10, and a retainer 30. Has been.

  The container body 10 includes a pair of support portions 12 (one support portion is not shown) that horizontally supports a substrate 11 made of, for example, a semiconductor wafer at regular intervals on opposing inner walls 10B and 10C. Further, a handle part 13 for conveyance is attached to the side wall and the point wall of the container body 10, and positioning means (not shown) having a V-shaped cross section for positioning the device on the outer surface of the bottom wall. Are provided.

  The lid 20 has a configuration in which a latch mechanism 21 is disposed therein. The latch mechanism 21 is configured as a locking mechanism for closing the lid 20 to the container body 10 and is provided, for example, two on the left and right sides in the figure. Each latch mechanism 21 includes a rotary plate 22 rotated by a key (not shown), a pair of power transmission plates 23A and 23B coupled to the rotary plate 22 and slidable in the vertical direction in the figure, and the power transmission plates 23A. , 23B, and a locking clamp (not shown) connected to the tip. A guide groove 24A for fitting a guide pin formed on one power transmission plate 23A and a guide groove 24B for fitting a guide pin formed on the other power transmission plate 23B are provided on the periphery of the rotary plate 22. Is formed. The guide grooves 24A and 24B have an arc shape whose radius increases so as to guide the guide pins of the power transmission plates 23A and 23B outward as the rotation plate 22 rotates when the lid 20 is closed with respect to the container body 10. There is no. As a result, each of the pair of power transmission plates 23A, 23B moves in the direction opposite to the rotation plate 22, and a locking clamp provided at the tip of the power transmission plates 23A, 23B is provided on the opening 10A of the container body 10. The lid 20 can be closed with respect to the container body 10 by being fitted into the locking hole 14.

  A retainer 30 is attached to the center of the inner surface of the lid 20 that faces the container main body 10, and the retainer 30 includes a holding groove 31 that contacts the substrate 11 and protects the substrate 11. ing.

  Further, an annular (endless) seal gasket 40 is disposed along the periphery of the lid 20 on the inner surface of the lid 20 facing the container body 10 as shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 2B, which is a cross-sectional view taken along the line bb of FIG. 2A, the seal gasket 40 is fitted into the fitting holding groove 26 formed in the lid 20 with the base 40A made of endless. It is arranged by being combined. The fitting holding groove 26 is formed, for example, by being drilled from the outer peripheral side of the lid 20 to the center side of the lid 20, and the opening of the fitting holding groove 26 is directed to the outer peripheral side of the lid 20. Has been. A convex portion 40B extending in the longitudinal direction is formed on the surface of the base 40A of the seal gasket 40, and the airtightness of the seal gasket 40 with respect to the fitting holding groove 26 is ensured by the elasticity of the convex portion 40B. It has become.

  The seal gasket 40 includes an extending piece 41 protruding from the base body 40A toward the peripheral side of the lid body 20, and the first extending from the distal end of the extending piece 41 is bent toward the container body 10 side. A seal piece 42 and a second seal piece 43 are formed. In this case, the extending piece 41 is formed to extend from the side surface of the base body 40A on the container body 10 side with a thickness t1 smaller than the thickness t0 of the base body 40A. The first seal piece 42 extends so as to be slightly curved toward the outside of the seal gasket 40, and the second seal piece 43 is formed so as to extend slightly inside the seal gasket 40. .

  FIG. 3 is a view showing a state in which the lid body 20 fitted with the seal gasket 40 is closed by the container body 10 and the opening 10A of the container body 10 is sealed.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the container main body 10 has a seal forming surface 16 around the opening 10 </ b> A so as to face both the first seal piece 42 and the second seal piece 43 of the seal gasket 40. Is formed.

  In this case, the pressure inside the container body 10 is negative (atmospheric pressure is also acceptable), and the first seal piece 42 is formed on the seal forming surface of the container body 10 by the action of the atmospheric pressure P1 outside the substrate storage container 1. It operates so as to come into contact with 16. As a result, the first seal piece 42 of the seal gasket 40 is in contact with the seal forming surface 16 of the container body 10 in a state where the pressure inside the container body 10 is negative (atmospheric pressure is also acceptable). Sufficient sealing of the lid 20 with respect to the container body 10 can be achieved.

  Further, the second seal piece 43 operates so as to be in non-contact with the seal forming surface 16 of the container body 10 in accordance with the above-described movement of the first seal piece 42. Here, when the first seal piece 42 is in contact with the seal forming surface 16, the second seal piece 43 is not in contact with the seal forming surface 16. This is because there are concerns that particles may be generated due to deterioration of the seal piece due to repeated contact with the seal forming surface 16, and therefore the number of locations that are always in contact is reduced as much as possible.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a case where the pressure in the container body 10 increases from the state of FIG. 3 to a positive pressure (pressure equal to or higher than atmospheric pressure). As such a case, for example, the air in the container body 10 may be replaced with an inert gas.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the second seal piece 43 operates so as to contact the seal forming surface 16 of the container body 10 by the action of the pressure P <b> 2 in the container body 10. As a result, the second seal piece 43 of the seal gasket 40 is in contact with the seal forming surface 16 of the container body 10 in a state where the pressure in the container body 10 increases and becomes a positive pressure. The container body 10 can be sufficiently sealed.

  Further, the first seal piece 42 operates so as not to contact the seal forming surface 16 of the container body 10 in accordance with the above-described movement of the second seal piece 43. That is, when the second seal piece 43 is in contact with the seal forming surface 16, the first seal piece 42 is not in contact with the seal forming surface 16. The reason for this is described above. As described above, since the contact between the seal piece and the seal forming surface 16 of the container body 10 is repeated, particles may be generated due to deterioration of the seal piece. is there.

With this configuration, for example, when the air in the container body 10 is replaced with an inert gas, even if the pressure P2 in the container body 10 increases, the portion of the seal gasket 40 as has been seen conventionally. Through this, it is possible to avoid leakage of the inert gas to the outside, and it is possible to efficiently supply the inert gas.
(Embodiment 2)
In the first embodiment, the extending piece 41 of the seal gasket 40 is configured to protrude from the base body 40A fitted in the fitting holding groove 26 of the lid 20 with a thickness of t1.

  However, the present invention is not limited to this, and as shown in FIG. 5A, the extension piece 41 of the seal gasket 40 has the same thickness as the thickness t0 of the base 40A on the base 40A side. The portion having the thickness t0 is configured to have a length of 1/2 (indicated by 1 / 2w in the drawing) of the length of the extending piece 41 (indicated by w in the drawing). It may be.

  The reason for this configuration is as follows. That is, FIG. 6 is a view showing the configuration of the first embodiment (FIG. 1) in association with it. In this case, the extending piece 41 of the seal gasket 40 is subjected to a large moment centering on the connection point C with the base body 40A. For example, depending on the material of the seal gasket 40, the extending piece 41 is formed as shown in FIG. In some cases, the first seal piece 42 and the second seal piece 43 are not contacted with the seal forming surface 16 of the container body 10 in some cases.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5A, by providing a portion having the same thickness as the thickness t0 of the base 40A in the extended piece 41 of the seal gasket 40, the length of the extended piece 41 is substantially increased. The moment is reduced and the moment acting on the extension piece 41 is reduced. By doing so, either one of the first seal piece 42 and the second seal piece 43 formed on the extending piece 41 is brought into reliable contact with the seal forming surface 16 of the container body 10. The effect which can be comprised is produced.

  And such an effect is that the portion having the thickness t0 in the extended piece 41 of the seal gasket 40 is 1/2 of the length of the extended piece 41 (indicated by w in FIG. 5A) (FIG. 5). It is the same even if it is set as above (indicated by ½w in (a)). Further, as shown in FIG. 5 (b), the thickness of the extended portion 41 of the seal gasket 40 is the thickness of the base 40A. The thickness may be t0.

From this, the extension piece 41 of the seal gasket 40 has the same thickness as the thickness t0 of the base 40A at least on the base 40A side, and the same thickness as the thickness t0 of the base 40A. You may make it the part which has have the length of 1/2 or more of the length of this extension piece 41. FIG.
(Embodiment 3)
In the first and second embodiments, the seal gasket 40 is fitted on the lid 20 side, and the seal forming surface 16 is formed on the container body 10 side. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the seal gasket 40 may be fitted on the container body 10 side and the seal forming surface 16 may be formed on the lid 20 side. Of course.
(Embodiment 4)
The substrate storage container 1 shown in the first to third embodiments is an example in which a substrate 11 made of, for example, a semiconductor wafer is stored. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and needless to say, it may be a substrate storage container for storing other substrates such as a liquid crystal panel.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated using embodiment, it cannot be overemphasized that the technical scope of this invention is not limited to the range as described in the said embodiment. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications or improvements can be added to the above-described embodiments. Further, it is apparent from the description of the scope of claims that embodiments with such changes or improvements can also be included in the technical scope of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Board | substrate storage container, 10 ... Container main body, 10A ... Opening part (container main body), 11 ... Board | substrate, 12 ... Support part, 13 ... Handle component, 14 ... Locking hole, 16 ... ... seal forming surface, 20 ... lid, 21 ... latch mechanism, 22 ... rotating plate, 23A, 23B ... power transmission plate, 24A, 24B ... guide groove, 26 ... fitting holding groove, 30 ... Retainer 31. Holding groove 40. Seal gasket 40 A Base body 40 B Projection 41 Extension piece 42 First seal piece 43 Second seal piece

Claims (4)

A container main body in which a substrate is accommodated through the opening; a lid that closes the opening of the container main body; and an annular seal gasket that is disposed so as to surround the opening between the container main body and the lid. A substrate storage container having:
A seal in which a fitting holding groove into which the seal gasket is fitted is formed in one of the container body and the lid, and the seal gasket is in contact with the other of the container body and the lid. A forming surface is formed,
The seal gasket includes a base sandwiched in the fitting holding groove, an extension piece protruding from the base, and a first seal piece and a second seal protruding from the extension piece toward the seal forming surface. And consists of a piece,
The substrate container according to claim 1, wherein the first seal piece extends toward the outside of the seal gasket, and the second seal piece extends toward the inside of the seal gasket. When the inside of the container body with the lid closed is at atmospheric pressure or negative pressure, the first seal piece contacts the seal forming surface,
2. The substrate storage container according to claim 1, wherein the second seal piece contacts the seal forming surface when a positive pressure is applied to the inside of the container main body with the lid closed. When the first seal piece is in contact with the seal forming surface, the second seal piece is not in contact with the seal forming surface;
3. The substrate storage container according to claim 2, wherein when the second seal piece is in contact with the seal forming surface, the first seal piece is not in contact with the seal forming surface. The extension piece of the seal gasket has a thickness that is at least equal to the thickness of the base on the base side,
2. The substrate storage container according to claim 1, wherein the portion having the same thickness as the thickness of the base body has a length of ½ or more of the length of the extension piece.

Images