JPH08207986A - Transport container for semiconductor wafer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To obtain a transport container for semiconductor wafers, which facilitates taking in and out of the semiconductor wafers even though it contains many semiconductor wafers in a stack, and has an antistatic function. CONSTITUTION: A transport container A consists of a box-like container main body 1 with sidewalls along four sides and an upper lid 2 that can be swingably opened and closed and is provided along the upper edge of the sidewall, and the front sidewall 1b can be also swingably opened and closed. Semiconductor wafers 3 in a stack are placed in the container A and the tips of ribs 9 and 10, that come in contact with the semiconductor wafers 3, are covered with electroconductive membranes 15.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a carrying container used for housing and carrying a large number of semiconductor wafers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a carrying container of this kind,
A container body in which a large number of semiconductor wafers are vertically arranged at a fixed pitch and the upper lid is attached to the container body, or a large number of semiconductor wafers are stacked and stored in a cylindrical or box-shaped container body. The upper lid of which is fitted with an outer lid is used.

[0003]

In the former transport container for storing semiconductor wafers in a vertical posture, the semiconductor wafers are arranged at a constant pitch, so that the wafers can be loaded into and unloaded from the container relatively easily. However, due to the structure that supports the vicinity of the edge of the wafer, it is limited to, for example, a wafer having a thickness of about 350 to 800 μm and high strength, such as a wafer before back grinding, and 150 to 300 μm.
When it was used for a wafer with a certain thickness, it was apt to crack due to vibration during transportation.

The latter transport container for stacking and storing semiconductor wafers has an advantage that even thin wafers can be transported without damage because the wafers are supported on the surface. When loading and unloading the wafer, the wafer is loaded and unloaded horizontally only from the top opening of the container body, so when moving the wafer up and down inside the container body, it is easy to hit the edge of the wafer against the inner surface of the container and thin wafer If it contacts in the vertical direction in the horizontal posture, it is easily damaged or damaged, and the wafer loading / unloading operation speed is made extremely low, and it is necessary to operate the suction arm or the like with high accuracy, which is troublesome. In particular, the deeper the container is, the larger the vertical amount of the wafer is, the higher the risk of contact is, and the above-mentioned problems are more likely to occur.

Further, the conventional transport container does not have a function of discharging static electricity charged on the wafer or preventing static electricity generated during the transport, and the elements in the wafer are electrostatically destroyed. There was also a risk.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and can carry in and carry out easily without damaging the wafers, although a large number of semiconductor wafers can be stacked and stored. The object is to provide a transport container that can be used. Another object of the present invention is to provide a transportation container having an antistatic function.

[0007]

The present invention has the following constitution in order to achieve the above object. That is, the semiconductor wafer carrying container according to claim 1 is formed of a box-shaped container body having peripheral walls on four sides and an upper lid that closes / opens an upper opening of the container body, and a front part of the container body. The peripheral wall is configured to be swingable and openable.

The invention described in claim 2 is the same as claim 1.
In the transport container described in (3), at least a conductive member is attached to a container portion that comes into contact with each semiconductor wafer stacked in the container.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the invention, when the wafer is loaded into the container, the upper lid is opened to fully open the upper part of the container body, and the front peripheral wall of the container body is also opened to the front side. Also open greatly. With the upper part and the front part opened, the wafer held by the suction arm is inserted into the container body from the front part opened at a slightly higher level than the previously stored wafer, and the suction arm is lowered. It is laminated on the front wafer. After that, by performing such operations one after another while gradually increasing the insertion level,
It is possible to efficiently stack and store a large number of wafers. Therefore, even if stacking progresses, the amount of downward movement of each wafer in the container can be made the same as the minimum required for stacking on the previous wafer, and there is a risk of contacting the inner surface of the container during the downward movement of this wafer. The sex is extremely low. Moreover, even if the inner surface of the container may come into contact during horizontal movement of inserting the wafer into the container body from the front, this contact is in the direction orthogonal to the thickness direction of the wafer, resulting in damage or chipping. Almost never. At the time of actual storage, protective interleaving paper is supplied between the wafers. Also, when unloading a wafer from the container, with the upper lid and the front peripheral wall largely opened, the suction arm operation is performed in the reverse of the above-mentioned loading operation, and the vertical movement of each wafer in the container is reduced as much as possible. Carry them forward one by one.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the static electricity charged on the semiconductor wafers stacked in the container is transferred to the outside of the container through the conductive member attached to the container portion that contacts the wafer. Is released. In addition, generation of static electricity is suppressed during transportation and the like.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. <First Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an overall appearance of a transport container according to the first embodiment, FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional front view of a transport container containing semiconductor wafers, and FIG. 3 is a transport container with an upper lid opened. FIG. 4 is a perspective view, FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway plan view of the transport container, FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway front view of the transport container, FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway side view of the transport container, and an enlarged cross-sectional view of an essential part. 7 is an overall perspective view of the opened transport container, and FIG. 8 is a schematic side view showing a storing or carrying-out operation.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the semiconductor wafer carrying container A comprises a container body 1 formed in a rectangular box shape and an upper lid 2 which is externally fitted and mounted on the upper end of the container body 1. Wafers 3 group in which (hereinafter, simply referred to as wafer) and protective interleaving paper 4 are alternately stacked and accommodated, and buffer pads 5 made of an elastic material such as a sponge attached to the inner surface of the upper lid 2 are stacked. Is pressed to eliminate the rattling of the upper and lower parts in the container.

The container body 1 comprises a bottom wall 1a and a front peripheral wall 1
b, the rear peripheral wall 1c, and the left and right side peripheral walls 1d are integrally molded, and the front peripheral wall 1b can swing and open via a thin hinge 6 on the front end side of the bottom wall 1a. Standing postures (see Fig. 3) that are connected in series and close the front of the container,
It is configured such that it can be switched to a lying position (see FIG. 7) in which the front surface of the container is largely opened. Further, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, side pieces 1e which are fitted to the left and right ends of the front peripheral wall 1b so as to overlap the inner surface of the side peripheral wall 1d in the standing posture.
Are inwardly projected, and the projections 7 provided on the outer surface of each side piece 1e are engaged with the recesses 8 provided on the inner surface of each side peripheral wall 1d, so that the front peripheral wall 1b covers the front surface of the container. It is designed to be held in a closed standing position.

Further, a pair of left and right positioning ribs 9 and 10 are provided on the inner surface of the front peripheral wall 1b and the inner surface of the rear peripheral wall 1c, respectively, and the wafers are stacked and housed in a state of being supported at four points by the tips of the ribs 9 and 10. It is configured to position the outer circumferences of the three groups.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the upper lid 2 is
The container main body 1 is integrally connected to the upper end side of the rear peripheral wall 1c via a thin hinge 11 so as to be able to swing and open and close, and is fitted onto the upper part of the front peripheral wall 1b and the left and right side peripheral walls 1d of the container main body 1. It has a skirt wall 2a. Then, the projection 12 provided on the inner surface of the front portion of the skirt wall 2a is engaged with the recess 13 provided on the outer surface of the front peripheral wall 1b, so that the upper lid 2 can be maintained in the closed state.

The carrying container according to the present embodiment is constructed as described above, and when carrying a wafer into the container,
As shown in FIG. 8, the upper lid 2 and the front peripheral wall 1b are opened to completely open the upper portion of the container body 1 and also to the front. The wafer 3 sucked and held by the suction arm 14 with the upper portion and the front portion opened in this manner is inserted into the container body 1 from the front portion opened at a slightly higher level than the wafer 3 previously stored, and then sucked. The arm 14 is lowered to be stacked on the interleaving paper placed on the previous wafer. Thereafter, such a carrying-in operation is alternately performed with the supply of the interleaving paper 4 while gradually increasing the insertion level.

When a predetermined number of stacked sheets are stored,
The front peripheral wall 1b and the upper lid 2 are closed, and a band is attached to prevent the upper lid 2 from opening.

When the wafer is unloaded from the container,
In a state where the upper lid 2 and the front peripheral wall 1b are largely opened, the suction arm operation is performed in reverse to the above-described loading operation, and the wafers are unloaded one by one while the vertical movement in the container is minimized.

The present embodiment may be modified in the following forms. The front peripheral wall 1b and the upper lid 2 are separately configured and are connected to the bottom wall 1a and the rear peripheral wall 1c via hinges. The front peripheral wall 1b is connected to the front end of the side peripheral wall 1d so as to be laterally openable and closable via an integral thin hinge or a separate hinge. The rear peripheral wall 1c is connected or connected to the side peripheral wall 1d so as to be swingable and openable. The cushioning pad 5 attached to the inner surface of the upper lid 2 is shown in FIG.
Also, as shown in FIG. 10, a resin ring is used in which the large diameter ring 5a and the small diameter ring 5b are connected by an elastically deformable arm 5c group. The upper lid 2 is formed in a cap shape separated from the container body 1.

<Second Embodiment> FIG. 11 is an overall perspective view of an opened transport container according to the second embodiment. FIG. 12 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a main part of a transport container that accommodates semiconductor wafers. However, the same components as those of the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals as those in the drawings of the first embodiment, and the description thereof is omitted here.

As shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, the front peripheral wall 1
A conductive thin film 15, such as ITO (indium and tin oxide), is coated on the tips of the pair of left and right positioning ribs 9 and 10 provided on the inner surface of b and the inner surface of the rear peripheral wall 1c. Further, in the standing posture in which the container front surface of the container body 1 is closed, a hole is provided in the bottom wall 1a portion which is connected immediately below the conductive thin film 15 attached to the tips of the ribs 9 and 10. A conductive material 16 such as Cu or Al is embedded.

With the above structure, the wafer 3 group stacked in the container and the conductive thin film 15 coated on the tips of the ribs 9 and 10 come into contact with each other in a four-point supported state, so that the wafer 3 group is charged. The generated static electricity is guided to the conductive thin film 15, and is further discharged to the pedestal or the like on which the container is mounted via the conductive material 16 that is directly connected to the conductive thin film 15.

The present embodiment may be modified in the following forms. The entire container body 1 is formed using a conductive resin containing carbon, a surfactant, and the like. A part of the container body 1 that contacts the wafers 3 (for example,
The ribs 9 and 10) are made of a conductive resin.

[0024]

As is apparent from the above description, the semiconductor wafer transport container according to the first aspect of the present invention has the following effects. Wafers can be loaded and unloaded with the upper and front parts of the container body largely open, so wafers held in a horizontal position by suction arms can be loaded and unloaded through the front opening of the container body, and wafers can be placed inside the container. The risk of hitting and damaging the wafer from above and below is extremely reduced, and wafers can be easily loaded and unloaded.

Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, the static electricity charged on the wafer is discharged to the outside of the container through the conductive member attached to the container portion that comes into contact with the wafer, and during transportation. Since the generation of static electricity is suppressed in the above, there is no fear that the elements in the wafer will be electrostatically destroyed, and the wafer can be transported with high reliability.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an overall appearance of a transportation container according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional front view of a transportation container accommodating a wafer.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a transport container with an upper lid opened.

FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway plan view of the transport container.

FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway front view of the transport container.

FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway side view of the transport container and an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part.

FIG. 7 is an overall perspective view of an opened transport container.

FIG. 8 is a schematic side view showing a storing or carrying-out operation.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the buffer pad.

FIG. 10 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a main part using a cushioning pad of another embodiment.

FIG. 11 is an overall perspective view of the opened transport container according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a main part of a transportation container that stores a semiconductor wafer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Container main body 1b ... Front peripheral wall 2 ... Upper lid 3 ... Semiconductor wafer 15 ... Conductive thin film 16 ... Conductive material

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A box-shaped container body having peripheral walls on four sides,
A container for transporting a semiconductor wafer, which is formed of an upper lid that closes / opens an upper opening of a container body, and a front peripheral wall of the container body that can be swingably opened and closed. 2. The container for transporting a semiconductor wafer according to claim 1, wherein a conductive member is attached to at least a container portion that abuts each semiconductor wafer stacked in the container.