JP2941125B2 - Semiconductor wafer storage container - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wafer container used for transporting and storing a disc-shaped semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, referred to as "wafer"), and more particularly, to transporting, storing, and taking out a wafer. The present invention relates to a wafer storage container improved so as to be suitable for work.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A container described in US Pat. No. 4,787,508 is conventionally known as a container used for carrying and storing wafers. As shown in FIG. 8, the wafer storage container has a bottomed cylindrical container body a capable of stacking and storing a large number of disk-shaped wafers, and a cylindrical portion c covering the outer periphery of the cylindrical portion b of the container body a. And a lid d having the following.
Here, a male screw f is provided on the upper surface of the bottom portion e of the container body a, and a female screw g corresponding to the male screw f is provided on the inner surface of the distal end of the cylindrical portion c of the lid d. The container body a and the lid d are configured to be detachable. A non-slip knurl composed of continuous streaks and projections is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the bottom part e of the container body a, and a circular knurl formed with a similar knurl on the outer peripheral surface is formed on the upper surface of the lid d. A portion h is provided, and a configuration for facilitating the attachment and detachment is provided.

In such a conventional wafer storage container, a plurality of slits i for opening to the atmosphere are provided in the cylindrical portion b of the container main body a over the entire length thereof, and the wafer stored in the cylindrical portion b is provided. Can be taken out by vacuum suction or the like. Further, on the upper surface of the lid d, a ring-shaped projection j is formed around the detachable projection h, and the outer peripheral surface thereof is fitted to the lower surface side of the bottom e of the other container body a, so that a large number of containers are formed. The wafer storage containers can be vertically stacked and integrated with each other.

[0004]

However, in the conventional wafer storage container, since the peripheral surface of the lid d is circular and rolls when placed horizontally, the wafer must be placed vertically when transporting and storing the wafer. Absent. However, when such a vertical arrangement is employed, when a large number of wafers are stacked one on top of the other, the weight of the wafer stored at the bottom is reduced by the weight of the wafers stored above and the inclusions such as cushion materials provided between the wafers. Danger of destruction.

Since the attachment and detachment of the container body a and the lid d are performed by screwing the male screw f on the container body a and the female screw g on the lid d, it is necessary to rotate the both relative by at least 360 °. There is a trouble in attaching and detaching work. Moreover, the outer peripheral surface of the bottom part e of the container body a having the knurl provided for this attaching / detaching operation has a diameter of, for example, 150 mm, and is usually a size that cannot be gripped by an operator.
Also from this point, the work of attaching and detaching the container body a and the lid d is troublesome. For this reason, when removing the lid d from the container body a, lift the wafer storage container into the air,
There is a problem that the lid d must be rotated with respect to the container main body a so as to hold the whole, and there is a problem that the wafer is exposed to a danger of dropping due to an operation error.

Further, from a material standpoint, the conventional wafer container is made of insulating ordinary plastics, and when static electricity is charged on the container body a or the lid d, it is difficult to remove the static electricity. Risk of damage to expensive wafers by shock.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and can be installed vertically and horizontally, can quickly and easily attach and detach a container body and a lid, and can be charged with static electricity. An object of the present invention is to provide a wafer storage container that is difficult to perform.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, a wafer storage container according to the present invention comprises a cylindrical container body having a bottom and capable of storing a plurality of disk-shaped wafers stacked on each other, and a cylindrical body of the container body. And a lid having a cylindrical portion that covers the outer periphery of the container. The lid is attached and detached between the outer surface of the cylindrical portion of the container body and the inner surface of the cylindrical portion of the lid at a relative rotation angle of 15 ° to 45 °. In addition to providing a partial screw that can be formed, the bottom of the container body is formed in a circular or square shape, and the cylindrical portion of the lid is formed in a square prism shape. In addition to the above configuration,
The container body and the lid are molded using conductive plastics as a raw material, and further, an open-to-atmosphere opening is provided on the peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion of the container body so that a wafer housed therein can be taken out. It is also characterized by being obtained.

In addition, on the upper surface of the lid and on the lower bottom surface of the container body, there can be provided an attaching / detaching concave / convex portion for facilitating the attaching / detaching work with the container main body. Can be formed. In addition, the uneven portions may be configured to be able to be fitted to each other, or may be separately provided on the lower bottom surface of the container body and the upper surface of the lid separately. it can.

[0010]

In the wafer container according to the present invention employing such means, since the cylindrical portion of the lid covering the container body is formed in the shape of a regular quadratic prism, it is naturally placed vertically as well as horizontally as in the prior art. Since it is also possible to freely carry and store a large number of storage containers in a stable state.

[0011] Further, the angle between the container body and the lid is 15 °.
A partial screw (usually, the lead angle (inclination angle on the female screw side) is set to be large) is provided so that both can be attached and detached at a relative rotation angle of up to 45 °. The two members are attached and detached by relative rotation by an angle. If the relative rotation angle is too small, the fitting between the container body and the lid is not strong, and if it is too large, the attachment / detachment operation cannot be performed quickly and easily. For this reason, the relative rotation angle is in the range of 15 ° to 45 °, and is preferably preferably about 30 °.

When the bottom of the container body is formed in a square shape, the corner of the bottom of the container body is sandwiched by one hand,
Since it is also easy to rotate the lid with the other hand, it is possible to lift the wafer storage container into the air as in the related art, without rotating the lid d with respect to the container main body a so as to hold the whole. The lid can be removed from the container body with the storage container placed on a table or the like.

In the case where the concave / convex portion for attachment / detachment is provided on the upper surface of the lid, the removal of the lid becomes easier. Of course, the lid can be removed by lifting the wafer storage container into the air. In this case, a container main body having a concave / convex portion for attachment / detachment on the lower bottom surface is preferably used. If the lid is rotated by about 30 ° while gripping the concave / convex portion provided on the upper surface of the lid or the bottom surface of the lower part of the container body, the lid is easily removed from the container body. As a result, the danger of the wafer storage container dropping due to an operation error is significantly reduced as compared with the conventional storage container that cannot be removed unless the lid is rotated by 360 ° or more with respect to the container body. You.

Further, when the container body and the lid are formed of conductive plastics, static electricity can be prevented, and the wafer can be protected from electric shock. When the atmosphere opening port is provided on the peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion of the container main body, it becomes easy to take out the wafer stored in the container main body by means such as vacuum suction or the like, and the bottom lower surface of the container main body and the lid body are removed. In the case where the upper and lower portions are provided with mutually engageable concave and convex portions, a large number of wafer storage containers can be vertically stacked and integrated with each other. Note that the fitting concave-convex portion on the upper surface of the lid portion is usually shared with the detachable concave-convex portion provided on the upper surface of the lid portion. In addition, the fitting unevenness provided on the bottom lower surface of the container body can be used as the detachable unevenness.

[0015]

1 to 3 show an embodiment of a wafer storage container according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a partial cross section of the entire structure, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a side view (a view in the direction of the arrow U in FIG. 2) also shown as a half section. 1 to 3, a wafer storage container 1 stores a disc-shaped wafer (nominal size is 5 inches, 6 inches, 8 inches, etc., but is 6 inches in this embodiment, for example). The container body 2 includes a bottomed cylindrical container body 2 capable of storing a large number of stacked containers, and a lid 3 placed on the container body 2.

The container body 2 has a cylindrical base 2b protruding from a square base 2a.
Slits 2c of a predetermined width extending from the distal end portion to the proximal end portion are formed at four equally spaced positions in the circumferential direction. Usually, the length of one side of the square is the same as the length of the side of the square tube portion 3a described later. The base 2a may be formed in a circular shape. However, when the base 2a is formed in a square shape, the corner of the bottom of the container body a is sandwiched by one hand, and the lid is closed by the other hand. It is also easy to rotate the wafer, so that there is no need to lift the wafer into the air and remove the lid. On the other hand, the lid 3
The whole is in the shape of a square prism, and has a cylindrical portion 3a and this cylindrical portion 3
and a rectangular tube portion 3b circumscribing a. The cylindrical portion 3a covers the cylindrical portion 2b of the container main body 2, and the lower end covers a part of the base 2a of the container main body 2 except for a part thereof.
Note that the cylindrical portion 3a is not essential in the container of the present invention, but in the present embodiment, the cylindrical portion 3a serves as a guiding means or the like when the lid 3 and the container main body 2 are attached and detached. ing.

As shown in FIG. 3, on the upper surface of the lid 3,
Removable projections 3c each formed of a circular trapezoidal projection are formed. The detachable projection 3c has a diameter of about 100 mm so that an operator can grip it, and a knurl for preventing slippage is formed on an outer peripheral surface thereof. further,
On the upper surface of the lid 3, a ring-shaped projection 3d is formed concentrically therearound at a predetermined distance from the detachable projection 3c. Correspondingly, on the lower surface of the base portion 2a of the container body 2, an outer peripheral wall 2 to which the outer peripheral surface of the ring-shaped projection 3d fits.
e are formed, and these constitute an uneven portion for stacking and integrating a large number of wafer storage containers 1 with each other in the vertical direction. In the lid 3 shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, a ring-shaped groove is formed by the attaching / detaching convex portion 3 c and the ring-ring-shaped projection 3 d. However, as shown in FIG. In S, an intermittent groove 3j for attaching and detaching the thumb or four fingers other than the thumb can be formed. by the way,
When using the knurl for non-slip for detachment, hand grit etc. may adhere to the fine grooves of the knurl,
It is not preferable from the viewpoint of dust prevention to bring the wafer storage container to which the dirt or the like has adhered into the clean room. When the lid 3 is configured as shown in FIG.
The lid 3 can be easily attached and detached without forming a knurl as shown in FIG. 1 on the inner surface of j. Although not shown, the base 2a of the container body 2a can be formed in the same manner as described above.

The upper surface of the base 2a of the container body 2 (the inner surface on the container side) has an uneven shape in which a plurality of concentric reinforcing ribs protrude. It can be placed horizontally. The inner surface of the lid 3 facing the upper surface of the base 2a is similarly configured. Here, as shown in an enlarged sectional view of a main part of FIG. 5 and a sectional view of FIG. 6 (a sectional view taken in the direction of arrow V in FIG. 5), the outer surface of the cylindrical portion 2b of the container body 2 and the cylindrical portion 3 of the lid 3 are shown.
A partial screw for attaching and detaching the two is formed between the inner surface a. That is, in each portion of the cylindrical portion 2b divided into four by the slit 2c of the container body 2, the central portion in the width direction of the upper end portion of the outer peripheral surface has a length of about 2 mm as a partial male screw.
A ridge 2f having a width of about 0 mm and a width of about 2 mm is provided with a right-hand thread lead angle of about 6.5 °.

On the other hand, at the upper end of the cylindrical portion 3a of the lid 3,
A small-diameter portion 3e into which the upper end of the cylindrical portion 2b of the container body 2 fits is formed via a step 3f, and a portion on which the four ridges 2f fit respectively is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the small-diameter portion 3e. Four inclined grooves 3g each having a length of about 65 mm as female screws are formed at four equally spaced positions in the circumferential direction. The lower end of each inclined groove 3g is continuous with a ridge introduction port 3h having a circumferential length of about 25 mm opened to the step 3f. The ridge 2f introduced into the ridge introduction port 3h is When the container body 2 and the lid 3 are relatively rotated by about 30 °, the inclined groove 3g is formed.
Along the direction of the height of the wafer container 1 by about 9 mm. Note that the partial screw may be provided with a ridge at the outer lower end of the cylindrical portion of the lid 3 and the female screw shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 may be formed at the inner lower end of the container body. When the invention container is formed by a mold, a slide mold is used. However, as described above, the case where a protruding body is provided at the upper end of the main body cylindrical portion is advantageous because the mold is not complicated. is there.

The reference numeral 3i in FIG.
Arc-shaped projections 3i protruding from the inner surface of the lid 3 so as to guide the inner peripheral surface of the upper end portion of the cylindrical portion 2b. The arc-shaped projections 3i are provided at equal intervals in the circumferential direction as shown in FIG. . The container main body 2 and the lid 3 of the wafer storage container 1 having such a structure are integrally formed using conductive plastics to which a conductive filler is added or conductive plastics subjected to a polymer alloy treatment. As the conductive filler to be added, carbon black, graphite carbon, graphite, carbon fiber, metal powder, metal fiber, metal oxide powder, metal-coated inorganic fine powder, organic fine powder and fiber can be used.

Next, with respect to the wafer storage container 1,
The operation will be described. First, when transporting or storing a wafer, the wafer is stored in the cylindrical portion 2b of the container body 2. At that time, when storing a large number of wafers,
Preferably, a cushion sheet and a conductive sheet are interposed every predetermined number of sheets. If there is a gap on the stored wafer, a cushion sheet is mounted by an appropriate thickness in order to prevent the wafer from dancing, and in this state, the container body 2 is covered with the lid 3 and assembled.

Here, the assembling work of the lid 3 to the container main body 2 is performed by first covering the cylindrical portion 2a of the container main body 2 with the cylindrical portion 3a of the lid 3, and opening the step 3f on the inner surface of the upper end portion. The ridge introduction port 3h is connected to each ridge 2 at the upper end of the cylindrical portion 2b.
f, and both are relatively rotated in the right-handed screw direction. This work can be performed with the container body 2 placed on a flat place such as a table, or the detachable projection 3 of the lid 3.
c and the lower side surface of the container body 2 may be gripped by both hands. When the base 2a of the container body 2 has a square shape, the container body 2 can be fixed to a table or the like by pressing the square corner with one hand.
The above operation can be performed more quickly and easily. When the lid 3 covers the entire container body 2, when the lower end is located (that is, when the lower side surface of the container main body 2 cannot be gripped), the lower surface of the bottom of the container main body is also provided.
A detachable projection may be provided (usually shared with the fitting projection and recess).

Due to the relative rotation, each ridge 2f moves about 9 mm in the height direction of the wafer container 1 from the ridge inlet 3h along the inclined groove 3g. This movement is 30 °
The rotation is carried out with the rotation of the
Is completed. The width of the tip of the inclined groove 3g is
By taking measures such as making it the same as the width of the ridge 2f,
The strength of assembly can also be enhanced. The operation of removing the lid 3 from the container body 2 in order to take out the wafer from the storage container 1 is performed in the reverse procedure to the above. In this manner, the attachment / detachment work between the container body 2 and the lid 3 is performed very quickly and easily.

The container 1 containing the wafers can of course be placed vertically with the base 2a of the container main body 2 down, but the peripheral surface is formed in a rectangular shape by the rectangular cylindrical portion 3b of the lid 3. It is also possible to place the rectangular tube portion 3b horizontally with one surface facing down. Therefore, it may be preferable that the storage container 1 storing a large number of wafers is placed horizontally. By doing so, since each wafer is held in the vertical position, it is possible to prevent the destruction of the wafer that occurs when many wafers are stacked in the horizontal position.

Further, since the wafer storage container 1 can be freely placed vertically and horizontally as described above, when the wafer storage container 1 is stored in a dedicated box or the like during transportation, the wafer storage container 1 can be vertically or horizontally placed without any gaps. The storage space can be used effectively. In addition, many wafer storage containers 1
When vertically placed, the ring-shaped protrusion 3d formed on the lid 3 of the wafer storage container 1 located below and the outer peripheral wall 2e formed on the container main body 2 of the wafer storage container 1 located above. A large number of wafer storage containers 1
Can be stacked one on top of the other and integrated.

In order to take out the wafer stored in the wafer storage container 1, the lid 3 is removed from the container body 2 as described above.
Is removed, and the wafer is taken out of the cylindrical portion 2b of the container body 2 using an appropriate suction tool. In this case, since the cylindrical portion 2b of the container body 2 is formed with a slit 2c for opening to the atmosphere having a predetermined width extending from the distal end portion to the base end portion, the wafer can be easily and reliably taken out without being damaged.

As shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, the slit 2c provided in the cylindrical portion 2b of the container body 2 is provided so as to overlap the vertical direction of the cylindrical portion 2b. It can be replaced by a number of slits 2g or holes 2h. Here, since the container main body 2 and the lid 3 of the wafer storage container 1 are made of conductive plastics, it is easy to remove the charged static electricity. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the stored wafer from being damaged by the electrostatic shock.

In the above embodiment, the container body 2 and the lid 3 of the wafer storage container 1 are integrally formed using conductive plastics as a material. Good. Here, as the antistatic agent, polyethylene glycol fatty acid ester,
Nonionic surfactants such as polyhydric alcohol fatty acid esters, cationic surfactants such as quaternary ammonium salts, anionic surfactants such as higher alcohol phosphate esters and higher alcohol sulfates, alkyls Any surfactant which is generally kneaded or applied to a synthetic resin and used as an antistatic agent, such as an amphoteric surfactant such as betaine and any combination thereof, can be used.

When a conventional wafer container as shown in FIG. 8 is manufactured by injection molding, a step of removing the molded product while twisting the molded product is required. In contrast,
Since the wafer storage container of the present invention uses the partial screw, the above-described steps are not required, so that the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. (1) Since the peripheral surface shape of the lid covering the container body is quadrangular, the wafer storage container can be placed vertically as well as horizontally as in the conventional case. This allows
When a large number of wafers are stored, the wafer storage container can be placed horizontally and each wafer can be held in a vertical position. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the destruction of the wafer which occurs when a large number of wafers are stacked in a horizontal posture. Further, when storing the wafer storage container in a dedicated box or the like during transportation, the wafer storage container can be stored without any gap by arbitrarily combining vertical or horizontal installation, and the storage space can be effectively utilized.

(2) The angle between the container body and the lid is 15 °.
Since a partial screw that can be attached and detached at a relative rotation angle of about 45 °, preferably about 30 ° is provided, it is possible to attach and detach the container body and the lid without lifting the storage container into the air. It became. As a result, the attaching / detaching operation can be performed quickly and easily, and the risk of the wafer storage container dropping due to an operation error has been significantly reduced.

(3) When the container body and the lid are made of conductive plastics, the electrostatic charge can be prevented, and the stored wafer can be prevented from being damaged by the electrostatic shock.

(4) When an atmosphere opening port is provided on the peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion of the container body, it becomes easy to take out the wafer stored in the container body by vacuum suction or the like.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a partial cross section of the entire structure of an embodiment of a wafer container according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the wafer storage container of FIG. 1 as a half section.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing the wafer storage container of FIG. 1 as a half cross section.

FIG. 4 is a view showing an embodiment in which intermittent grooves are formed on the upper surface of a lid of a wafer storage container.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part of the wafer storage container shown in FIGS.

FIG. 6 is a view taken in the direction of the arrow V in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a view showing a modification of the slit provided in the container body in the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view showing the entire structure of a conventional wafer storage container as a partial cross section.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Wafer storage container 2 Container main body 2a Base part 2b Cylindrical part 2c Slit 2d Removable knurl 2e Outer peripheral wall 2f Ridge 2g Slit 2h Hole 3 Lid 3a Cylindrical part 3b Square cylindrical part 3c Removable convex part 3d Ring-shaped protrusion 3e Small diameter portion 3f Stepped portion 3g Inclined groove 3h Ridge inlet 3i Arc-shaped protrusion 3j Removable groove

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A semiconductor wafer storage comprising a bottomed cylindrical container body capable of stacking and storing a large number of disk-shaped semiconductor wafers, and a lid having a cylindrical portion covering the outer periphery of the cylindrical portion of the container body. In the container, between the outer surface of the cylindrical portion of the container body and the inner surface of the cylindrical portion of the lid,
In addition to providing a partial screw that can be attached and detached at a relative rotation angle of 5 ° to 45 °, the bottom of the container body is formed in a circular or square shape, and the cylindrical portion of the lid is formed in a square prism shape. Semiconductor wafer storage container. 2. The container body and the lid body are molded using conductive plastics as a raw material.
A semiconductor wafer storage container according to claim 1. 3. The container according to claim 1, wherein an opening to the atmosphere is provided on a peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion of the container main body so that the semiconductor wafer housed therein can be taken out. Semiconductor wafer storage container.