JP2604109Y2 - Container table - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a container table suitable for use in a portable closed container used in a clean room.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, semiconductors are manufactured in a clean room where the internal atmosphere is cleaned, and the inter-process transfer in the clean room is performed in order to prevent dust from adhering to the semiconductor wafers or liquid crystal substrates. Is stored in a portable closed container.

Further, in recent years, in order to prevent the growth of an oxide film due to natural oxidation of a semiconductor wafer, the atmosphere inside the closed container is replaced with a gas inert to the wafer such as nitrogen N ₂ gas.

FIG. 13 shows an example of this type of closed container. In the figure, reference numeral 10 denotes a portable closed container (PO
D) The main body of 1, 11 is a peripheral projection formed at the opening end of the opening 12 of the main body 10, 13 is a flange formed in the opening 12, and 14 is a handle. Reference numeral 20 denotes a hollow bottom lid of the closed container, which has a base 21 protruding into the opening 12 of the main body 1 in a closed state, and a main body receiving surface 22 covered with the flange 13 in the closed state. The seal member 23 is fitted to a portion of the main body receiving surface portion 22 where the peripheral protrusion 11 contacts. Reference numeral 24 denotes a circumferential groove into which the sealing material 23 is fitted. The base 21 of the bottom cover 20
A wafer cassette 200 containing a semiconductor wafer W is placed on the wafer cassette 200.

[0005] The bottom cover 20 is provided with a plurality of lock arms 2.
5 is engaged with an engagement hole 13 </ b> A formed in the inner peripheral surface of the flange 13 and is held by the main body 10. The lock arm 25 is driven to advance and retreat in the radial direction from the outer peripheral wall of the bottom cover 20, and an example of a drive mechanism (locking / unlocking mechanism) is shown in FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 30 denotes a lifting platform provided in, for example, a diffusion furnace or a reactor, a container storage, or the like for taking out or storing a cassette from the closed container 1.

In FIG. 14, a lock arm 25 is plate-shaped, has a rolling element 27a, and is cantilevered so as to be able to advance and retreat in the longitudinal direction and to be tiltable. 26 is a cam, 27
Is a fulcrum member, and 28 is a spring. The camshaft 29 is a lift 3
0 extends from the center of the upper wall into the lid 20, and is spline-engaged with the cam 31 when the bottom lid 20 is concentrically mounted on the elevating platform 30. The elevating table 30 has a built-in camshaft drive mechanism 32 for rotating the camshaft 29 by a predetermined angle. The camshaft drive mechanism 32 and the camshaft 29 constitute an unlocking / locking mechanism.

FIG. 15 shows a portable closed container (PO)
D) shows another example, in which the bottom cover 20 does not have the sealing material 23, and the locking / unlocking mechanism is shown in FIG.
This is a stopper system shown in FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 33 denotes a stopper having a hook hole 33a, and reference numeral 34 denotes a lever biased by a spring 35.

[0008]

As described above, the inter-process transfer in the clean room is performed by using a cassette accommodating the semiconductor wafer and the liquid crystal substrate as shown in FIG. 15 in order to prevent dust from adhering to the semiconductor wafer. It is stored in a portable airtight container, and in order to prevent the growth of an oxide film due to natural oxidation of the semiconductor wafer, it is stored in a mobile airtight container as shown in FIG. Not enough.Dust enters the sealed container and contaminates the wafers while stored in a sealed container and stored in a wafer storage, etc., and inert gas etc. in the sealed container escapes from the container. As a result, the concentration of the inert gas may be reduced.

The present invention has been made to solve this problem, and it is possible to reliably prevent contamination of a wafer in a sealed container, growth of an oxide film, and the like during transportation, storage, or standby. It is intended to provide a container table.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a container table for a closed container for storing and transporting substrates for electronic equipment, wherein the closed container is provided. A configuration including a gasket that receives at least the entire circumference of the opening end of at least the opening closed by the lid member or at least the entire circumference of the opening end and the outer circumference of the lid member, and is provided with a pressing force from the sealed container side. And

According to a second aspect, the inner peripheral surface of the gasket has a tapered surface.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the gasket has a cylindrical wall having a U-shaped cross section and having an expandable diameter, which is open to the inner peripheral side.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the gasket is configured to be fixed to a plate-shaped dedicated table.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the container holding unit is mounted on a dedicated table, and the container holding unit applies a pressing force to the closed container.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the gasket is provided on a carrier of the container carrier.

According to the present invention, the means for applying the pressing force is a transfer robot mounted on a container carrier.

According to claim 8, the means for applying the pressing force comprises:
It has a pressing portion having a wide contact surface that comes into contact with the upper wall of the closed container, and the pressing force is applied to the pressing portion.

[0018]

According to the present invention, the gap between the opening of the container body and the lid that closes the opening is hermetically sealed by the gasket.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 60 denotes a flat plate-shaped table of a container table, on which an annular gasket 61 having a predetermined width is fixed. A plurality of container holding units 70 are provided on the base 60 outside the gasket 61 at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction. The container holding unit 70 is of a manual lever type, and includes an L-shaped member 72 having a pressing rod 71 fixed to a distal end thereof, a handle 74 having the member 72 connected to a pin 73, and a member 74. Lever body 7 with pin 75 connected
6 and a lever 77. The lever 77 has both ends connected to the lever body 76 and the handle 74 by pins 78 and 79. 80 is a unit base. The container table is provided at a shelf of a wafer storage, a wafer standby position in a clean room, or the like.

In this embodiment, the container holding unit 70
The handle 74 is rotated upward to a position shown by a chain line in the figure, and the sealed container 1 is placed on the annular gasket 61 on the base 60. In this state, the entire periphery of the end surface of the flange 13 of the closed container 1 is engaged with the radial center of the upper surface of the gasket 61. After placing the closed container 1 in this manner, the handle 74 of the container holding unit 70 is lowered to the plate shown by the solid line in the figure. When the handle 74 is lowered, the pressing rod 71 rotates on the flange 13 and applies a pressing force to the flange 13, so that the entire circumference of the end face of the flange 13 presses against the gasket 61, and the gasket 61 and the base 60 are pressed. And the space A surrounded by the flange 13 is hermetically shut off from the outside.

Therefore, even if the sealing property between the main body 10 and the bottom cover 20 of the closed container 1 is incomplete, it is possible to completely block intrusion of dust and the like into the main body 10.

FIG. 2 shows the closed container 1 of FIG.
The state where it was mounted on the upper annular gasket 61 is shown. In this example, the entire periphery of the end surface of the flange 13 of the closed container 1 and the outer peripheral edge of the lower surface of the bottom lid 20 are formed by a gasket 61.
The gasket 61 hermetically seals the open end of the annular gap G formed by the inner peripheral surface of the flange 13 and the outer peripheral surface of the bottom cover 20.

For example, if the gasket 61 is provided on the carrier of an unmanned vehicle for transporting containers on which a transfer robot is mounted, and the above-mentioned pressing force is applied by the arm of the transfer robot, the table 60 and the container holding unit 70 can be mounted. It becomes unnecessary.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show a case where an automatic type container holding unit 70 is used. The container holding unit 70 utilizes a lever 84 in the control unit 81 which transmits the rotating power of a motor 82 shown in FIG. 5 via a speed reducer 83, and the closed container 1 is placed on the gasket 61 of the base 60. Upon receiving the container placement detection signal indicating that the container has been placed, the controller 85
2 is rotated forward by a predetermined angle, for example, and the lever 84 is rotated by the flange 13. When the signal from the position sensor 85 detects that the lever 84 has been rotated by a predetermined amount, the rotation is stopped.

FIG. 6 shows a case where another automatic type is used as the container holding unit 70. The container holding unit 70 is the same as that shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 in that a lever is used, but in this embodiment, the upper wall of the main body 1 is pressed by the lever 91 from above.
The pressing portion 93 of the lever 91 which engages with the upper wall of the main body 1 is formed in a T-shape so that the pressing force applied to the upper wall of the main body 1 is applied not in a localized manner but in a distributed manner. The transmission is performed via the coil spring 94. The control unit 95 is the data control unit 8
The lever 91 is driven in the same manner as in (1).

The pressing portion 93 is T-shaped, and a coil spring 94
Is used to prevent deformation of the upper wall of the main body 1 because the main body 1 is usually made of thin synthetic resin.

FIG. 7 shows a case where another automatic type container holding unit 70 is used. The container holding unit 70 has a vertical screw rod 96.
And a pressing rod 97 screwed to the screw rod 96 at one end and a T-shaped pressing section 9 connected to the other end of the pressing rod 97.
The pressing force is transmitted from the pressing rod 97 to the pressing portion 98 via the coil spring 94. In addition,
A drive source and a control unit for rotating and driving the screw rod 96, and a guide body for guiding the vertical movement of the screw rod 96 are not shown.

FIG. 8 shows another example of the gasket. The gasket 100 has a gasket main body 101 having the same shape as the gasket 61 and a cylindrical wall 102 extending upward from the outer peripheral surface of the gasket main body 101 as shown in FIG. At the upper end of the cylindrical wall 102, a bent portion 103 bent inward is formed.

In this configuration, the cylindrical wall 102 is formed to have a thickness allowing elastic expansion, and the flange 13 of the main body 1 placed on the gasket 100 causes the gasket main body 101 to elastically expand the cylindrical wall 102. Placed on the cylindrical wall 102
The outer surface of the bent portion is air-tightly pressed against the outer peripheral surface of the flange 13.

The gasket 61 is, as shown in FIG.
The inner peripheral surface may be a tapered surface 61A. In this case, the required pressing force can be reduced.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show another embodiment of the present invention, which is different from the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 in that the gasket 103 provided on the base 60 is made flat.

[0033]

As described above, the present invention receives the entire periphery of the opening end of the opening of the closed container closed by the lid member or the entire periphery of the opening end and the outer periphery of the lid member, and Since it is configured to have a gasket to which a pressing force is applied from the inside, if it is provided in a transport vehicle, storage, or standby position, contamination or oxide film of wafers in a closed container during transport, storage, or standby This has the advantage that the growth and the like can be reliably prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a control unit in the embodiment of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

9 is an enlarged sectional view of the gasket in the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 10 is a longitudinal sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a longitudinal sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a view showing another example of the gasket according to the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a sectional view showing a conventional portable closed container.

14 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view of the example of FIG.

FIG. 15 is a sectional view showing another example of a conventional portable closed container.

16 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view of the example of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 portable closed container 10 closed container main body 13 flange 20 closed container bottom lid 60 units 61 gasket 61a tapered surface 70 container pressing unit 93, 98 pressing portion 94 coil spring 100 gasket 101 gasket main body 102 cylindrical wall

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Kono et al. 100 Takegahana-cho, Ise City, Mie Prefecture Examiner, Ise Works, Shinko Electric Machinery Co., Ltd. Yumi Ogoshi (56) References (58) Fields surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65D 85/00

Claims (8)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. A container table for a closed container for storing and transporting a substrate for an electronic device, wherein the closed container has at least the entire periphery or at least the entire open end of an opening closed by a cover member. A container table having a gasket that receives the entire periphery of the opening end and the outer periphery of the lid member and is provided with a pressing force from the sealed container side. 2. The container table according to claim 1, wherein the inner peripheral surface of the gasket is a tapered surface. 3. The container mounting table according to claim 1, wherein the gasket has a cylindrical wall having a U-shaped cross section and capable of expanding in diameter, which is open to the inner peripheral side. 4. The container mounting table according to claim 1, wherein the gasket is fixed to a plate-shaped dedicated table. 5. The container table according to claim 4, wherein a container holding unit is mounted on a dedicated table, and the container holding unit applies a pressing force to the closed container. 6. The container table according to claim 1, wherein the gasket is provided on a carrier of the container carrier. 7. The container table according to claim 6, wherein the means for applying the pressing force is a transfer robot mounted on a container carrier. 8. The means for applying a pressing force has a pressing portion having a wide contact surface which comes into contact with the upper wall of the closed container, and the pressing force is applied to the pressing portion. Or the container table according to 7.