JP3226998B2 - Double sealed container structure - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a structure of a container used for storing and transporting substrates in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus or a liquid crystal manufacturing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In semiconductor manufacturing equipment and liquid crystal manufacturing equipment, when storing and transporting substrates such as wafers and glass substrates, these substrates are placed in a carrier made of Teflon, plastic, or the like, and the carriers are placed in the carrier. Was loaded into a container, and the container was stored and transported. In a container having such a general structure, a substrate such as a wafer is placed on a plate-shaped lid member, and a flange of the container body is brought into close contact with the lid member via a sealing material to form a sealed internal space. The substrate is housed.

[0003]

Incidentally, in recent years, contamination in the semiconductor manufacturing process and the like has become a problem even at the molecular level, so that the containers can be stored and transported with a higher degree of cleanliness. Has been requested. However, in the case of the conventional container having the above-described configuration, since the internal space of the container is not always completely sealed with the external atmosphere, there is a problem that the stored substrate may be contaminated on a molecular level. there were.

Further, since the above-mentioned container is directly stored and transported, there is a problem that the outer surface of the container is contaminated, and the substrate in the container is contaminated therefrom.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and the outer surface of a container can be kept clean even when the ambient atmosphere for storing and transporting the container has a low level of cleanliness. An object of the present invention is to provide a double-sealed container structure capable of preventing contamination of an object to be stored in the container.

[0006]

A double-sealed container structure according to the present invention comprises a container body for storing an object to be stored, and a lid member for tightly sealing the internal space with the container body through a sealing member. Is further disposed in a closed internal space of a cover member via a sealing member.

The interior space of the container and the interior space of the cover member are set in one of a vacuum state and a state filled with a clean inert gas.

[0008] Further, the contact portion of the container with the sealing member is further covered with a cover member having a sealed structure.

[0009]

According to the present invention, since the container in which the objects to be stored are hermetically stored is further disposed in the inner space of the cover member having the closed structure, the outer surface of the cover member comes into direct contact with the surrounding atmosphere. The outer surface of the container disposed in the internal space is not contaminated by the surrounding atmosphere.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the double-sealed container structure according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a front sectional view of a double sealed container structure according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a front sectional view of a container housed in the double sealed container structure of FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, the container 1 includes a container body 3 for storing a substrate 2 such as a wafer or a glass substrate as an object to be stored, and an annular O-ring or the like having elasticity. And a lid member 6 that tightly seals the internal space 5 through the seal member 4. In this case, the substrate 2
Is placed on the lid member 6. The lid member 6 to which the lower surface of the sealing member 4 is in close contact has a disc shape, and the flange 7 having a circular cross section to which the upper surface of the sealing member 4 is in intimate contact is integrally attached to the bottomed cylindrical container body 3. ing.

The internal space 5 is in a vacuum state or a state filled with a clean inert gas. As the inert gas, a nitrogen gas or an argon gas is used.

FIG. 1 shows a case where the container 1 is installed in a fixed station. As shown in the figure, in the double-sealed container 10, the container 1 in which the internal space 5 is in a vacuum state or a state filled with a clean inert gas is disposed in the internal space 15 of the cover member 11 having a closed structure. It is configured.

The cover member 11 is attached in close contact with a plate-like base plate 12 fixed at a predetermined position via an external seal member 13 such as an annular O-ring having elasticity. And a vacuum pump 16 for evacuating an internal space 15 inside the outer cover 14 and outside the container 1. Container 1
Are supported by a plurality of support pieces 17 provided on the base plate 12.

The vacuum pump 16 is fixed to the lower surface of the base plate 12 via an opening / closing valve 18 fixed to the base plate 12. The vacuum pump 16 is provided with an internal space 15 through the opening / closing valve 18, a through hole 19 formed in the base plate 12, and a gap 20 between the base plate 12 and the lid member 6 formed by the support piece 17. Is in communication with The outer cover 14 is provided with a leak valve 23 that breaks the vacuum in the internal space 15 by performing an opening operation.

Next, a case where the substrate 2 is stored and transported by the double seal container 10 having the above configuration will be described. First, the interior space 5 of the container 1 is previously set in a vacuum state or a state filled with a clean inert gas, and the substrate 2 is housed inside. The container 1 is mounted on the base plate 12 via the support pieces 17. Place. Next, the outer cover 14 is brought into close contact with the base plate 12 via the external seal member 13 so as to cover the container 1.
Next, the vacuum pump 16 is turned on with the leak valve 23 closed and the open / close valve 18 opened. Then, the air in the internal space 15 is separated by the gap 20, the through hole 19, and the open / close valve 1.
The gas is discharged to the outside via the vacuum pump 8 and the vacuum pump 16, and the internal space 15 is brought into a vacuum state. In this state, the open / close valve 18 is closed and the vacuum pump 16 is turned off, so that the double-sealed container 10 is stored and transported.

If the ambient atmosphere 21 outside the cover member 11 has a low level of cleanness, the outer cover 1
Although the outer surface 4a of the container 4 is contaminated, the outer surface 1a of the container 1 does not come into direct contact with the surrounding atmosphere 21, so that it is not contaminated and a clean state is maintained.

Further, since the internal space 15 is in a vacuum state, when the internal space 5 of the container 1 is an inert gas, no impure molecules enter the internal space 5 and the molecular level inside the container 1 is reduced. Is maintained.

In addition, when the internal space 5 is in a vacuum, the internal space 15 is also in a vacuum.
Although the pressing force against the flange 7 is weakened, the degree of vacuum in the internal space 5 of the container 1 can be maintained until the degree of vacuum in the internal space 15 decreases.

The double-sealed container 10 may be a fixed station as shown in FIG. 1, but a disk-shaped lid is provided via an external seal member 13 instead of the fixed base plate 12. If it is attached to the flange 22 of the outer cover 14, it becomes portable.

If the internal space 15 is constantly evacuated by the vacuum pump 16 using a fixed station as shown in FIG. 1, the vacuum state of the internal space 5 in the container 1 is maintained for a long time. The cleanliness of the outer surface 1a of the container and the substrate 2 can be maintained for a long time.

As described above, since the internal space 15 is in a vacuum state, a pressing force due to the atmospheric pressure acts on the close contact portion between the flange portion 22 of the outer cover 14 and the base plate 12, thereby bringing the close contact portion into close contact. You. On the other hand, since a pressing force due to the atmospheric pressure is not applied to the contact portion 4a between the flange 7 of the container 1 and the lid member 6, it is necessary to tighten the flange 7 and the lid member 6 by clamping or bolting. Container 1
It is also possible to seal with its own weight.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a second embodiment of the present invention, and shows a double-sealed container 10 having a portable structure in which the internal space 15 of the cover member is filled with a clean inert gas.
It is to be noted that the internal space 5 of the container 1 is in a vacuum state or a state filled with a clean inert gas as in the first embodiment.

First, the container 1 having the same configuration as that of the first embodiment is placed on the disc-shaped lid member 31 of the cover member 30. Next, the outer cover 33 is put on the container 1 via an annular outer seal member 32 having elasticity. The flange 34 of the outer cover 33 and the cover member 31 are tightened by clamping or bolting. Then, the inert gas supply valve 35 provided on the outer cover 33 is opened to allow the inside space 15 to be filled with a clean inert gas from here, and the double sealed container 10 is stored and transported in this state.

Therefore, when the inner space 5 of the container 1 is in a vacuum, even if the seal member 4 leaks, the oxygen and moisture in the surrounding atmosphere 21 are blocked by the cover member 30. And the cleanliness of the outer surface 1a of the container 1 and the substrate 2 can be maintained.
In addition, when the internal space 5 is a clean inert gas, the internal space 15 is also filled with the clean inert gas. Even if the container 1 is replaced through the close contact portion 4a between the container 1 and the cover member 6, the container 1 is not contaminated, and the cleanliness of the outer surface 1a of the container and the substrate 2 at the molecular level is maintained.

In the second embodiment, the non-fixed type lid material 3
1, the double sealed container 10 has a portable structure.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a third embodiment of the present invention, in which the contact portion 4a of the container 1 having the structure shown in FIG.
Is further sealed by a sealing member 42. FIG. The cover member 40 includes an outer cover 41 fixed to the container main body 3 of the container 1 and an outer cover 4 via elastic annular outer seal members 42 and 43.
1 and a lid member 44 that is in close contact with the lid member 6. The internal space 45 of the outer cover 41 can be set in a vacuum state or a state filled with a clean inert gas. As described above, since the container 1 is double-sealed, the internal space 5 of the container 1 is not directly contaminated by the surrounding atmosphere 21 even if the contact portion 4a is leaked.

The same reference numerals in the drawings indicate the same or corresponding parts.

[0030]

As described above, the double-sealed container structure according to the present invention is constructed as described above, so that contamination can be blocked by the cover member even when the ambient atmosphere for storage and transport is low. In addition, it is possible to keep the outer surface of the container clean and prevent contamination of objects to be stored in the container.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIGS. 1 to 4 are views showing one embodiment of a double seal container structure according to the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a front sectional view of the double seal container structure according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a front sectional view of a container housed in the double seal container structure of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front sectional view of a double seal container structure according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a partial sectional view of a double-sealed container structure according to a third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Container 2 Substrate (object to be stored) 3 Container main body 4, 13, 32, 42 Seal member 4a Adhesive part 5 Internal space 6 Cover member 10 Double seal container 11, 30, 40 Cover member 15, 45 Internal space

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-4-294766 (JP, A) JP-A-2-282087 (JP, A) JP-A-4-179146 (JP, A) JP-A-3- 256868 (JP, A) JP-A-1-153472 (JP, A) JP-A-2-65152 (JP, A) JP-A-1-294472 (JP, A) JP-A-5-291166 (JP, A) JP-A-5-234949 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65D 81/20 H01L 21/68

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A container comprising a container main body for storing an object to be stored and a lid member which is in close contact with the container main body via a seal member to seal an internal space, and further includes a cover member via a seal member. A double-sealed container structure characterized by being disposed in a closed internal space. 2. The double seal according to claim 1, wherein the internal space of the container and the internal space of the cover member are set to one of a vacuum state and a state filled with a clean inert gas. Container structure. 3. A container having a container body for storing an object to be stored therein and a lid member for sealing the internal space by tightly contacting the container body via a sealing member, and further affixing the container body to the container body. A double-sealed container structure, wherein the sealed cover member is disposed in a sealed internal space via a sealing member.