JPH0563065A - Wafer keeper of wafer container - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a wafer keeper which prevents a wafer from dropping out of a stopping groove and prevents damage and contamination of the wafer by surely holding an upper edge of all the wafers. CONSTITUTION:A stopping part of an elastic piece 6 of a wafer keeper is provided with comb-like stopping pieces 8a... 9a.../or 9a..., 9b... and a groove 12 wherewith a wafer is engaged is formed between stopping pieces 8a..., 9a.../or 9a..., 9b.... Furthermore, stopping pieces 8a... and 9b.../and 8b... and 9a... of adjacent elastic pieces 6, 6 are mutually engaged to overlap each other at a side view. Since the wafer is prevented from falling between the elastic pieces 6, 6 by the stopping pieces 8a... and 9b.../or 8b... and 9a..., all the wafers are held engaged with the groove 12 and damage and contamination thereof can be surely prevented.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wafer retainer detachably provided on an upper lid of a wafer container for accommodating a plurality of wafers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, a semiconductor wafer is obtained by thinly slicing a single crystal ingot of silicon or the like in the direction perpendicular to the axis, but this is thin and fragile, and contamination is extremely disliked. is necessary.

Therefore, conventionally, such wafers are arranged and stored in a wafer storage container in an orderly manner and transported, and as the wafer storage container, for example, one shown in FIG. 12 is known. That is, FIG. 12 is a front view in which a part of the wafer storage container is cut away. The wafer storage container is composed of an outer box 101 and an inner box 102, and a plurality of wafers W ... Side walls 102a, 1 facing each other
It is fitted in a plurality of partition grooves formed between a plurality of ribs 102b protruding inside the 02a, and is housed orderly in the inner box 102 at appropriate intervals in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. A wafer retainer 103 is removably attached to the inside of the upper lid 101B of the outer box 101, and the wafer W accommodated in the inner box 102 has its upper edge formed by an elastic piece 106 of the wafer retainer 103. The wafer W is elastically held so that the wafer W is not damaged by vibration during transportation. The plurality of elastic pieces 106 of the wafer retainer 103 are arranged in strips in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG.

[0004]

However, in the conventional wafer storage container described above, after the inner box 102 containing the wafers W ... Is housed in the main body 101A of the outer box 101, the upper lid 101B is covered on the main body 101A. When closing the wafer, all of the wafers W ...
The elastic pieces 106 of FIG. 3 are not retained by being fitted into the locking grooves, but a part of the elastic pieces 106 is dropped from the locking grooves and is sandwiched between the elastic pieces 6 and 6 to be damaged, or the elastic pieces 6 are not damaged. There was a problem that ... was contaminated by particles generated by scraping.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to reliably hold the upper edges of all the wafers to prevent the wafers from falling out of the locking grooves and to prevent damage to the wafers. An object of the present invention is to provide a wafer retainer for a wafer storage container that can prevent contamination.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is to attach a strip-shaped elastic member to each upper edge of a plurality of wafers which are mounted inside the upper lid of a wafer container and accommodated in the wafer container. In a wafer retainer for a wafer container that holds the wafer by pressing it with a piece, a comb-like or saw-teeth-like engaging piece is provided at the wafer engaging portion of the elastic piece, and the wafer is fitted between the engaging pieces. The feature is that a groove to be fitted is formed, and locking pieces of adjacent elastic pieces are meshed with each other so that they overlap each other in a side view.

[0007]

In the wafer retainer according to the present invention, since the locking pieces of the adjacent elastic pieces are meshed with each other and overlap each other in a side view, the wafer does not fall between the elastic pieces, so that the space between the locking pieces is prevented. It is always fitted and held in the groove of. Therefore, the wafer is not sandwiched between the elastic pieces and is not damaged. Further, the elastic piece is not scraped by the wafer to generate particles, and the contamination of the wafer due to the adhesion of particles can be prevented.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

First, the schematic structure of the wafer storage container will be described with reference to the exploded perspective view of FIG. 9. The wafer storage container is an outer box 1, an inner box 2 housed in the outer box 1, and the present invention. The wafer presser 3 according to the above is included.

The outer box 1 is composed of a main body 1A and an upper lid 1B. The upper lid 1B is covered with the main body 1A to be joined and integrated with the main body 1A, but a packing 4 is interposed between the two. When the upper lid 1B is closed, the inside of the outer box 1 is kept in a sealed state.

Further, the inner box 2 accommodates a plurality of wafers in an orderly manner, an upper portion of which is open, and a plurality of ribs 2b which are long in the longitudinal direction are formed inside the opposite side walls 2a, 2a. Are protruded at an appropriate pitch in the wafer array direction, and partition grooves are formed between these ribs 2b. Thus, the wafer is housed by being fitted into a pair of partitioning grooves formed on the side walls 2a, 2a and facing each other.

Here, the wafer retainer 3 according to the present invention is used.
Details of the configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6. still,
1 is a front sectional view of the wafer retainer 3, FIG. 2 is a side view thereof (a view in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1), and FIG.
4), FIG. 4 is an enlarged detailed view of the C portion of FIG. 3, and FIG.
6 is a sectional view taken along the line DD of FIG. 6, and FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line EE of FIG.

The wafer retainer 3 according to the present invention is integrally formed of a thermoplastic elastomer (polyester) having a large friction coefficient, and has a rectangular frame body 5. The frame body 5 has a lower surface on the lower surface thereof. , A plurality of strip-shaped elastic pieces 6 bent inward in a side view are arranged in high density in two rows in the array direction of the wafer (perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 1) and suspended. It is set up. Further, the pair of left and right elastic pieces 6 of the frame body 5 ...
An orientation flat presser 7 that is long in the wafer arranging direction is provided at the center of the row.

By the way, as shown in FIGS. 4 to 6, the lower surfaces of the free ends (contact portions with the wafer) of the elastic pieces 6 are opposed to each other in the wafer arranging direction (horizontal direction in FIG. 4). , 8b ... / or locking pieces 9a ...,
9b is provided so as to spread downward (upward in FIG. 6). That is, a certain elastic piece 6A shown in FIG.
, 8b are respectively formed on the elastic pieces 6A, 6B, and 4 pieces are formed on the elastic pieces 6B, 6C adjacent to the elastic piece 6A, respectively.
Book-locking pieces 9a ..., 9b ... Are formed. And
As shown in FIG. 4, one locking piece 8a of the elastic piece 6A, the locking piece 9b of the elastic piece 6B, and the other locking piece 8b of the elastic piece 6A and the locking piece 9a of the elastic piece 6C. Mesh with each other, and as shown in FIG. 6, these locking pieces 8a ...
b and the locking pieces 8b ... and 9a ... Overlap each other in a side view.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, in the respective elastic pieces 6, the surfaces of the locking pieces 8a ... And 8b and / or the locking pieces 9a ..., 9b. Stop piece 8a
, And 8b / and between the locking pieces 9a, ..., 9b ..., Grooves (grooves into which the wafer should be fitted) 12 are formed to spread downward (upward in FIG. 6).

As shown in FIG. 7, an inner box 2 for accommodating a plurality of wafers W ... Arranged in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing.
Are housed in the main body 1A of the outer box 1, and then the upper lid 1B
8 is covered and fixed to the main body 1A as shown in FIG. 8, the wafer retainer 3 attached to the upper lid 1B presses the upper edges of the wafers W ... and elastically retains the wafers W ... That is, the pair of left and right elastic pieces 6 and 6 of the wafer retainer 3 abut on the upper edge of the wafer W and the elastic force presses the wafer W downward to elastically support the wafer W. At this time, the upper edge of the wafer W has elastic pieces 6, 6
Locking pieces 8a ..., 8b ... / or 9a.
While being fitted into and supported by the grooves 12, 12, between the locking pieces 8a, the locking pieces 9b, ... And the locking pieces 8b, as described above.
... and the locking pieces 9a are meshed with each other and overlap each other in a side view, and the overlapping portions form a mountain top at the center between the adjacent wafers W, W, so that the wafer W is elastic. The wafer W, which did not fall into the gap between the pieces 6 and 6 and was in the position shown by the chain line in FIG. 6 when the upper lid 1B was closed, moved in the direction of the arrow along the slope of the locking pieces 8a. Then, it is automatically positioned at the center of the groove 12 as shown by the solid line in FIG. As a result, all the wafers W ... are always fitted into the grooves 12 ... Of the elastic pieces 6 ... Always with their upper edges held, and the elastic pieces 6 ...
It is not caught between the two and is not damaged. Further, since the elastic pieces 6 are not scraped by the wafer W to generate particles, the contamination of the wafer W by particles can be reliably prevented.

Incidentally, the locking pieces 8a, ..., 8b of the wafer retainer 3
, 9a ..., 9b ... are arranged in a short range of the wafer locking portion of each elastic piece 6, and these are located at the frontmost free end of the elastic piece 6 or in the vicinity thereof. The upper edge of each of the accommodated wafers W ...
When pressed down by a ..., 8b ..., 9a ..., 9b ..., the upper edges of the adjacent wafers W, W are pressed at substantially the same time, which also causes the elastic pieces 6, 6 of the wafer W ... Is prevented from falling off.

Thus, the plurality of wafers W ... Stored in the inner box 2 are elastically held by the wafer retainer 3, and the orientation flat retainer 7 provided on the wafer retainer 3 is shown in FIG. As shown, since the wafer W is engaged with the orientation flat (orientation flat) portion Wa to prevent the rotation of the wafer W, no slip occurs between the inner box 2 and the wafer W. Contamination by particles is prevented. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, each wafer W is housed in the inner box 2 with its orientation flat portion Wa facing upward.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 is a bottom view of the engaging portion of the elastic piece of the wafer retainer according to the second embodiment, and FIG. 11 is a sectional view taken along the line FF of FIG.

In this embodiment, serrated locking pieces 10a ..., 10b ... / or locking pieces 11a ..., 11b are formed on the lower surface of the free ends of the elastic pieces 6 ... As shown in FIG. One of the locking pieces 10a of the elastic piece 6A and the adjacent elastic piece 6B
Locking pieces 11b ... and the other locking piece 10b of the elastic piece 6A
And the engaging pieces 11a of the adjacent elastic piece 6c mesh with each other, and as shown in FIG. 11, these engaging pieces 10a ...
1b and locking pieces 8b and 11a overlap with each other in a side view. And, in each elastic piece 6, locking pieces 10a ... And 10b ... / or locking 11a ..., 11b.
The surfaces facing each other form an inclined surface, and the locking pieces 10a ... And 10b ... / And the locking pieces 11a ... And 11b.
Grooves 12 into which the wafer W is to be fitted are formed between them.

Thus, also in this embodiment, the fall of each wafer W between the elastic pieces 6 and 6 causes the engaging pieces 10a ... And 11b ... And / or the engaging pieces 10b.
All wafers W ... are groove 12 ...
The same effect as that obtained in the first embodiment can be obtained.

[0022]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the wafer storage container is mounted inside the upper lid,
In a wafer retainer of a wafer storage container that holds each wafer by pressing each upper edge of a plurality of wafers accommodated in the wafer storage container with a strip-shaped elastic piece, the wafer engaging portion of the elastic piece has a comb-like shape or Sawtooth-shaped locking pieces are provided, a groove to be fitted with the wafer is formed between the locking pieces, and the locking pieces of adjacent elastic pieces are meshed with each other so that they overlap each other in a side view. With this configuration, the upper edges of all the wafers are always held securely to prevent the wafers from falling out of the locking grooves, and it is possible to prevent the wafers from being damaged or contaminated.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front sectional view of a wafer retainer according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view (a view in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1) of the wafer retainer according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view (view in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 1) of the wafer retainer according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged detailed view of a C portion of FIG.

5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line DD of FIG.

6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line EE of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a front sectional view of a wafer container for explaining the action of the wafer retainer.

FIG. 8 is a front sectional view of a wafer container for explaining the action of the wafer retainer.

FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view of a wafer container.

FIG. 10 is a bottom view of the locking portion of the elastic piece of the wafer retainer according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

11 is a sectional view taken along line FF of FIG.

FIG. 12 is a cutaway front view of a conventional wafer storage container including a wafer retainer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Outer Box 1B Upper Lid 3 Wafer Presser 6 Elastic Pieces 8a, 8b Locking Pieces 9a, 9b Locking Pieces 10a, 10b Locking Pieces 11a, 11b Locking Pieces 12 Groove W Wafer

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A wafer for a wafer storage container, which is attached to the inside of an upper lid of a wafer storage container and holds the wafer by pressing the upper edges of a plurality of wafers stored in the wafer storage container with strip-shaped elastic pieces. In the presser, comb-shaped or saw-teeth shaped locking pieces are provided on the wafer locking portion of the elastic piece, and a groove to be fitted with the wafer is formed between the locking pieces, and the elastic pieces of the adjacent elastic pieces are formed. A wafer retainer for a wafer storage container, characterized in that the locking pieces are engaged with each other so that they overlap each other in a side view. 2. The comb-teeth-shaped or saw-teeth-shaped locking pieces arranged in high density are provided at the frontmost free end or substantially the frontmost free end of each elastic piece. Wafer retainer for wafer storage container.